Eco-DAS 3.0: Ecological Dissertations in the Aquatic Sciences: Honolulu, HI - October 2020, 2022, 2024

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Ecosystems are highly complex. Most ecological research today depends on the involvement of a team of scientists, each of whom brings special skills and knowledge to the team. For an ecological scientist, their most important asset can be an extensive professional network that allows the scientist to tackle problems that could not possibly be solved alone. Diverse professional networks mean diverse perspectives on the most important issues of today, and creative approaches to the science underlying possible solutions. The Ecological Dissertations in the Aquatic Sciences (Eco-DAS) program brings together recent PhD recipients in any area of the ecology of water bodies: oceans, estuaries, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, or groundwater. Although the highlight of the program is a week-long symposium at which participants exchange ideas and develop working partnerships, Eco-DAS participants interact for more than a year. Before the symposium, participants share their most exciting ideas for a collaborative manuscript related to aquatic ecology. During the symposium, they self-organize into working groups that agree to take on one of these ideas; they also engage in professional development training. After the symposium, the author teams develop their selected ideas into manuscripts and ultimately publish their work in an open-access professional publication. The professional networks developed through Eco-DAS persist well beyond these original projects, and often lead to new research projects, collaborations, and publications. The symposium series encourages and fosters interdisciplinary collaborations among early career scientists from diverse subdisciplines, to the benefit of both the science and the researchers. The symposium participants represent the latest additions to the national research effort and are likely to become leading scientists in future; Eco-DAS alumni include recent award recipients, publication editors, and tenured faculty. Evaluations of the Eco-DAS program provide strong evidence that participation is likely to increase professional success by expanding the professional network of participants to include colleagues from diverse disciplines, and by initiating new collaborations that are likely to promote further collaboration in future. Each Eco-DAS symposium generates 6-10 published papers, including reviews, commentary, and original research. The Eco-DAS program includes the following components:-- A diverse group of participants is selected from an exceptionally well qualified pool of applicants. Applicants must be within one year of their PhD in a field related to aquatic ecology, and must be current U.S. residents, working with U.S. scientists, or have plans to conduct research in the U.S. or with U.S. scientists. Because a diversity of perspective is an important component of group creativity and productivity, the selection process will consider the diversity of backgrounds represented among the participants. An intended added-value will be increased diversity in the professional networks of participants. -- Participants begin by proposing interdisciplinary manuscripts that would depend on developing a team with complementary expertise. -- Author teams self-organize during the symposium around a subset of the offered topics. -- Mentor-led discussions, informative panels, and workshops are held during the symposium to prepare participants for the challenges of academic and non-academic careers in the aquatic sciences.-- By the end of the symposium, teams have developed outlines for the selected manuscripts. -- The manuscripts are written after the symposium, and ultimately appear in open access in professional publications.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.