A government of Canada and Ontario press conference was held this morning at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) to announce major infrastructure improvements, which include $1.4M in funding for the repair to the ROM’s roof.

These renovations will enhance the visitor experience at the ROM, and increase the museum’s functional lifespan. The funds allotted to the ROM will be the first project in a joint plan to invest more than $220 million in initiatives to improve various projects across Ontario and Canada.

The ROM and Citizenship and Immigration Canada hosted a citizenship ceremony during Citizenship Week on Monday, October 15, 2012, in the Samuel Hall/Currelly Gallery followed by a reception in Bronfman Hall. For the event, which was the first held at the ROM since the year 2000, the ROM and Citizenship and Immigration Canada delivered citizenship for 60 new Canadians.

When ROM Ichthyologist Dr. Hernan Lopez-Fernandez was unable to attend a 2011 expedition to the Cuyuni River in Guyana, he found other creative ways to collaborate with fellow scientists. Dr. Lopez-Fernandez enabled Devin Bloom, a U of T graduate student with extensive experience in Guyana through previous joint expeditions, to attend in his place and share the specimen collections and tissue samples with the ROM.

Sometimes, there are really extraordinary stories that are uncovered in our day to day studies; this particular one was submitted by Dr. Henry Frania, an Entomology research associate at the ROM.