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oUTCT PEN Project ID: 00000C887 Public
1561 Media · 1309 Specimens · Managed by: Jessie Maisano

oUTCT is partnering with the oVert (openVertebrate) project to make nearly 9 terabytes of existing high-resolution X-ray computed tomographic (HRXCT) data publicly accessible, and train the next generation of students in best practices for these data. The University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility (UTCT) was established in 1997 to make HRXCT – a direct descendant of medical CT – available to researchers in the natural sciences. Since then, scientists from around the world have brought their most important and precious natural history specimens to UTCT to image and measure their interior features nondestructively. This application of HRXCT technology has been tremendously successful, resulting in the proliferation of scanners at institutions across the country. But UTCT datasets, acquired in part via dozens of NSF grants and cited more than 18,000 times in academic publications, remain in high demand due to their broad scope, high data quality, and historical significance. This demand has been fueled in part by the public-facing Digital Library of Morphology (DigiMorph.org), an NSF-funded project online since 2002 and housed at UTCT, which serves HRXCT-derived animations for more than 1,000 biological and paleontological specimens. In the oUTCT project, UTCT and DigiMorph are partnering with oVert and iDigBio (both at the University of Florida) and the MorphoSource data repository (Duke University) to make this unparalleled collection of HRXCT datasets more readily discoverable and more easily repurposed. oUTCT will also provide training to the oVert community, which spans nearly 20 universities and academic institutions, to maximize the scientific impact of that project. Over the course of two years, oUTCT is uploading HRXCT data of nearly 1,500 fossil and extant vertebrate species scanned for 90 UTCT clients to MorphoSource, where they can be easily discovered and downloaded by everyone from scientists to artists to K-12 educators. This mobilization is being accomplished by undergraduate students employed at UTCT, who are learning the basics of HRXCT data acquisition and visualization as well as elementary bioinformatics associated with iDigBio, DigiMorph, and MorphoSource. In addition to this educational outreach, UTCT will host two short courses per year, cosponsored by oVert and iDigBio, to train students and scientists associated with oVert and MorphoSource in the fundamentals of HRXCT data acquisition, visualization, analysis, and long-term management. These activities will expand the impact of the original oVert project and maximize the return on NSF’s investment in it, UTCT, DigiMorph, iDigBio, and MorphoSource.

Filtering by: Organization Vertebrate Zoology Division - Herpetology, Yale Peabody Museum Remove constraint Organization: Vertebrate Zoology Division - Herpetology, Yale Peabody Museum User with ownership ssi 6655 Remove constraint User with ownership ssi: 6655
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  ID Part Object Taxonomy Type Date Added Publication Status  
000377165 stained head ypm:vz:013675 Menetia greyii Volumetric Image Series 2021-08-12 Restricted Download  
000377158 head ypm:vz:013675 Menetia greyii Volumetric Image Series 2021-08-12 Restricted Download  
000374831 head ypm:vz:018232 Chionactis occipitalis Volumetric Image Series 2021-08-04 Restricted Download  
000114917 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 008438 Gavialis gangeticus Volumetric Image Series 2020-04-26 Restricted Download  
000114492 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 009194 Sphenodon punctatus Volumetric Image Series 2020-04-16 Restricted Download  
000113779 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012672.001 Platysaurus torquatus Volumetric Image Series 2020-03-26 Restricted Download  
000100133 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012866.001 Chalarodon madagascariensis Volumetric Image Series 2020-01-31 Restricted Download  
000113659 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012687 Acontias percivali Volumetric Image Series 2020-03-24 Restricted Download  
000098635 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012671.001 Zonosaurus ornatus Volumetric Image Series 2020-01-13 Restricted Download  
000098614 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012871.001 Uranoscodon superciliosus Volumetric Image Series 2020-01-12 Restricted Download  
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