Bugscope

Who are we?

Bugscope is run by the Imaging Technology Group at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois. This collection of imaging specialists and microscopists provides state-of-the-art imaging facilities to campus researchers. Entomology students from the University also frequently join our live sessions to describe the insects.

The Bugscope Team


Cate Wallace joined Bugscope in 2005 as our student publicist, encouraging news outlets near each school to cover sessions. Her work resulted in a resurgence of national attention about Bugscope. She now serves as director for the Microscopy Suite, assists in running sessions, and enjoys chatting with the students connecting with Bugscope.

Tanya Josek Tanya Josek started volunteering for Bugscope in 2014 while in graduate school. They have helped provide specimens as well as answer questions during sessions. Since graduating they have become a staff member in the Microscopy Suite and help with prepping and running sessions.

Josh Gibson is an x-ray microCT microscopist and entomologist who joined the Bugscope team while he was starting his PhD in 2014. He helps answer students' entomologically intensive questions, especially those concerning ants, which are his specialty. He frequently provides specimens of interesting insect species for use during sessions.

Teppie Apperson joined the Imaging Technology Group in 2018, and Bugscope in 2019. She manages scheduling, bug collection and preparation, and anything else that's needed to keep the microscope nerds at their microscopes: equipment purchasing, finances, web design, etc.

Alumni

Bugscope was conceived in 1998 by Clint Potter and Bridget Carragher, to provide sustainable web-based remote access to sophisticated scientific instrumentation for K-12 classrooms worldwide. It built on lessons learned from the Chickscope Project, as well as the implementation of web access to our transmission electron microscope.

Many others have been involved with Bugscope over the years but have moved on to new things.

Software

Bugscope is built as a LAMP stack, using the Javascript libraries Prototype and CalendarView, and the PHP library iCalcreator. It also uses Ruby, mailutils, git, Google's Geocoding API, fail2ban, FEI's proprietary microscope control API, and a host of other utilities.

Funding

Bugscope was initially funded by Submeta and the Illinois Consolidated Telephone Company. Purchasing the microscope was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Beckman Institute. Additional support was provided by IBM's Shared University Research Program, and the Informix for Innovation Software Grant Program.