IGERT: Signals in the Sea

化学和流体力学信号的重要性得到了广泛的认识，但研究还不够充分。在海洋和淡水系统中，化学信号影响摄食、竞争、配偶识别、栖息地选择、宿主-共生体和宿主-病原体相互作用等关键过程。这些化学信号不仅直接影响生物体，而且对种群结构、群落组织和生态系统功能产生一系列间接影响。大量研究表明，在水生生态系统中，许多这种生态相互作用都是由化学信号来调节的，但很少有研究将水生化学生态学与微生物学、感觉生物学、生理学或对调节信号传递和接收的流体动力学的了解结合在一起。很少有科学家在生态学、化学、感觉生物学、微生物学、生理学和小规模流体动力学方面拥有推进水生系统化学信号领域所需的广度和跨学科培训。美国国家科学基金会最近举办的关于生物海洋学中的挑战和机遇的研讨会(Oeuvre)确定，从机械上理解这些以化学和物理为中介的小规模过程是这一多样化领域面临的主要挑战。佐治亚理工学院与斯基德韦和斯克里普斯海洋学机构合作，在培训学生迎接这些挑战方面处于独特的地位。根据这一IGERT计划，佐治亚理工学院的研究生培训将由一系列独特的综合核心课程组成，这是一个关于水上信号的强化实践课程，跨学科的学生团队将对他们自己设计的项目进行实验研究，并由一个多学科的研究生委员会进行指导。将举办研讨会，讨论影响水生信号的生物、化学和物理相互作用、科学伦理、代表不足的群体和科学界妇女面临的特殊问题，以及科学和工程专业发展的实际问题。在该项目期间，IGERT基金将支持40多名研究生，培养约26名博士，并在佐治亚理工学院建立一个永久的水上信号中心。IGERT是一个NSF范围的项目，旨在应对培养具有多学科背景的博士科学家和工程师的挑战，以及未来职业需求所需的技术、专业和个人技能。该项目旨在通过建立新的、创新的研究生教育和培训模式，在一个超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中，催化研究生教育的文化变革。在该计划的第四年，22个机构被授予奖项，这些机构的项目共同涵盖了NSF支持的所有科学和工程领域。这一具体奖项的知识重点位于生物科学、地球科学、数学和物理科学、工程、教育和人力资源以及极地方案办公室的理事会。

The importance of chemical and hydromechanical signaling is broadly recognized but inadequately studied. In marine and freshwater systems, chemical signals affect critical processes such as feeding, competition, mate recognition, habitat choice, host-symbiont and host-pathogen interactions. These chemical signals not only directly affect organisms but also produce a cascade of indirect effects on population structure, community organization, and ecosystem function. Numerous investigations indicate that chemical signals mediate many of these ecological interactions in aquatic systems, but exceedingly few investigations have coupled aquatic chemical ecology with microbiology, sensory biology, physiology, or an understanding of the fluid dynamics that mediate the transmission and reception of signals. Few scientists have the requisite breadth and cross-disciplinary training in ecology, chemistry, sensory biology, microbiology, physiology and small-scale hydrodynamics necessary to advance the field of chemical signaling in aquatic systems. The recent NSF workshop on challenges and opportunities in biological oceanography (OEUVRE) identified a mechanistic understanding of these small-scale chemically and physically mediated processes as a major challenge facing this diverse field. Georgia Institute of Technology, in collaboration with Skidaway and Scripps Institutions of Oceanography, is uniquely positioned to train students to meet these challenges. Under this IGERT program, graduate training at Georgia Tech will consist of a unique series of integrated core courses, an intensive, hands-on class in aquatic signaling where interdisciplinary student teams will experimentally investigate projects of their own design, intemships, and mentoring by a multidisciplinary graduate committee. Seminars will be conducted on biological, chemical and physical interactions affecting aquatic signaling, scientific ethics, special issues faced by under-represented groups and women in science, and the practical aspects of professional development in science and engineering. During the project, IGERT funds will support over 40 graduate students, produce about 26 PhDs, and start a permanent center for aquatic signaling at Georgia Tech.IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing new, innovative models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fourth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-two institutions for programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. The intellectual foci of this specific award reside in the Directorates for Biological Sciences; Geosciences; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Engineering; Education and Human Resources; and the Office of Polar Programs.