Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2004

这项行动为2004财政年度NSF少数民族博士后研究奖学金提供资金。该研究金的目标是增加少数群体科学家在博士后一级的参与，并使他们为在学术界和工业界担任科学领导职务做好准备。为了实现这一目标，奖学金提供了最高质量的博士后培训和研究的机会，以最近的博士获奖者。 预计通过这些奖学金获得资助的研究员将在培训未来的劳动力方面发挥重要作用。研究和培训计划的标题是“通过牙齿发育、形态和功能了解胎盘哺乳动物的早期进化辐射”。“在非鸟类恐龙灭绝之后，白垩纪的哺乳动物迅速进化成一系列的身体大小和生态。目前正在使用基于发育和生态学原理的计算机模拟模型以及北美（8000万至5000万年前）的化石数据库对这一事件的模式和过程进行研究。 培训部分包括发育生物学，定量分析方法和理论建模。

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2004. The goal of the fellowship is to increase the participation of minority scientists at the postdoctoral level and to prepare them for positions of scientific leadership in academia and industry. To attain this goal, the fellowship provides opportunities for postdoctoral training and research of the highest quality to recent doctoral recipients. It is expected that Fellows supported through these fellowships will play important roles in training of the future workforce.The research and training plan is entitled "Understanding the early evolutionary radiation of placental mammals through dental development, morphology, and function." Ecologically generalized Cretaceous mammals rapidly evolved into an array of body sizes and ecologies, following the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs. Patterns and process of this episode are being investigated using computer-simulated models based on developmental and ecological principles and a fossil database from North America (80-50 million years ago). The training component includes developmental biology, quantitative-analytical methods, and theoretical modeling.