NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

本行动资助美国国家科学基金会2016年度生物学博士后研究奖学金，利用生物馆藏进行研究。该奖学金支持一项研究和培训计划，使研究员能够以高度创新的方式采用生物收集的变革性方法来应对生物学方面的重大挑战。这项奖学金的研究计划的标题是“利用化石的出生-死亡过程建立一个时间校准的蚂蚁树”。该奖学金的主办机构是爱荷华州立大学和菲尔德自然历史博物馆，赞助科学家是dr。特雷西·希思（爱荷华州立大学）和嘉莉·莫罗（菲尔德博物馆）。这个项目利用菲尔德博物馆大量收集的蚂蚁化石来估计蚂蚁的系统发育（进化树）和它们进化的时间尺度。蚂蚁是大多数陆地生态系统中的重要存在，提供与生态和农业相关的重要生态系统服务。对蚂蚁系统发育的估计是对其生物学各方面进行比较研究的基础。推断进化时间尺度的最新方法比以前的方法更有效地利用化石记录，使它们比以前的方法更强大、更精确。然而，这些新技术还没有经过彻底的测试。在这个项目中，研究员正在评估用于估计进化事件时间的最先进的方法，以便就如何最好地执行这些分析提出建议。该项目将包括构建软件来分析系统发育数据，这些数据将免费提供。该研究员正在接受计算生物学方面的高级培训，包括C/ c++编程和软件开发经验。此外，该研究员正在利用从这些培训活动中获得的知识从事向妇女和代表性不足的少数群体提供服务的活动。因此，该研究员通过她的指导科学家提供的网络，包括菲尔德博物馆妇女科学小组和爱荷华州妇女科学与工程小组，在两个主办机构教授计算生物学讲习班。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to April Wright is "Building a time-calibrated tree of ants using the fossilized birth-death process." The host institutions for this fellowship is Iowa State University and the Field Museum of Natural History, and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Tracy Heath (Iowa State) and Carrie Moreau (Field Museum).This project uses the Field Museum's extensive collection of ant fossils to estimate both the phylogeny (evolutionary tree) of ants and the timescale of their evolution. Ants are an important presence in the most terrestrial ecosystems, providing vital ecosystem services of ecological and agricultural relevance. An estimate of the phylogeny of ants forms the basis for comparative studies of every aspect of their biology. The newest methods for inferring the timescale for evolution use the fossil record much more efficiently than previous approaches, making them more powerful and precise than older methods. However, these new techniques have not been thoroughly tested. In this project, the Fellow is evaluating the state-of-the-art methods for estimating the timing of evolutionary events, in order to generate recommendations on how to best perform these analyses. This project will involve building software to analyze the phylogenetic data, which will be made freely available.The Fellow is receiving advanced training in computational biology, including experience with C/C++ programming and software development. Furthermore, the Fellow is using the knowledge gained through these training activities to engage in outreach activities to women and underrepresented minorities. Thus, the Fellow is teaching workshops on computational biology at both host institutions, through the networks afforded by her supervising scientists, including the Field Museum Women in Science group and the Iowa State Women in Science and Engineering group.