IRES Track I: Comparative Anatomy and Functional Morphology in Cuvier's Paris

功能形态学和比较解剖学是研究人类和其他动物的身体是如何工作的，这些学科的研究开始并持续到今天，在巴黎的收藏中。在这个IRES项目中，新一代的学生将被教导使用功能形态学和比较生物学的尖端工具来测试跨物种的假设，这些科目对大量对STEM领域的职业感兴趣的学生感兴趣，从而试图在过去几个世纪形成该学科基础的地方激发21世纪的劳动力增长。每年将招收大约7名来自不同背景的本科生（包括来自历史上代表性不足的群体的学院和大学的学生），并接受包括活体动物行为、肌肉解剖、骨骼、牙齿和头骨分析以及如何从化石形状推断灭绝物种的行为和能力的技术培训。学生不仅可以学习这些技术技能，而且通过与资深教授及其国际博士后和研究生团队的合作，他们将学习跨学术团队和文化合作的“软技能”。学生将获得这些技能，并获得专业演讲和潜在出版物的作者身份，为他们提供可能改变生活的经历，这些经历可能成为他们继续追求STEM兴趣和职业的核心。这个项目的总体目标是在21世纪新兴的功能形态学和比较解剖学技术方面培养不同的学生群体。学生们将在美国PI的实验室（北卡罗莱纳州立大学）接受关键技术的培训，然后陪同他们到巴黎国家自然历史博物馆的一位合作者的实验室工作，在那里他们将有机会接触到数百年前的收藏品和该地区的其他生物研究机构。在那里，在教授及其高级博士后和研究生的指导下，IRES学生将开发独立或小组项目，重点关注功能形态学和比较解剖学研究问题的现代方法。这些工作可能包括：1)在几个动物设施进行行为研究和实验（包括进入一群鼠狐猴，或研究像大竹狐猴这样的物种，这些物种在法国以外没有被圈养）；2)用新鲜标本或博物馆大量液体收集的标本进行解剖；对现代物种或著名化石收藏的骨骼或牙齿材料的分析也收藏在这个具有重要历史意义的博物馆藏品中。这些研究可能最终允许IRES的学生利用这些现存物种的行为和解剖学知识来评估灭绝物种的适应性。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。

Functional Morphology and Comparative Anatomy are the studies of how bodies work in humans and other animals, disciplines of research that began and continue, to this day, in the collections in Paris. In this IRES project, new generations of students will be taught to test hypotheses across species using cutting-edge tools in functional morphology and comparative biology, subjects that are of interest to the great number of students interested in careers in STEM fields, thus attempting to inspire this focal 21st Century work-force growth in a place that formed the foundation of the discipline over the last many centuries. Approximately seven undergraduate students a year will be recruited from diverse backgrounds (including recruitment from colleges and universities that serve historically underrepresented groups) and trained in techniques that span live animal behavior, muscle dissection, analyses of bones, teeth and skulls and finally how to make inferences about the behavior and abilities of extinct species from the shapes of their fossils. Not only will students learn these technical skills, but through working with senior professors and their international teams of postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, they will learn the "soft skills" of collaborating across academic teams and cultures. Students will gain these skills and earn authorship on professional presentations and potentially publications, giving them the possibly life changing experiences that may form the core of their continued pursuit of STEM interests and careers.The overarching goal of this project is to train diverse cohorts of students in burgeoning 21st century functional morphology and comparative anatomy techniques. Students will be trained in key techniques the US PI's lab (at North Carolina State University) prior to being accompanied to Paris to work in the lab of one of his collaborators at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle where they will have access to centuries-old collections and the other biological research institutions in the region. There, with the mentorship of the professors and their senior postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, the IRES students will develop independent or group projects that focus on modern approaches to functional morphology and comparative anatomy research questions. These may include 1) behavioral research and experimentation at several zoological facilities (including access to a colony of mouse lemurs, or work with species like the greater bamboo lemur, that are not held in captivity outside of France), 2) dissection work with fresh specimens or specimens from the museum's expansive fluid collection, and analyses of osteological or dental material from 3) modern species or 4) the famous fossil collections also housed in this historically significant museum collection. These studies may ultimately allow the IRES students to use this knowledge about the behavior and anatomy of extant species to evaluate the adaptations of extinct species.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.