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

该项目将支持两门培训课程，向来自不同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。南极洲是研究各种各样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，除非他们直接与一位有资助南极项目的资深科学家有联系。该项目将通过2016年在帕尔默站和2018年在麦克默多站的课程中提供在南极洲的实践培训，进一步实现国家科学基金会培养新一代科学家的目标。这是麦克默多站之前九门课程的延续，这些课程已经证明了在现实的实地条件下向参与者介绍南极科学，提供机会了解和欣赏在南极洲开展科学的复杂性和后勤挑战，提高参与者的职业生涯，并增加早期职业科学家的国际合作。拟建的培训课程将向对南极海洋生物研究感兴趣的博士生和博士后科学家开放，帮助他们为在极地地区成功开展自己的独立研究项目做好准备。南极生物的进化和生态学方面长期存在的和最近出现的问题将通过1)野外采集、2)整个生物的生理实验、3)分离细胞和组织的研究、4)大分子过程实验（如酶）和5)分子生物学分析来进行研究。

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.