The Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI)
is funded through the Environmental Protection Fund and includes a number of collaborators, such as the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Natural Heritage Program and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Current projects focus on biodiversity stewardship, biodiversity education, and biodiversity research to assess environmental quality and change. Additionally, the BRI organizes a biennial scientific conference at the NY State Museum, the Northeast Natural History Conference.

Botany Laboratory
Plant systematics and floristics, especially of bryophytes and seed plants; Quaternary paleobotany and paleoecology (including palynology and studies of plant macrofossils, particularly as these relate to problems in the geography, ecology, and systematics of plants); the Tertiary and Quaternary history of the Bryophyta.

The Field Research Laboratory
is located one hour north of Albany near the town of Cambridge. Research is under the direction of Dr. Daniel P. Molloy and focuses on investigating the biology, ecology, taxonomy, and biological control of aquatic invertebrate pests. Research efforts have focused particularly on black flies (Simuliidae) and zebra mussels (Dreissenidae).

Ichthyology Laboratory
Research revolving around the ecology of freshwater fishes, but also including taxonomy, zoogeography and distribution, assemblage structure and conservation. Additional research involves freshwater decapods—crayfishes, crabs and shrimps.

The International Research Consortium on Molluscan Symbionts
The consortium was formed to perform fundamental research on the biology, ecology, distribution, and systematics of organisms symbiotically associated with molluscs, including commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic species with emphasis on the endosymbionts of fresh and brackish water bivalves in North America and Europe.

The Laboratory for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics
is a modern, multi-user molecular phylogenetics laboratory designed for use by Museum researchers interested in animal and plant evolution. The LCEG offers  researchers the technology to directly assay genetic structure and diversity through DNA sequencing.

Mammalogy Laboratory
Research within the lab examines ecological and evolutionary questions about mammals, typically with a focus on carnivores. Traditional data gathering techniques employed include animal trapping, snow tracking, specimen measurements, and tree climbing.

The Mycological Collections Herbarium
supports the research which has the dual goals of discovering new species and information to further the science of fungal systematics and also to form an organized basis for the retrieval and dissemination of information from our collections and files to the scientific and general public.

The New York Flora Association (NYFA):
All interested persons are invited to join the New York Flora Association, an organization dedicated to the promotion of field botany and greater understanding of the plants that grow in the wild in New York State.

Ornithology Laboratory
Research in the lab focuses on historical questions concerning the biogeography and evolution birds. Research integrates the traditional fields of paleontology and genetics to understand patterns of bird diversification and extinction over the last few million years.

Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory
Lab research eamines the evolution of ecology in ancient mammals predominately from the Pleistocene epoch. The primary methods used to obtain data include analyses of stable isotope geochemistry, morphometrics, and bioinformatics databases.