CAREER: Modeling and measuring patterns of airflow in sauropsid lungs, with special emphasis on integrating research with education of the blind and on broader impacts.

二叠纪末期是地球历史上最严重的物种灭绝事件，大约96%的海洋物种和70%的陆地物种灭绝。生命史上的一个核心问题是生物圈是如何从这次大规模灭绝事件中恢复过来的。推动陆生脊椎动物发生重大转变的一个关键因素可能是大气中氧气和二氧化碳的变化。这项研究将调查肺部形态和功能之间的关系，这将为研究辐射始祖龙（包括恐龙、翼龙、鸟类、鳄鱼目动物等）获得的竞争优势提供洞见。该项目将提供心肺生理学和流体系统生物工程方面的培训，并将科学与教育结合起来，扩大代表性不足群体的参与，并通过培训一名研究生和一名博士后如何将研究与教育结合起来，成为杰出的教师学者，从而造福社会。与犹他州自然历史博物馆和全国盲人联合会（NFB）合作，学生们将帮助开发、测试、评估和实施基于探究的学习工具包，该工具包将由触觉材料组成，旨在向K-12盲人学生教授科学过程和功能形态学和进化生物学的基本原理。这项研究将建立基础设施，为犹他州和全国的盲人社区服务；这个基础设施将延长这项工作的生命周期，超出拨款的期限。

The end of the Permian period is marked by the most severe extinction event in the history of the earth in which approximately 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial species died out. A central question in the history of life is how the biosphere recovered from this massive extinction event. A key factor driving the major transitions in terrestrial vertebrates may have been changes in atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide. This research will investigate lung form and function relationships, which will provide insight into the question of the competitive advantages gained by the archosaur radiation (a group that includes dinosaurs, pterosaurs, birds, crocodilians, and others). The project will provide training in cardiopulmonary physiology and bioengineering of fluid systems and will integrate science and education, broaden participation of underrepresented groups, and benefit society by training a graduate student and a postdoctoral researcher in how to integrate research and education to become outstanding teacher-scholars. In partnership with the Utah Museum of Natural History and the National Federation for the Blind (NFB), the students will help develop, test, evaluate, and implement enquiry based learning kits that will consist of tactile materials designed to teach the scientific process and fundamental principles of functional morphology and evolutionary biology to blind K-12 students. The research will build infrastructure to serve the blind community both within Utah and throughout our nation; this infrastructure will extend the lifespan of this work beyond the tenure of the grant.