Collaborative Research: Biological Adaptations to Environmental Change in Antarctica - An Advanced Training Program for Early Career Scientists

该项目将支助两个培训班，向具有广泛学科背景的早期职业科学家介绍极地科学的关键问题，特别是提供获得南极实地活动实践经验的机会。南极洲是研究各种生物学问题的理想地点。然而，很少有学生和早期职业科学家有机会在南极洲现场工作，除非他们直接与有资助南极项目的资深科学家联系。该项目将进一步推动NSF培训新一代科学家的目标，2016年在帕尔默站和2018年在麦默多站的一个课程期间在南极洲提供实践培训。这是在麦默多站举办的前九期培训班的延续，这些培训班在向学员介绍实际实地条件下的南极科学、提供机会了解和认识在南极开展科学研究的复杂性和后勤挑战、加强学员的职业生涯、以及增加早期职业科学家的国际合作。拟议的培训课程将向博士开放。学生和博士后科学家谁有兴趣在南极海洋生物的研究，以帮助他们准备在极地地区发展自己的独立研究计划的成功。南极生物进化和生态学中长期存在和最近的问题将通过1）野外收集，2）整个生物的生理实验，3）分离细胞和组织的研究，4）大分子过程的实验（例如，酶）和5）分子生物学分析。

This project will support two training courses that will introduce early-career scientists from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds to key issues in polar science, and especially to provide the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in Antarctic field activities. Antarctica is an ideal location to study a wide variety of questions in biology. However, few students and early-career scientists have the opportunity to work on-site in Antarctica unless they are directly associated with a senior scientist who has a funded Antarctic project. The project will further the NSF goal of training new generations of scientists by providing hands-on training in Antarctica during one course at Palmer Station in 2016 and another at McMurdo Station in 2018. This represents a continuation of nine previous courses at McMurdo Station which have a proven record of introducing participants to Antarctic science under realistic field conditions, providing opportunities to understand and appreciate the complexities and logistical challenges of undertaking science in Antarctica, enhancing the professional careers of the participants, and increasing international collaborations for early-career scientists.The proposed training courses will be open to Ph.D. students and post-doctoral scientists who have interests in the study of Antarctic marine organisms to help prepare them for success in developing their own independent research programs in polar regions. Long-standing and recent questions in evolution and ecology of Antarctic organisms will be examined with 1) field collections, 2) physiological experiments on whole organisms, 3) studies of isolated cells and tissues, 4) experiments on macromolecular processes (e.g., enzymes), and 5) molecular biological analyses.