RCN: Coral Bleaching Research Coordination Network

2016年，美国国家科学基金会美国珊瑚白化研究员研讨会的研究人员确定，推进珊瑚白化研究需要在大型多学科网络中提高研究效率和样本存档方法，以促进研究之间的比较，减少发现时间。我们认为，珊瑚白化研究协调网络（Coral Bleaching Research Coordination Network）是解决这一问题的最有效方法。珊瑚白化RCN的目标是：1)通过三个研讨会开发实验设计、样本存档和数据合成协议；2)促进跨学科合作团队的形成。工作坊的研究结果将透过网上直播研讨会、刊物、会议报告，以及在珊瑚白化RCN网站存档。为了促进早期职业科学家的跨学科培训，早期职业培训计划将在竞争的基础上为个人提供资金，让他们花时间在另一个实验室学习新的技能、方法或分析方法，从而进一步促进跨学科培训。两名研究生和16名早期职业科学家将得到这项资助。将努力为研讨会和早期职业计划选择一个多样化的个人群体，不分性别、种族、原籍国以及研究专业知识。讲习班参与者还将考虑职业阶段的多样性。指导委员会成员包括两名女性和一名来自历史上代表性不足的群体的个人，他们的研究专长从地球化学到生态学再到基因组学。珊瑚白化RCN的目标是：1)通过三个研讨会开发实验设计、样本存档和数据合成协议；2)促进跨学科合作团队的形成。这些目标将通过四个活动节点来实现：讲习班、网络研讨会、学生和早期职业培训以及RCN活动的传播。研讨会将是珊瑚白化RCN的核心，重点关注三个主题：1)实验设计方案建议，2)样本存档方案建议，3)数据同化方案建议。每次研讨会的头两天将侧重于制定议定书建议。每个研讨会的最后一天将集中于建立和/或扩大跨学科合作研究团队。每个工作坊将有27名参与者（5名指导委员会成员、2名研究生、10名受邀参与者和10名通过竞争性申请程序选出的参与者）。这种策略将允许大量的个人参加一个或多个研讨会。研讨会前后的活动将确保所有各方的积极参与，并允许对研讨会工作流程进行持续改进。研讨会的成果将有助于指导珊瑚白化研究，提高研究效率、发现速度、多项研究比较的能力，并促进新的和独特的合作。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Researchers at the National Science Foundation U.S. Investigator Workshop on Coral Bleaching in 2016 determined that advancing coral bleaching research required new efficiencies in research and sample archiving methods across a large multi-disciplinary network in order to facilitate comparisons among studies and reduce the time to discovery. It was determined that a Coral Bleaching Research Coordination Network (Coral Bleaching RCN) was the most effective way of addressing this problem. The goals of this Coral Bleaching RCN are to 1) develop experimental design, sample archiving, and data synthesis protocols, through three workshops and 2) facilitate the formation of interdisciplinary collaborative teams. Workshop findings will be disseminated through live cyber-seminars, publications, conference presentations, and archived on the Coral Bleaching RCN website. To foster interdisciplinary training of early career scientists, an Early Career Training program will make available, on a competitive basis, funds for individuals to spend time in another lab to learn new skills, methods, or analytical approaches, thus furthering interdisciplinary training. Two graduate students and sixteen early career scientists will be supported by this grant. Efforts will be made to select a diverse group of individuals for the workshops and early career program, with representation across gender, race, and country of origin, as well as research expertise. Diversity among career stages will also be considered for workshop participants. The Steering Committee members include two women and one individual from a historically underrepresented group with research expertise ranging from geochemistry to ecology to genomics.The goals of this Coral Bleaching RCN are to 1) develop experimental design, sample archiving, and data synthesis protocols, through three workshops and 2) facilitate the formation of interdisciplinary collaborative teams. These goals will be addressed through four activity nodes: workshops, cyberseminars, student and Early Career Training, and RCN activity dissemination. The workshops will be the centerpiece of the Coral Bleaching RCN and focus on three topics: 1) experimental design protocol recommendations, 2) sample archiving protocol recommendations, and 3) data assimilation protocol recommendations. The first two days of each workshop will focus on developing the protocol recommendations. The last day of each workshop will focus on building and/or expanding interdisciplinary collaborative research teams. Each workshop will consist of 27 participants (5 Steering Committee members, 2 graduate students, 10 invited participants, and 10 selected participants through a competitive application process). This strategy will allow for a large number of individuals to participate in one or more workshop(s). Pre- and post-workshop activities will ensure active participation of all parties and allow for ongoing improvement to the workshop workflow. The outcomes of the workshops will help to guide coral bleaching research by enhancing research efficiency, the rate of discovery, the capacity for multi-study comparisons, and stimulating new and unique collaborations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.