WoU-MMA: Bridge, The Next Generation: a postdoctoral fellowship program in multi-messenger astrophysics

一项研究和教育计划将在菲斯克大学建立多信使天文学领域的能力并使天文学制度化。该项目将在当前菲斯克-范德比尔特硕士到博士桥梁项目（FVBP）的框架内开展工作，并纳入一个新的博士后奖学金项目，旨在培养未来多信使天文学领域的领导者，并提供桥梁模型内部工作的第一手经验。作为对当前学生和博士后指导结构的改进，该团队还建议试点一项个性化的健康指导计划，该计划侧重于STEM中代表性不足的群体的特殊早期职业需求。在资助期间，新的博士后研究员将帮助在菲斯克校区开设天文学课程，以帮助进一步实现菲斯克天文学制度化的目标。通过充分的指导、团队研究培训和非传统的专业发展，这些研究员将有能力成为教师，并实施他们自己的包容性项目。多信使天文学（MMA）是一个相对较新的研究领域，它涉及对可探测电磁辐射（天文学的传统“信使”）以及引力波、亚原子粒子或两者兼而有之的天体物理对象的观测和理论研究。MMA是一个融合的研究领域，需要数据科学家、数学家、物理学家、工程师、天文学家和计算机科学家的专业知识，在这项工作的背景下，它为Fisk和Vanderbilt的广泛领域专家之间形成和促进新的合作提供了机会。综合格斗是一个新兴的领域，它的发现空间是巨大的，因为现在有了一种从宇宙中收集信息的全新方式。在获得资助的过程中，包括博士后研究员在内的研究小组将专门从事与黑洞理论、模拟和观测相关的研究。由于专门接受多信使天文学培训的人相对较少，菲斯克有机会成为一个新领域专业知识的纽带。这个奖项推进了“宇宙大创意之窗”的目标。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。

A research and education program will build capacity and institutionalize astronomy at Fisk University in the area of multi-messenger astronomy. The program will work within the structure of the current Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-PhD Bridge Program (FVBP) to incorporate a new postdoctoral fellowship program designed to train future leaders in multi-messenger astronomy and to provide first-hand experience of the inner workings of the Bridge model. As an improvement on the current mentoring structure for students and postdoctoral fellows, the team also proposes to pilot an individualized wellness mentoring program which focuses on the particular early-career needs of groups underrepresented in STEM. During the course of the grant, the new postdoctoral fellows will help establish astronomy courses to be taught on the Fisk campus to help further the goal of institutionalization of astronomy at Fisk. With ample mentoring, team-based research training and non-traditional professional development, these fellows will be well-equipped to become faculty and to implement inclusion programs of their own.Multi-messenger astronomy (MMA) is a relatively new field of research, which involves observational and theoretical studies of astrophysical objects that are sources of detectable electromagnetic radiation, the traditional “messenger” of astronomy, along with either gravitational waves, subatomic particles, or both. MMA is a convergent area of research that requires expertise from data scientists, mathematicians, physicists, engineers, astronomers, and computer scientists, and which, in the context of this work, provides opportunities to form and foster new collaborations among a broad set of domain experts at Fisk and Vanderbilt. MMA is an emerging field whose discovery space is enormous because there is now an entirely new way to gather information from the universe. Over the course of the grant, the team, including the postdoctoral fellows, will specialize in research related to black hole theory, simulations, and observations. With relatively few people trained specifically in multi-messenger astronomy, there is an opportunity for Fisk to become a nexus of expertise in a new field. This award advances the goals of the Windows on the Universe Big Idea.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.