NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

这项行动资助了2016财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，使用生物收集的研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训计划，以采取变革性方法应对生物学的重大挑战，以高度创新的方式利用生物学收藏。这个奖学金的研究计划的标题为四月赖特是“建立一个时间校准树的蚂蚁使用的时间化的出生-死亡过程。“这个奖学金的主办机构是爱荷华州州立大学和菲尔德自然历史博物馆，赞助科学家是特雷西·希思博士（爱荷华州）和凯莉·莫罗博士（菲尔德博物馆）。这个项目利用菲尔德博物馆广泛收集的蚂蚁化石来估计蚂蚁的进化史（进化树）和它们进化的时间尺度。蚂蚁是大多数陆地生态系统中的重要存在，提供与生态和农业相关的重要生态系统服务。对蚂蚁生殖的估计构成了对其生物学各个方面进行比较研究的基础。推断进化时间尺度的最新方法比以前的方法更有效地使用化石记录，使它们比旧方法更强大和精确。然而，这些新技术还没有经过彻底的测试。在这个项目中，研究员正在评估最先进的方法来估计进化事件的时间，以产生关于如何最好地执行这些分析的建议。该项目将涉及建立软件来分析系统发育数据，这些数据将免费提供，研究员正在接受计算生物学方面的高级培训，包括C/C++编程和软件开发经验。此外，该研究员正在利用通过这些培训活动获得的知识，参与针对妇女和代表性不足的少数群体的外联活动。因此，该研究员通过其指导科学家提供的网络，包括菲尔德博物馆科学界妇女小组和爱荷华州科学和工程界妇女小组，在两个主办机构讲授计算生物学讲习班。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to April Wright is "Building a time-calibrated tree of ants using the fossilized birth-death process." The host institutions for this fellowship is Iowa State University and the Field Museum of Natural History, and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Tracy Heath (Iowa State) and Carrie Moreau (Field Museum).This project uses the Field Museum's extensive collection of ant fossils to estimate both the phylogeny (evolutionary tree) of ants and the timescale of their evolution. Ants are an important presence in the most terrestrial ecosystems, providing vital ecosystem services of ecological and agricultural relevance. An estimate of the phylogeny of ants forms the basis for comparative studies of every aspect of their biology. The newest methods for inferring the timescale for evolution use the fossil record much more efficiently than previous approaches, making them more powerful and precise than older methods. However, these new techniques have not been thoroughly tested. In this project, the Fellow is evaluating the state-of-the-art methods for estimating the timing of evolutionary events, in order to generate recommendations on how to best perform these analyses. This project will involve building software to analyze the phylogenetic data, which will be made freely available.The Fellow is receiving advanced training in computational biology, including experience with C/C++ programming and software development. Furthermore, the Fellow is using the knowledge gained through these training activities to engage in outreach activities to women and underrepresented minorities. Thus, the Fellow is teaching workshops on computational biology at both host institutions, through the networks afforded by her supervising scientists, including the Field Museum Women in Science group and the Iowa State Women in Science and Engineering group.