It originated in an idea and prototype system developed at Rutgers University by Dr. J. Frederick Grassle, before being funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and other sources to become the information management component of the Census of Marine Life.
It originated in an idea and prototype system developed at Rutgers University by a team led by Dr. J. Frederick Grassle that included Yunqing (Phoebe) Zhang, Karen Stocks, and Carolyn Flanders. Later, it was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and other sources to become the information management component of the Census of Marine Life.