IRES Track I: Shiraki International Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research (SIMuR) Project

白木国际多学科本科研究(SIMuR)项目是三所公立大学(布里奇沃特州立大学、加州大学圣地亚哥分校和佐治亚州伊利亚州立大学)和佐治亚州国家科学院的教职员工和学生合作的项目。SIMuR项目将让美国本科生对格鲁吉亚东南部白木高原的历史和正在进行的人与环境相互作用进行跨学科研究。该项目将加强一批不同的、在全球范围内胜任的、参与其中的年轻STEM研究人员的科学知识、技术和领导技能。这一国际研究经验将使学生参与跨国家和跨学科的研究工作，同时让他们熟悉这个文化丰富的战略地区的国家细节。SIMuR将在格鲁吉亚和美国农村地区服务不足的社区提高STEM的参与度和识字率，将先进的数据科学、可视化和时空分析概念和技术引入这种跨国合作，从而提高学生和大学解决具有全球意义的研究问题的能力。具体地说，了解自然和人为因素在白木高原人类住区历史上的相互作用是识别和模拟影响文明兴衰的人类和环境变化影响的跨学科挑战的一部分。为了对这一不断发展的知识体系做出贡献，SIMuR将邀请布里奇沃特州立大学的15名本科生(每年5名)与格鲁吉亚同行开展高质量的跨学科研究合作，并由地质科学、网络考古、计算机工程、信息管理和数据科学等国际专家组提供指导。参与者还将参与到佐治亚州东南部和马萨诸塞州服务不足的社区的STEM外联活动。该项目的研究和教育部分都将建立在先进技术的融合上，以澄清关于白木高原人口减少的几个相互矛盾的假设。白木高原是最近发现的早期文明的所在地。研究界对这一地区早期人类历史的积极重新考虑，以及从考古挖掘和地质学、水文学、古生态学和相关领域的实地观察中获得的快速增长的额外数据，将使这一机会成为学生参与科学辩论、发展实地研究和分析技能的前所未有的机会，并加深他们对这一迅速发展的文化多样性领域的理解。通过在可访问的在线位置创建和传播研究结果，该项目将增加美国和世界各地的科学家、教育工作者和未得到充分服务的社区公平地获得真实科学数据的机会。招聘将集中于STEM领域传统上服务不足的本科生、低收入和第一代大学生。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Shiraki International Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research (SIMuR) project is a collaboration between faculty and students at three public universities (Bridgewater State University, University of California San Diego, and Ilia State University in Georgia) and the National Academy of Sciences of Georgia. The SIMuR project will engage U.S. undergraduate students in interdisciplinary research of historical and ongoing human-environmental interactions in the Shiraki Plateau in the southeastern part of the country of Georgia. The project will strengthen scientific knowledge, technical and leadership skills of a cohort of diverse, globally competent, and engaged young STEM researchers. This international research experience will embed students in a cross-country and cross-disciplinary research effort while getting them acquainted with the national specifics of this culturally-rich strategic region. SIMuR will increase STEM engagement and literacy in underserved communities in rural Georgia and the US, bringing advanced data science, visualization and spatial and temporal analysis concepts and technologies into this cross-country collaboration, thus improving the capacity of students and universities to address research problems of global significance.Specifically, understanding the interplay of natural and anthropogenic factors in the history of human settlement on the Shiraki Plateau is a part of the interdisciplinary challenge of identifying and modeling impacts of human and environmental changes influencing the rise and decline of civilizations. With the goal of contributing to this developing body of knowledge, SIMuR will engage 15 undergraduate students from Bridgewater State University (5 students each year) in high-quality interdisciplinary research collaborations with Georgian peers and mentorship from an international group of experts in geological sciences, cyber-archaeology, computer engineering, information management, and data science. Participants will also engage in STEM outreach to underserved communities in southeastern Georgia and Massachusetts. Both the research and educational components of the project will build on a confluence of advanced technologies to clarify the several competing hypotheses of the depopulation of the Shiraki Plateau, the site of a recently discovered early civilization. The active reconsideration of the early human history of this area by the research community, and rapidly growing additional data from archaeological excavations and field observations in geology, hydrology, paleo-ecology and related fields, will make this an unprecedented opportunity for students to engage in the science debate, develop field research and analysis skills, and deepen their understanding of this rapidly developing culturally diverse area. By creating and disseminating findings in accessible online locations, the project will increase equitable access to authentic scientific data to scientists, educators, and underserved communities in US and throughout the world. Recruitment will focus on undergraduate students from groups traditionally underserved in STEM fields, low-income and first-generation college students.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.