Americas Program: Workshop on Cyberinfrastructure for International Biodiversity Research Collaboration; Panama; January 2006

这个美洲项目奖将支持由堪萨斯大学研究中心的James H. Beach博士和佛罗里达国际大学的Julio Ibarra博士组织的项目开发研讨会。该研讨会将由墨西哥、巴拿马、哥斯达黎加和哥伦比亚的各个科学机构联合主办，它将关注新工具和工作方法在生物多样性方面的应用。这些工具源于计算、相关信息技术的进步，以及目前正在全球范围内发展的日益增长的基础设施——网络基础设施。该研讨会将于2006年1月初在巴拿马城举行，并将探索机会和突破性活动，目的是促进生物多样性信息学和研究的未来合作。在无所不在的数据网络连接之前，生物多样性研究合作需要面对面的专业互动，包括实地考察、驻留或其他形式的访问，并且主要依赖纸质文件和邮件进行远程协调和沟通。今天，许多研究团体，包括系统学、系统发育学和生态学团体，正处于变革的尖端，这是网络容量的结果，网络容量将实现基于与网络信息服务器和计算服务的即时交互的新型研究合作，这种模式被称为“网格计算”。连接世界各地科学家桌面的高通量国际骨干将有助于在虚拟的全球生物多样性合作环境中与科学家“连线”在一起，启动一类新的研究合作。为了在北美和中美洲国家之间的研究交流中为这一转变奠定基础并做好准备，研讨会将邀请40-50名来自美国、墨西哥、巴拿马、哥斯达黎加、哥伦比亚和其他中美洲国家的杰出生物学研究人员、网络基础设施技术专家和资助机构代表参加。它将侧重于确定能够促进北美和中美洲伙伴关系与合作的活动。成果将包括对后续活动的建议和促进国际信息学合作的投资建议。这次会议的广泛影响最终将导致新的合作模式，支持生物多样性研究和政策规划分析，以更好地理解全球生物多样性对生态和社会的影响。本次研讨会由环境生物学部、网络基础设施办公室和国际科学与工程办公室联合支持。

0549443/0549456Beach/IbarraThis Americas Program award will support a program development workshop organized by Dr. James H. Beach of the University of Kansas Center for Research and Dr. Julio Ibarra of Florida International University. The workshop, which will be jointly sponsored by various science agencies of Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia, will be concerned with applications of new tools and working methodologies to biodiversity. These tools derive from advances in computing, related information technologies, and the growing infrastructure-the cyberinfrastructure-that is currently under development globally. The workshop will be held in Panama City, early in January 2006 and will explore opportunities and breakthrough activities with the aim of promoting future collaborations in biodiversity informatics and research. Prior to the availability of ubiquitous data network connectivity, biodiversity research collaborations required face-to-face professional interactions in the form of field work, in-residence stays, or other kinds of visits, and relied mainly on paper documents and mail for remote coordination and communication. Today many research communities, including the systematics, phylogenetics and ecology communities, are on the cusp of transformative change as a consequence of network capacity that will enable a new class of research collaboration based on instant interaction with networked information servers and computational services, in a paradigm known as "Grid Computing." High throughput international backbones linking desktops of scientists around the world will help launch a new class of research collaborations with scientists "wired together" in a virtual, global, biodiversity collaboration environment.To set the stage and prepare for this transformation in research communications among North and Central American countries, the workshop will include 40-50 invited leading biology researchers, cyberinfrastructure technologists, and funding agency representatives from the United States, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, and various other Central American countries. It will be focused on identifying activities that will enable North and Central American partnerships and collaborations. Outcomes will include recommendations for follow-on activities and suggestions for investments to promote international informatics collaboration. The broader impacts of the meeting will, ultimately, lead to new modes of collaboration, supporting biodiversity research and analysis for policy and planning, to better understand the ecological and societal impacts of global biodiversity. This workshop is being jointly supported by the Division of Environmental Biology, the Office of Cyberinfrastructure, and the Office of International Science and Engineering.