National Museum of Natural Research Training Program

该奖项为美国国家自然历史博物馆植物学系提供资金，用于在三年时间内支持48名本科生参加正式课程和在系统分类学、植物学、动物学和古生物学等领域的密切监督下的独立研究。在过去十年中，大多数大学在有机生物学、系统生物学和生态学方面的研究和培训都有所下降，尽管这些领域对评估和解决生物多样性丧失和全球变化至关重要。博物馆仍然在这些领域进行基础研究，但与本科教育关系不大。国家自然历史博物馆（NMNH）研究培训计划在史密森学会旨在刺激本科生追求职业生涯在自然科学通过动手研究，科学讲座和小组讨论的平衡方案。为期10周的暑期项目强调由一名科研人员监督的独立研究项目。项目的培训价值通过一系列讲座、讨论、实地考察、实验室和收藏品展示得到增强。NMNH研究培训计划的优势在于研究人员数量众多（超过120名博士级科学家和250名技术人员），研究项目的广度（如形态学和分子系统学，古生物学，行为学，形态测量学，生态学），藏品的规模(超过1.19亿份植物，动物，化石等)，以及优秀的图书馆（超过100万份文本和期刊）。这些资源的结合为本科生开始从事自然科学研究创造了一个无与伦比的环境。截至1992年，完成该项目的学生现在有机会申请史密森尼的皮尤系统生物学奖学金，这将使他们能够在NMNH继续他们的研究培训，直到他们的本科教育结束。

This award provides funds to the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History to help support 48 undergraduate students over a three year period who will participate in both a formal curriculum and closely supervised independent research in areas such as systematics, botany, zoology, and paleobiology. Research and training in organismal biology, systematic, and ecology has declined at most universities over the last decade, even though these fields are critical for evaluating and addressing loss of biodiversity and global change. Museums still carry out basic research in these fields, but have had little to do with undergraduate education. The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) Research Training Program at the Smithsonian Institution is designed to stimulate undergraduates to pursue careers in the natural sciences through a balanced program of hands-on research, scientific lectures, and group discussions. The 10-week long summer program emphasizes an independent research project supervised by a member of the scientific staff. The training value of the project is enhanced by a set of lectures, discussions, field trips, and laboratory and collections demonstrations. The strengths of the NMNH Research Training Program are the large number of research staff (over 120 Ph.D.-level scientists and 250 technicians), the breadth of research projects (e.g. morphological and molecular systematics, paleobiology, behavior, morphometrics, ecology), the size of the collections (more than 119 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, etc.), and the excellent libraries (over 1 million texts and journals). The combination of these resources creates an unparalleled environment for getting undergraduates started on careers as researchers in the natural sciences. As of 1992, students who complete the Program now have the opportunity to apply for a Pew Fellowship in Systematic Biology at the Smithsonian that will allow them to continue their research training at the NMNH through the end of their undergraduate education.