U.S.-Kenya IRES: Origins of Human Adaptability

技术说明美国-肯尼亚国际学生研究体验 (IRES)：人类适应性的起源建立在 Koobi Fora 研究和培训计划 (KFRTP) 的成功基础上，并将开发一个新的框架，用于人类学、考古学、地质学、解剖学和古生物学的综合培训和研究。我们这个物种的证据？最近的进化史具有无可置疑的社会和科学重要性；然而，尽管有大量化石、考古、分子和古生态数据，但人们对现代人类关键行为的演变以及环境变化对人类进化的影响等基本问题仍然知之甚少。这可以归因于很少有学生接受过分析、实验和概念技能方面的培训，这些技能现在可以在强调合作研究的氛围中测试进化假设。该 IRES 项目将为美国学生提供获得研究经验的机会，调查 2 至 140 万年前存在于 Koobi Fora 的古人类物种的适应情况，这是一个发生重大气候变化的时期，标志着我们血统的解剖学、生物学和行为方面最戏剧性的转变。这项研究的最终目标是从 Koobi Fora 生成化石和考古数据，以评估以下假设：早更新世期间古人类种群生物学和行为的变化标志着独特特征的进化，这些特征将我们的谱系与其他古人类区分开来，并为我们物种的起源提供了框架。测试这一假设将构成跨学科培训的基础。该 IRES 项目将在全国范围内招收至少 21 名美国本科生和研究生，重点关注 STEM 领域代表性不足的学生，并将让每位学生加入在重大气候变化背景下开展人类适应性起源前沿研究的团队。培训活动将分阶段进行（准备、实地考察和项目完成研讨会），持续三个学期，之后将通过演示和出版物继续进行。每位学生将：1) 通过与国际领先学者一起设计和开展肯尼亚北部 Koobi Fora 地层考古和古生物学沉积物的原创研究项目来生成新知识，2) 使用最先进的方法收集和分析数据，3) 在美国的后续研讨会和专业发展研讨会上综合并展示他们的发现，4) 与史密森学会国家自然历史博物馆一起参加公众对科学理解的培训（华盛顿特区）和麦克韦恩科学中心（阿拉巴马州伯明翰）。 更广泛的描述 该项目提供了许多可衡量的影响，包括促进跨学科和国际合作，公开传播学生的研究成果，以及培训和激励最优秀和最聪明的美国学生 - 特别是代表性不足的少数族裔 - 追求科学事业。生物人类学和考古学作为跨学科“门户”领域具有独特的地位，该项目旨在招收那些很少接触 STEM 研究以及与传统 STEM 领域的学者合作的跨学科项目的学生。该项目的影响包括：1）培训三批来自不同背景的学生，让他们接触国际水平的跨学科合作； 2）扩大非洲（肯尼亚国家博物馆、威特沃特斯兰德大学）、欧洲（牛津大学、马克斯普朗克进化人类学研究所）和美国机构（乔治华盛顿大学、阿拉巴马大学、伯明翰大学）的科学家之间的合作网络； 3）加强这些美国机构、伯明翰麦克韦恩科学中心和史密森尼博物馆之间的联系； 4) 创建数据集、同行评审出版物和公开演讲，以加强学生培训并促进公众对科学的理解。

Technical DescriptionThis U.S.-Kenya International Research Experience for Students (IRES): Origins of Human Adaptability builds on the success of the Koobi Fora Research and Training Program (KFRTP) and will develop a new framework for integrated training and research in anthropology, archaeology, geology, anatomy, and paleobiology. The evidence for our species? recent evolutionary history is of unquestionable social and scientific importance; however, despite a wealth of fossil, archeological, molecular, and paleoecological data, issues as basic as the evolution of the key modern human behaviors and the effects of environmental change on human evolution, and vice versa, remain poorly understood. This can be attributed to so few students being trained in the range of analytical, experimental and conceptual skills now available for testing evolutionary hypotheses in an atmosphere that emphasizes collaborative research. This IRES project will offer US students an opportunity to gain research experience investigating the adaptations of hominin species that existed in Koobi Fora between 2 and 1.4 million years ago, a time period of major climatic changes that marked the most dramatic transitions in the anatomy, biology, and behavior of our lineage. The ultimate goal of this research is to generate fossil and archaeological data from Koobi Fora to evaluate the hypothesis: Changes in the biology and behaviors of hominin populations during the Early Pleistocene mark the evolution of distinctive characteristics that separated our lineage from other hominins and provided the framework for the origin of our species. Testing this hypothesis will form the basis of interdisciplinary training.This IRES project will recruit at least 21 US undergraduate and graduate students nationwide - focusing on students underrepresented in STEM fields - and will embed each student in teams conducting cutting-edge research on the origins of human adaptability within the context of major climate changes. Training activities will take place in stages (Preparation, Fieldwork, and a Project Completion Workshop) that extend over three semesters and will continue afterwards via presentations and publications. Each student will: 1) generate new knowledge by designing and conducting an original research project with leading international scholars in the archaeological and paleontological deposits of the Koobi Fora Formation in northern Kenya, 2) collect and analyze data using state-of-the-art methods, 3) synthesize and present their findings at follow-up workshops and professional development seminars in the U.S., and 4) engage in training on the public understanding of science with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC) and the Mc Wane Science Center (Birmingham, Alabama).Broader Description This project offers a number of measurable impacts, including fostering interdisciplinary and international collaboration, publicly disseminating the students' research findings, and training and inspiring the best and brightest US students - especially underrepresented minorities - to pursue careers in science. Biological Anthropology and Archaeology are uniquely situated as interdisciplinary 'gateway' fields, and this project intends to recruit students who would otherwise have little exposure to STEM research and collaborative, interdisciplinary projects with scholars in the traditional STEM fields. Impacts of the project include: 1) training three cohorts of students from diverse backgrounds in a manner that exposes them to interdisciplinary collaboration on an international level; 2) expanding the collaborative networks between scientists at several African (National Museums of Kenya, Witwatersrand U), European (Oxford U; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology), and American institutions (George Washington U, U Alabama, Birmingham); 3) strengthening connections between these US institutions, Birmingham's Mc Wane Science Center, and the Smithsonian museum; and 4) creating datasets, peer-reviewed publications, and public presentations that will enhance student training and promote public understanding of science.