VIRTMorph Symposium and Workshop at the 2019 International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology; July 21-25, 2019; Prague, Czech Republic

该奖项部分资助了将于2019年7月在捷克共和国布拉格举行的国际脊椎动物形态学会(ICVM)三年一度的会议--国际脊椎动物形态大会(ICVM)--研讨会和研讨会的与会者的旅费。研讨会和研讨会聚集了科学家和软件开发人员，以促进虚拟现实(VR)在功能形态领域的研究和教学目的的使用。由于很难从二维图像(例如照片和插图)中理解和量化三维结构，以及大多数结构的不透明度，形态科学的进步一直受到阻碍，这通常使人无法在不解剖生物体的情况下了解其内部。一个重大飞跃来自三维(3-D)射线成像方法的发展，如计算机断层扫描和磁共振成像，这些方法使密度差异的3-D数据能够被非侵入性地获取、可视化和操纵。一种新颖的、或许类似的飞跃来自软件和硬件的发展，使这些数据能够被研究并使用虚拟现实进行量化。科学家可以虚拟地走进或绕过虚拟有机体，并更好地了解单个结构与整个有机体的关系。由于这些数据和可视化是数字化的，它们正在推动科学家共享和归档数据以及开发教学工具的方式。这次研讨会将汇聚来自世界各地的科学家，他们正在使用VR来促进对一系列生物体结构和功能的了解，并将向其他科学家展示使用多层平台进行实时和远距离合作。研讨会上的培训将使科学家能够在他们的网站和现有存储库中发布支持VR的数据，将移动VR体验带入教室和博物馆，并更好地利用科学收藏。VR将帮助研究人员使用一种无处不在的现代工具-智能手机-给公众带来身临其境的科学体验。科学理解的进步往往伴随着技术创新，为研究人员提供对复杂问题的新见解。VR有望为生物体生物学的核心--复杂的三维形态--做到这一点。VR环境比检查个别研究标本更好，特别是稀有或濒危物种的研究标本，因为虚拟对象可以数字切片、旋转和放大。将在国际ICVM会议上举行的VIRTMorph专题讨论会和研讨会将通过说明如何利用虚拟现实促进对复杂解剖的理解来促进功能形态的研究。研讨会将让科学家熟悉VR软件和硬件，以便平稳、毫不费力地过渡到使用这一强大的新工具。科学家们将学习如何使用VR来建立数字会议的网络框架，从而促进国际合作。它将增强科学家以有效方式向公众交流研究成果的能力。预期的成果包括一份将在科学期刊上发表的协作性白皮书，该白皮书将详细说明虚拟现实领域的最新创新如何最好地用于功能形态学研究和推广。将制作一本《在生物学中使用虚拟现实的初学者指南》，并将在首席研究人员的网站上建立一个教程系列和张贴板，以更广泛地传播研讨会培训。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。

This award partially supports travel for participants in a symposium and workshop at the International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (ICVM), a triennial meeting of the International Society of Vertebrate Morphology to be held in Prague, Czech Republic, in July 2019. The symposium and workshop bring together scientists and software developers to advance the use of virtual reality (VR) for the purposes of both research and teaching in the field of functional morphology. Progress in the morphological sciences has been impeded by the difficulty of understanding and quantifying three dimensional structures from two dimensional images, for example photographs and illustrations, and from the opacity of most structures, which generally makes it impossible to see inside organisms without dissecting them. A major leap forward came from the development of three-dimensional (3-D) radiographic methods, such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, which enable 3-D data of differences in density to be acquired noninvasively, visualized, and manipulated. A novel, and perhaps similar, leap forward comes from software and hardware developments that enable these data to be studied and quantified using virtual reality. Scientists can virtually step inside or walk around a virtual organism, and better understand the relationships of individual structures to the whole organism. Because these data and visualizations are digital, they are advancing the ways scientists share and archive data and develop teaching tools. The symposium will bring together scientists from across the globe who are using VR to advance understanding of structure and function in a range of organisms, and will expose other scientists to the use of multiplayer platforms to collaborate in real time and over long distances. Training at the workshop will enable scientists to publish VR-ready data on their websites and in existing repositories, to bring mobile VR experiences into classrooms and museums, and to make better use of scientific collections. VR will help researchers use a ubiquitous modern tool - the smartphone - to bring immersive, scientific experiences to the public.Advances in scientific understanding often follow technological innovations that afford researchers new insights into complex problems. VR promises to do this for the complex, three-dimensional morphology that is at the heart of organismal biology. The VR environment is superior to examining individual research specimens, especially of rare or endangered species, because virtual objects can be digitally sliced, rotated, and scaled up at will. The VIRTMorph symposium and workshop to be held at the international ICVM meeting will advance the study of functional morphology by illustrating how the understanding of complex anatomy can be facilitated using virtual reality. The workshop will familiarize scientists with VR software and hardware so that a transition to the use of this powerful new tool can occur smoothly and effortlessly. Scientists will learn how to use VR to set up a web framework for digital meetings, and thereby will facilitate international collaborations. It will enhance the ability of scientists to communicate research results to the public in effective ways. Anticipated outcomes include a collaborative white paper, to be published in a scientific journal, that will detail how recent innovations in VR may best be used for research in functional morphology and for outreach. A Beginners Guide to Using VR in Biology will be produced, and a tutorial series and posting board will be established on the principal investigator's website to more broadly disseminate the workshop training.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.