IGERT: Signals in the Sea

化学和流体机械信号的重要性已被广泛认识，但尚未得到充分研究。在海洋和淡水系统中，化学信号影响着摄食、竞争、配偶识别、栖息地选择、宿主-共生体和宿主-病原体相互作用等关键过程。这些化学信号不仅直接影响生物，而且对种群结构、群落组织和生态系统功能产生一系列间接影响。许多研究表明，化学信号介导了水生系统中的许多生态相互作用，但很少有研究将水生化学生态学与微生物学、感觉生物学、生理学或对介导信号传递和接收的流体动力学的理解结合起来。很少有科学家在生态学、化学、感觉生物学、微生物学、生理学和小规模水动力学方面具备必要的广度和跨学科训练，以推进水生系统中的化学信号领域。最近，美国国家科学基金会关于生物海洋学的挑战和机遇的研讨会（OEUVRE）确定了对这些小规模化学和物理介导过程的机制理解，这是这个多样化领域面临的主要挑战。佐治亚理工学院与斯基达韦和斯克里普斯海洋研究所合作，在培养学生应对这些挑战方面具有独特的优势。在这个IGERT项目下，佐治亚理工学院的研究生培训将包括一系列独特的综合核心课程，一个密集的水生信号实践课程，跨学科的学生团队将实验研究他们自己设计的项目，实习，并由多学科研究生委员会指导。将举办讨论会，讨论影响水生信号的生物、化学和物理相互作用、科学伦理、代表性不足的群体和妇女在科学领域面临的特殊问题以及科学和工程专业发展的实际问题。在项目期间，IGERT的资金将支持40多名研究生，培养大约26名博士，并在乔治亚理工学院建立一个永久性的水生信号中心。IGERT是一个nsf范围内的项目，旨在满足培养具有多学科背景和技术、专业和个人技能的博士科学家和工程师的挑战，以满足未来职业需求的需要。该项目旨在通过建立新的、创新的研究生教育和培训模式，在一个超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中，促进研究生教育的文化变革。在该计划的第四年，22个机构获得了奖项，这些项目涵盖了NSF支持的所有科学和工程领域。这一特殊奖项的知识重点在于生物科学局；地球科学;数学和物理科学；工程;教育与人力资源；以及极地项目办公室。

The importance of chemical and hydromechanical signaling is broadly recognized but inadequately studied. In marine and freshwater systems, chemical signals affect critical processes such as feeding, competition, mate recognition, habitat choice, host-symbiont and host-pathogen interactions. These chemical signals not only directly affect organisms but also produce a cascade of indirect effects on population structure, community organization, and ecosystem function. Numerous investigations indicate that chemical signals mediate many of these ecological interactions in aquatic systems, but exceedingly few investigations have coupled aquatic chemical ecology with microbiology, sensory biology, physiology, or an understanding of the fluid dynamics that mediate the transmission and reception of signals. Few scientists have the requisite breadth and cross-disciplinary training in ecology, chemistry, sensory biology, microbiology, physiology and small-scale hydrodynamics necessary to advance the field of chemical signaling in aquatic systems. The recent NSF workshop on challenges and opportunities in biological oceanography (OEUVRE) identified a mechanistic understanding of these small-scale chemically and physically mediated processes as a major challenge facing this diverse field. Georgia Institute of Technology, in collaboration with Skidaway and Scripps Institutions of Oceanography, is uniquely positioned to train students to meet these challenges. Under this IGERT program, graduate training at Georgia Tech will consist of a unique series of integrated core courses, an intensive, hands-on class in aquatic signaling where interdisciplinary student teams will experimentally investigate projects of their own design, intemships, and mentoring by a multidisciplinary graduate committee. Seminars will be conducted on biological, chemical and physical interactions affecting aquatic signaling, scientific ethics, special issues faced by under-represented groups and women in science, and the practical aspects of professional development in science and engineering. During the project, IGERT funds will support over 40 graduate students, produce about 26 PhDs, and start a permanent center for aquatic signaling at Georgia Tech.IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing new, innovative models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fourth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-two institutions for programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. The intellectual foci of this specific award reside in the Directorates for Biological Sciences; Geosciences; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Engineering; Education and Human Resources; and the Office of Polar Programs.