NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

这项行动为2015财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金，扩大参与。该研究金支持研究员在东道实验室的研究和培训计划，以及扩大在科学领域代表性不足的群体参与的计划。 这项研究计划的标题是“梳状水母如何在海洋湍流中游泳和航行”。“该奖学金的主办机构是加州尔湾大学，由斯坦福大学提供二级支持;赞助科学家是Matthew J.麦克亨利（UCI）和John O. Dabiri（斯坦福大学）。栉水母，俗称梳水母，广泛分布于地球海洋中，在海洋食物链中扮演重要角色。 它们也是使用纤毛游泳的最大生物体，这是一种通常为更小的生物和动物保留的运动方式，在淡水和盐水中。 只有几厘米大小的栉水母生活在一个复杂而动荡的环境中，充满了阵风和漩涡，使它们的大小相形见绌。 尽管它们的推进系统相对简单，但栉水母非常敏捷和灵活，在这些混乱的环境中对它们的方向和位置保持着令人印象深刻的控制。 这项研究使用高速摄像机和流动可视化技术来研究栉水母如何应对湍流阵风，展示它们如何使自己的行为适应周围的流动。 这将为它们的首选栖息地，种群动态和生态作用提供线索。 除了获得运动的基本知识外，更好地了解纤毛运动的原理有望帮助改进小型水下机器人的运动和导航，这是探索和发现水生环境的重要平台。 在生物学和工程学的接口这项研究提供了研究员的机会，以提高她的工程背景与生物学和职业发展机会在这两个领域的培训。 联合赞助和跨学科的设置提供了一个最终的独立研究计划在流体动力学和水生动物运动的交叉点的基础。 教育推广包括监督和指导从服务于代表性不足的少数民族的项目中招募的本科生研究助理。 学生深入参与项目，包括实验，分析，以及结果的演示和出版。 研究结果将提供给蒙特雷湾水族馆，该水族馆为研究提供动物和实验设施，并将纳入公众和学校团体的计划和教育展示。 为了进一步努力让公众参与生物学、海洋科学、流体动力学和生物力学研究，该研究员正在策划一个研究成果和其他相关工作的在线储存库，并通过社交媒体和其他网络工具让公众参与。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Broadening Participation. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow and a plan to broaden participation of groups under-represented in science. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Margaret Byron is "How comb jellyfish swim and navigate in ocean turbulence." The host institution for this fellowship is the University of California Irvine, with secondary support to be provided by Stanford University; the sponsoring scientists are Matthew J. McHenry (UCI) and John O. Dabiri (Stanford). Ctenophores, commonly called comb jellyfish, are widespread in the earth's oceans and play an important role in the marine food chain. They are also the largest organisms that swim using cilia, a type of locomotion which is normally reserved for much smaller organisms and animals, in both fresh and salt water. Only a few centimeters in size, ctenophores live in a complex and turbulent environment, full of gusts and eddies that dwarf them in size. Despite their relatively simple propulsion system, ctenophores are very agile and maneuverable, retaining impressive control over their orientation and position in the midst of these chaotic surroundings. This research uses high-speed cameras and flow visualization techniques to study how ctenophores move in response to turbulent gusts, showing how they adapt their behavior to the surrounding flow. This will provide clues to their preferred habitats, population dynamics, and ecological roles. In addition to the basic knowledge of locomotion being gained, a better understanding of the principles of ciliated locomotion promises to aid improvements in locomotion and navigation in small underwater robots, important platforms for exploration and discovery in the aquatic environment. This research at the interface of biology and engineering affords the Fellow the opportunity to enhance her background in engineering with training in biology and career advancement opportunties in both fields. The joint sponsorship and interdisciplinary setting provide a foundation for an eventual independent research program at the intersection of fluid dynamics and aquatic animal locomotion. Educational outreach includes supervising and mentoring undergraduate research assistants recruited from programs serving underrepresented minorities. The students are deeply involved in the project, including experiments, analysis, and the presentation and publication of results. The results are being made available to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which provides animals and experimental facilities for the research, and are being incorporated into programs and educational displays for the general public and school groups. As a further effort to engage the public with biology, ocean science, fluid dynamics, and biomechanics research in general, the Fellow is curating an online repository of research results and other relevant work as well as engaging the public via social media and other web-based tools.