MRI-R2 Consortium: Acquisition of Multi-Scalar Spatial Data Collection, Analysis, and Visualization Instruments

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。在美国国家科学基金会主要研究仪器拨款的支持下，犹他州立大学（USU）将购买一套综合仪器系统，以方便在各种尺度上收集、分析、解释和展示人类学空间数据。为了收集野外数据，研究小组将获得探地雷达、电阻率和磁强计系统，用于收集地下空间数据；具有亚米精度的GPS单元、机器人全站仪和用于有效编译景观空间数据的气球航空摄影系统；x射线、视频显微镜和三维扫描设备，从文物和生态事实中提取精确的空间数据；以及配备了地理信息系统的联网计算机来处理和传播这些数据。NSF-MRI奖是由USU人类学项目、USU人类学博物馆、USU区域校园和远程教育（RCDE）以及新成立的小型私营企业USU考古服务公司等实体组成的联盟合作申请的。八个人将作为设备的主要使用者：六名考古学家，一名生物人类学家和一名文化人类学家。尽管用户的背景和研究重点各不相同，NSF-MRI拨款将为每位研究人员提供必要的资源，以提高数据收集、解释和发表的效率。该奖项还将增加用户的研究机会，并为联盟内外的合作开辟新的途径。NSF-MRI拨款的广泛影响主要在于它将给USU主校区和USU区域校区和远程教育（RCDE）的人类学教育带来巨大变化。2009年秋天，USU的第一批硕士学生开始了一项研究生课程，旨在为他们在私营和政府部门的考古工作做准备，这些部门占据了该领域90%的工作。这些部门通常比学术项目得到更好的资助，并且经常使用NSF资助的一系列仪器。除了使用这些工具来促进他们自己的研究外，USU的教职员工还将使用它们来培养犹他州立大学的学生，使他们成为下一代备受追捧、技术娴熟的人类学家。犹他州立大学的人类学家对RCDE参与NSF-MRI联盟感到特别兴奋。RCDE将为位于洛根的仪器实验室配备广播能力。这将使人类学教师能够接触到犹他州乃至远至东亚的区域中心的学生，使他们能够参与原创的科学研究。USU的许多远程学生是纳瓦霍人、北尤特人、肖肖尼人和拉丁裔。通过将他们纳入人类学项目的多样化研究，就像USU多年来为美洲原住民和拉丁裔高中生提供的考古和博物馆实习一样，NSF-MRI资助将有助于增加人类学领域未来专业人员的多样性。最后，USU人类学博物馆将提供一个工具，向广大公众传播USU和USUAS科学家的前沿研究成果，以及当今世界科学特别是人类学的重要性。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).With support from a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation grant, Utah State University (USU) will purchase an integrated system of instruments that facilitates collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation of anthropological spatial data at a variety of scales. For the collection of field data, the research team will acquire ground-penetrating radar, resistivity, and magnetometry systems for collecting sub-surface spatial data; GPS units with sub-meter accuracy, a robotic total station, and a balloon aerial photography system for efficiently compiling spatial data from landscapes; x-ray, video microscope, and 3-D scanning devices to extract precise spatial data from artifacts and ecofacts; and GIS-equipped, networked computers to process and disseminate these data. The NSF-MRI award represents a collaborative application by a consortium of entities including the USU Anthropology Program, the USU Museum of Anthropology, USU's Regional Campuses and Distance Education (RCDE), and the newly launched small, private business USU Archaeological Services, Inc. Eight individuals will serve as major users of the equipment: six archaeologists, one biological anthropologist, and one cultural anthropologist. Despite users' varied backgrounds and research foci, the NSF-MRI grant will provide the resources necessary for each researcher to increase the efficiency of data collection, interpretation, and publication. The award will also enhance users' research opportunities and open up new avenues for collaboration within and outside the consortium.The broader impacts of the NSF-MRI grant reside primarily in the dramatic changes it will bring to education in anthropology at USU's main campus and USU's Regional Campuses and Distance Education (RCDE). In fall 2009, USU's first cohort of M.S. students began a graduate program designed to prepare them for jobs in the private and government sectors of archaeology, which host 90% of jobs in the field. These sectors are often better funded than academic programs and routinely use the array of instruments the NSF award will fund. In addition to using the instruments to facilitate their own research, USU faculty members will also use them to prepare Utah State students to serve as the next generation of highly sought-after, technologically skilled anthropologists.Utah State University anthropologists are particularly excited about RCDE's involvement in the NSF-MRI consortium. RCDE will outfit the Logan-based instrument laboratory with broadcast capability. This will permit anthropology faculty members to reach students at regional centers across the state of Utah and as far away as East Asia, enabling and enlisting them to participate in original scientific research. Many of USU's Distance students are of Navajo, Northern Ute, Shoshone, and Latino descent. By incorporating them into the Anthropology Program's diverse research as USU's archaeological and museum internships for Native American and Latino high school students have done for years, the NSF-MRI grant will help increase the diversity of future professionals in the field of anthropology. Finally, the USU Museum of Anthropology will provide a vehicle for disseminating to a large, public audience the results of cutting-edge research generated by USU and USUAS scientists and the importance of science generally and anthropology specifically in the world today.