The Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute (established in 1986) is a non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

, located in the Sonoran Desert

Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...

 in Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

, whose mission is to educate the public about arthropod

Arthropod

An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...

s. The Institute routinely conducts field trips and educational visits, as well as maintains a collection of living and preserved arthropods. The Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute has a membership of about 600. Since 1993, the Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute has hosted the annual Invertebrates In Education and Conservation Conference in Rio Rico, Arizona. Also, the Institute will be hosting the first annual Medical Entomology Today! conference in Tucson, Arizona in 2011.