RaMP: Making meaningful connections: Fostering the Integration of Biodiversity Patterns with Genetic Evolutionary Mechanisms (BioGEM)

鉴于快速变化的气候给地球上的所有生命带来的严重性和复杂性，需要采取多方面的方法来解决生物多样性危机。该项目汇集了一群具有从基因组学到古生物学的不同专业知识的导师，以培训综合和跨学科的生物生物学研究方面的学士学位后学者。学者和他们的导师将从事跨越时间尺度、生物等级和生命树上的有机体的研究，以解决关于过去、现在和未来有机体对不断变化的环境的反应的具体问题。将招募三个队列，每个队列10名学士学位后学者，以扩大对科学的参与。网络合作伙伴包括当地的一所部落学院、地区性的以本科为主的机构、一家生物医学研究所，以及一个与工业相联系的非营利性组织。通过将不同的导师、网络合作伙伴和毕业后学者聚集在一起从事跨学科研究，该项目将提供广泛的培训，使综合生物生物学的劳动力多样化，同时导致有助于更好地理解和预测生物对不断变化的气候的反应的重要发现。该项目的中心是整合生物多样性科学和遗传进化机制(BioGEM)，以调查对气候变化的生物反应。BioGEM学士后学者将主要在堪萨斯大学(KU)工作，利用堪萨斯大学世界一流的设施和博物馆藏品进行研究，结合网络在生物多样性科学(系统发育学、古生物学、形态计量学、生物地理学和群落生态学)和遗传进化机制(比较和功能基因组学、发育生物学和数量遗传学)方面的专业知识。具体地说，研究物种形成/灭绝/持续、古生物地理学以及形态差异和创新将使我们能够解决生物、物种和支系如何受到过去环境的塑造；研究种群动态、生态相互作用和生物地理格局将使我们能够研究生物、种群和物种如何响应当前的生物和非生物环境；研究可塑性、基因组对适应的反应以及遗传多样性的机制将使我们能够解决如何使生物装备以应对未来环境变化的遗传机制。BioGEM项目体验的一个关键组成部分是每周一次的专业与学术进步系列活动，包括导师和网络合作伙伴，其中包括专业发展研讨会和实践导师指导的培训模块，涵盖广泛的研究方法。BioGEM计划面向那些以前研究经验有限或没有研究经验的应届毕业生。这一奖项反映了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。

Given the severity and complexity that a rapidly changing climate imposes on all life on Earth, a multi-faceted approach to addressing the biodiversity crisis is needed. This project brings together a group of mentors with diverse expertise, ranging from genomics to paleontology, in order to train postbaccalaureate scholars in integrative and interdisciplinary organismal biology research. Scholars and their mentors will engage in research that spans time scales, biological hierarchies, and organisms across the tree of life, to address specific questions regarding past, present, and future organismal responses to a changing environment. Three cohorts of ten postbaccalaureate scholars each will be recruited to broaden participation in the sciences. Network partners include a local tribal college, regional primarily undergraduate institutions, a biomedical research institute, and a non-profit organization that interfaces with industry. In bringing together a diverse group of mentors, network partners, and postbaccalaureate scholars to engage in interdisciplinary research, this project will provide extensive training that diversifies the workforce in integrative organismal biology, while leading to important discoveries that help better understand and predict biological responses to a changing climate.This program centers on integrating Biodiversity science and Genetic Evolutionary Mechanisms (BioGEM) to investigate biological responses to climate change. BioGEM postbaccalaureate scholars will be primarily based at the University of Kansas (KU) and utilize KU’s world-class facilities and museum collections to conduct research that incorporates the network’s expertise in biodiversity science (phylogenetics, paleontology, morphometrics, biogeography, and community ecology) and genetic evolutionary mechanisms (comparative and functional genomics, developmental biology, and quantitative genetics). Specifically, studying speciation/extinction/persistence, paleobiogeography, and morphological disparity and innovation will allow us to address how organisms, species, and clades were shaped by their past environment; studying population dynamics, ecological interactions, and biogeographic patterns will allow us to address how organisms, populations, and species respond to their present biotic and abiotic environment; and studying plasticity, genomic responses to adaptation, and mechanisms of genetic diversity will allow us to address how genetic mechanisms equip organisms to respond to future environmental change. A key component of the BioGEM program experience is a weekly Professional & Scholarly Advancement series, involving the mentors and network partners, that will include both professional development workshops and hands-on mentor-led training modules covering a wide range of research methods. The BioGEM program is geared towards recent graduates that have had limited or no prior research experience.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.