Paleontological Society Workshop on Future Directions in Paleontology held on September 10-11, 2005 at the Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

在过去的几十年里，很明显，科学进步通常是由代表各种专业知识的科学家团队来解决重大问题的。为了应对科学探究本质上的这些变化，古生物学会提议组织一次研讨会，并举办一系列研究论坛，重点发展几项新的大规模研究计划，这些计划将得到古生物学界的广泛支持。拟议的古生物学未来研究方向研讨会（FRDP）将有25人参加，已申请资金，将于2005年9月10日至11日在华盛顿特区史密森学会古生物学系举行。在此之前，北美古生物学大会（2005年6月）将在新斯科舍省哈利法克斯举行研究论坛。研讨会之后将在美国地质学会年会上（2005年10月）举行两个研究论坛。这项工作的最终成果将是一份30-40页的文件，其中将包含5-6个大型综合项目的简短建议，这些项目需要大量资金，古生物学界对启动这些项目表示强烈支持。建议活动的智力价值是什么？那些从事古生物学研究的人会同意，对我们理解生命是如何进化和在地球上存在的许多挑战，最好是通过合作、综合的方式来解决。FRDP研讨会和相关的研究论坛将提供一个以社区为基础的平台，在这个平台上，一些最重要的研究问题可以通过发展研究项目来解决，这些研究项目将作为古生物学界的倡议。通过这种方式，古生物学会计划引领古生物学研究的未来。这项研究的更广泛影响是什么？随着过去几十年科学的发展，许多最重要的问题只能由跨学科的科学家团队利用现有的最佳技术来解决。这种以团队为基础的活动将为前沿科学领域的研究培训和经验提供许多机会，特别是为目前正在进入地球科学领域的越来越多的妇女和其他代表性不足的群体提供机会。

Over the past few decades it has become apparent that scientific progress is commonly bestattained where big problems are addressed by teams of scientists representing a widevariety of expertise. In response to these changes in the nature of scientific inquiry,the Paleontological Society proposes to organize a workshop accompanied by a series ofresearch forums that will focus on developing several new large-scale research initiativesthat have the broad support of the paleontological community. The proposed Future ResearchDirections in Paleontology (FRDP) Workshop, for which funds are requested, will include 25participants, and is to be held on September 10-11, 2005 at the Department ofPaleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. This will be preceded by aresearch forum at the North American Paleontological Convention (June, 2005) in Halifax,Nova Scotia. The workshop will then be followed by two research forums at the GeologicalSociety of America Annual Meeting (October, 2005). The final product of this effort willbe a document of 30-40 pages which will contain short proposals for 5-6 larger integrativeprojects that require significant funding which the paleontological community shows strongsupport for initiating.What Is The Intellectual Merit of the Proposed Activity?Those engaged in paleontological research would agree that many challenges towards ourunderstanding of how life has evolved and existed on Earth would be best approached in acollaborative, integrative fashion. The FRDP Workshop and associated Research Forums willprovide a community-based platform where several of these most important research problemscan be addressed through development of research projects that will act as initiatives forthe paleontological community. In this way the Paleontological Society plans to lead theway towards the future of paleontological research.What Are The Broader Impacts of this Study?With the growth of science over the past few decades, many of the most important problemscan only be solved with interdisciplinary teams of scientists using the best availabletechnology. Such team-based activities will provide numerous opportunities for researchtraining and experience in forefront areas of science, particularly the growing number ofwomen and other under-represented groups which are currently entering the Earth sciences.