IGERT: Computational Phylogenetics and Applications to Biology

系统发生学，研究基因、个体、种群和物种之间的关系，是所有比较生物学的基础。该IGERT赠款将支持一个全面的，跨学科的研究生培训计划，在计算系统发生学和应用生物学。 该计划涉及来自德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校计算和生物科学的27名教师参与者，每年将支持12名研究生学员，为期五年。 两个主要的研究领域将被强调：计算遗传学和应用遗传学。 系统发育为所有生物学提供了一个基本框架，并为计算科学家提出了许多技术挑战。 计算遗传学关注系统发育推断的计算方面，应用遗传学使用估计的系统发育来解决各种生物学问题。 该培训计划将涉及一系列新的和现有的课程和研讨会，夏季培训计划，为学生从科学的代表性不足的领域，co-exercise每个研究生由一个计算和一个生物教师参与者，安置学生到完善的研究小组在生物学和计算机科学，参加春季招聘会议和秋季遗传学务虚会，以及在生物信息产业、国家实验室和非政府组织实习的机会。该项目的目标是：（一）设计和实施跨学科的培训课程，为研究生跨计算和生物科学，培养学生理解和促进双方的计算生物学;（二）鼓励跨学科研究生研究和跨学科的互动之间的一般计算科学家和生物科学家，这将导致开发和测试新的方法，未解决的问题在遗传学及其应用的生物学问题;（iii）准备学员为他们的研究生院以外的职业生涯，并帮助他们实现在更大的研究界的知名度;（iv）评估和改进程序在计算和应用遗传学，以确保其成功超越拟议的IGERT项目。 该计划将为计算和生物科学领域的研究生和教师创造一个独特的协作环境。IGERT是一个全NSF范围的计划，旨在应对博士教育的挑战科学家和工程师与多学科背景和技术，专业和个人技能所需的未来的职业需求。该计划旨在通过建立新的，创新的研究生教育和培训模式，促进研究生教育的文化变革，为超越传统学科界限的合作研究创造肥沃的环境。在该计划的第四年，该奖项将颁发给22个机构，这些机构的计划共同涵盖了NSF支持的所有科学和工程领域。这个特殊奖项的知识焦点位于生物科学局;计算机和信息科学与工程;教育和人力资源。

Phylogenetics , the study of the relationships among genes, individuals, populations, and species, forms the basis for all of comparative biology. This IGERT grant will support a comprehensive, interdisciplinary graduate training program in Computational Phylogenetics and Applications to Biology. The program involves 27 faculty participants from the computational and biological sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, and it will support 12 graduate trainees each year for five years. Two major research areas will be emphasized: computational phylogenetics and applied phylogenetics. Phylogenies provide a fundamental framework for all of biology, and present the computational scientist with many technical challenges. Computational phylogenetics is concerned with the computational aspects of phylogenetic inference, and applied phylogenetics uses estimated phylogenies to address a wide diversity of biological questions. The training program will involve a series of new and existing courses and seminars, a summer training program for students from underrepresented areas of science, co-advisement of each graduate student by one computational and one biological faculty participant, placement of students into well-established research groups in biology and computer science, participation in spring recruitment conferences and fall phylogenetics retreats, and opportunities for internships in the bioinformatics industry, national laboratories, and non-government organizations. The goals of this project are: (i) design and implement an interdisciplinary training curriculum for graduate students across computational and biological sciences that prepares students to understand and contribute to both sides of computational biology; (ii) stimulate interdisciplinary graduate research and interdisciplinary interactions in general between computational scientists and biological scientists that will lead to development and testing of novel approaches to unsolved problems in phylogenetics and their application to problems in biology; (iii) prepare trainees for their careers beyond graduate school and help them achieve visibility in the larger research community; and (iv) evaluate and improve the program in computational and applied phylogenetics to ensure its success beyond the proposed IGERT project. This program will create a unique collaborative environment for graduate students and faculty from the computational and biological sciences.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; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; and Education and Human Resources.