Advancing U.S. Quaternary Science by Supporting Early Career Scientists: 2019 INQUA Congress Travel Fellowship Program

美国国家科学院将通过该旅行奖学金计划支持10名美国早期职业科学家前往2019年国际第四纪协会（INQUA）大会。每四年一次的INQUA国际大会为来自世界各地的第四纪（地球历史的最后260万年）科学家提供了最好的机会，展示他们的研究成果并讨论其学科的最新发展。如果没有这种援助，这些科学家通常无法参加。本次大会为早期职业科学家提供了一个特殊的编程线程，将为美国参与者提供独特的机会，在他们的获奖者群体中与美国和国际科学家在所有职业阶段讨论他们的原创研究。 这些互动可能会导致现有数据分析的改进，并产生收集更多数据的想法，并通过学科和跨学科工作构建新的假设。这个奖学金计划的更广泛的影响是在获奖者接触到优秀的国际研究，并让他们有机会在国际一级展示他们的研究。这种参与可能会促进国际合作，让他们参与，让他们有机会与众多第四纪科学分支学科的杰出科学家互动，并促进跨学科合作。这些获奖者可以建立持久的科学关系，就像该计划以前的版本一样。美国科学院还计划设立一个指导小组，由美国资深科学家帮助获奖者有效地参与大会和网络活动。国际科学组织委员会是国家科学院政策和全球事务部国际网络与合作主题的一部分，也是国际第四纪研究联合会美国国家委员会（USNC/INQUA）的所在地。该项目将提供小额旅行奖学金，以支持美国研究生和早期职业科学家参加将于2019年7月25日至31日在爱尔兰都柏林举行的第20届INQUA大会。USNC/INQUA将竞争性地为美国公民或永久居民研究生和在美国机构从事第四纪研究的早期职业科学家颁发至少10个旅行奖学金，每个奖学金最高可达2，000美元，这些科学家在第20届INQUA大会上以第一作者的身份发表论文，并为该群体组织指导活动。选择旅行奖获得者的过程将旨在提高那些在地球科学领域历来得不到充分服务和代表性不足的人的积极参与。这一战略与NSF的INCLUDES计划的目标是一致的。该计划将获奖者暴露给工会，并为他们提供参与科学的可能性，并最终代表美国参与INQUA的治理活动。所有这些富有成效的互动将推动美国第四纪科学的发展。该奖项反映了NSF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。

The National Academy of Sciences will support 10 U.S. Early Career Scientists' travel to the 2019 International Quaternary Association (INQUA) Congress through this Travel Fellowship Program. The quadrennial INQUA International Congress represents the foremost opportunity for Quaternary (last 2.6 million years of Earth's history) scientists from around the world to present their research and discuss the latest developments in their disciplines. Without this assistance these scientists could not normally participate. This Congress, which has a special programming thread for early career scientists, will give U.S. participants the unique opportunity to discuss their original research among their cohort of awardees and with U.S. and international scientists at all career stages. These interactions will likely result in improvements of the analysis of existing data, and the generation of ideas for the gathering of additional data and the construction of new hypotheses through disciplinary and interdisciplinary work. The broader impact of this fellowship program is in the exposure of the awardees to excellent international research and in giving them the opportunity to show their research at the international level. Such participation will likely foster international collaboration, keep them engaged, give them the opportunity to interact with preeminent scientists across the many Quaternary science subdisciplines, and foster interdisciplinary collaborations. These awardees can establish long-lasting scientific relationships as has happened in previous editions of the program. A mentoring component is also planned in which senior U.S. scientists help the awardees navigate the Congress and network effectively.The Board on International Scientific Organizations, part of the International Networks and Cooperation theme within the NAS Policy and Global Affairs Division, is home to the U.S. National Committee for the International Union for Quaternary Research (USNC/INQUA). The project will provide small travel fellowships to support U.S. graduate student and early career scientist participation in the 20th INQUA Congress to be held in Dublin, Ireland, July 25-31, 2019. USNC/INQUA will competitively award at least 10 travel fellowships at up to $2,000 each for U.S. citizens or permanent resident graduate students and early career scientists working on Quaternary research at U.S. institutions who are presenting papers as first authors at the 20th INQUA Congress and organize mentoring activities for the cohort. The process of selecting the travel award recipients will aim at increasing the active participation of those who have been traditionally underserved and underrepresented in the Earth sciences. This strategy is consistent with the goal of NSF's INCLUDES program. This program exposes awardees to the union and affords them the possibility of getting involved in the scientific and, eventually, governance activities representing the U.S. in INQUA. All of these fruitful interactions will advance U.S. Quaternary science.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.