Congressional Night at the Museum

From Plant Press, Vol. 22, No. 4, October 2019.

The 2019 Smithsonian Congressional Night was held at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) on the evening of July 17. NMNH partnered with the Smithsonian’s Office of Government Relations to host the event which attracted 2,100 guests and 29 Members of Congress. The event encouraged Congressional staff to meet members of the museum’s research staff, engage in educational activities, and visit the museum’s exhibit halls. NMNH last hosted the event in 2013.

Liz Zimmer interacts with guests at the 2019 Smithsonian Congressional Night at the National Museum of Natural History. (photo by Gary Krupnick)

The success of Congressional Night was in part due to broad participation from across the museum’s research departments. Gary Krupnick and Liz Zimmer represented the Department of Botany who joined 90 other members of the NMNH community to share their research and volunteer their time to help the event run smoothly. Zimmer talked about her research in the molecular evolution of quillworts and the Vitaceae. She displayed specimens of Isoetes and ginseng roots. Krupnick spoke about how herbarium specimens are used in conservation biology research. He displayed specimens of Xylosma serrata, a critically endangered and possibly extinct species from Montserrat; coco de mer, a plant that produces the largest seeds in the plant kingdom; and goldenrod in which its pollen grains have been shown to exhibit a decrease in protein content as atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased over time.

Gary Krupnick readies his station of botanical specimens in preparation for the 2019 Smithsonian Congressional Night at the National Museum of Natural History. (photo by Gary Krupnick)