Paleontological Society Workshop on Future Directions in Paleontology held on September 10-11, 2005 at the Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

在过去的几十年里，很明显，科学进步通常是由代表各种专业知识的科学家团队来解决大问题的。为了应对科学研究性质的这些变化，古生物学会提议组织一次研讨会，并辅之以一系列研究论坛，重点是制定几项得到古生物界广泛支持的新的大规模研究倡议。拟举办的未来古生物学研究方向(FRDP)讲习班将有25人参加，拟于2005年9月10-11日在华盛顿特区史密森学会古生物系举行。在此之前，将在新斯科舍省哈利法克斯举行的北美古生物大会(2005年6月)上举行一次研究论坛。研讨会之后，将在美国地质学会年会(2005年10月)上举行两个研究论坛。这项工作的最终成果将是一份30-40页的文件，其中将包含5-6个更大的综合项目的简短提案，这些项目需要大量资金，古生物界对此表示强烈支持。拟议活动的智力价值是什么？从事古生物研究的人会同意，在我们理解生命是如何进化和存在于地球上的许多挑战中，最好是以合作、综合的方式来解决。FRDP讲习班和相关的研究论坛将提供一个以社区为基础的平台，其中几个最重要的研究问题可以通过制定研究项目来解决，这些项目将作为古生物界的倡议。通过这种方式，古生物学会计划引领古生物研究的未来。这项研究的更广泛的影响是什么？随着过去几十年来科学的发展，许多最重要的问题只能通过使用最好的可用技术的跨学科科学家团队来解决。这种以团队为基础的活动将为科学前沿领域的研究、培训和经验提供许多机会，特别是越来越多的妇女和目前正在进入地球科学领域的其他代表性不足的群体。

Over the past few decades it has become apparent that scientific progress is commonly bestattained where big problems are addressed by teams of scientists representing a widevariety of expertise. In response to these changes in the nature of scientific inquiry,the Paleontological Society proposes to organize a workshop accompanied by a series ofresearch forums that will focus on developing several new large-scale research initiativesthat have the broad support of the paleontological community. The proposed Future ResearchDirections in Paleontology (FRDP) Workshop, for which funds are requested, will include 25participants, and is to be held on September 10-11, 2005 at the Department ofPaleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. This will be preceded by aresearch forum at the North American Paleontological Convention (June, 2005) in Halifax,Nova Scotia. The workshop will then be followed by two research forums at the GeologicalSociety of America Annual Meeting (October, 2005). The final product of this effort willbe a document of 30-40 pages which will contain short proposals for 5-6 larger integrativeprojects that require significant funding which the paleontological community shows strongsupport for initiating.What Is The Intellectual Merit of the Proposed Activity?Those engaged in paleontological research would agree that many challenges towards ourunderstanding of how life has evolved and existed on Earth would be best approached in acollaborative, integrative fashion. The FRDP Workshop and associated Research Forums willprovide a community-based platform where several of these most important research problemscan be addressed through development of research projects that will act as initiatives forthe paleontological community. In this way the Paleontological Society plans to lead theway towards the future of paleontological research.What Are The Broader Impacts of this Study?With the growth of science over the past few decades, many of the most important problemscan only be solved with interdisciplinary teams of scientists using the best availabletechnology. Such team-based activities will provide numerous opportunities for researchtraining and experience in forefront areas of science, particularly the growing number ofwomen and other under-represented groups which are currently entering the Earth sciences.