Forging the future of ecological stoichiometry: the fourth Woodstoich workshop; August, 2019, Montana

新的科学进步往往需要综合许多方面的信息。在环境科学领域尤其如此。为了更深入地了解人类对生态系统的影响，我们需要建立在已知基础上的新想法。训练年轻科学家进行广泛和综合的思考对于实现这种更深层次的理解是很重要的。这次研讨会将为24位年轻科学家提供一个相互交流的机会，也为他们更资深的同事提供一个交流的机会。我们的目标是在以往工作的基础上，将许多观点结合在一起，探索新的领域，从而改进和扩展生态学和进化论的思想。这些新想法将与科学界和公众广泛分享。研讨会的结果将是一些具有高影响力的出版物，介绍生态学和进化中一些最令人兴奋的新思想。它还将让一群年轻科学家走上一条在环境科学领域取得成功的道路，其中许多人来自代表性不足的群体。生态和生物化学计量理论框架将能量和多种化学元素的质量平衡应用于生物组织的多个尺度上的通量，并将它们整合到一个进化框架中。伍德斯托伊奇研讨会（The Woodstoich Workshop）以产品为重点，旨在通过改进和扩大化学计量理论的应用，使早期职业科学家能够为生态学注入活力。提议的研讨会将通过鼓励不同的、早期职业科学家之间的公开对话和严格的思想和方法交流来刺激创新，这些科学家的工作方式没有被传统、长期习惯或职业义务所束缚。在以产品为中心的研讨会框架中，关键概念包括选择少数具有创新化学计量学愿景的早期职业博士后研究人员或一年级助理教授，领导由其他早期职业研究人员组成的工作组，以手稿的形式阐明这一愿景，并迅速但严格地进行同行评议，以便发表。参与者的申请和选择不仅基于他们的学科重点和成就，而且还包括对团体创造性有效性至关重要的多样性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

New scientific advances often require synthesis of information from many perspectives. This is particularly true in the environmental sciences. New ideas that build on what we know are needed for a deeper understanding of human impact on ecosystems. Training young scientists to think broadly and synthetically is important to achieve this deeper understanding. This workshop will provide an opportunity for twenty-four young scientists to interact with each other and their more senior colleagues. The goal is to improve and expand ideas in ecology and evolution by building on previous work and bringing many perspectives together to explore new frontiers. These new ideas will be shared broadly with the science community and the public. The outcome of the workshop will be several high impact publications presenting some of the most exciting new ideas in ecology and evolution. It will also set a cohort of young scientists, many from underrepresented groups, on a pathway to success in the environmental sciences.The ecological and biological stoichiometry theoretical frameworks apply mass balance of energy and multiple chemical elements to fluxes at multiple scales of biological organization and integrate them into an evolutionary framework. The vision of the proposed product-focused event, The Woodstoich 4 Workshop, is to empower early career scientists to invigorate ecology by improving and expanding the use of stoichiometric theory. The proposed workshop will stimulate innovation by encouraging open dialogue and rigorous exchange of ideas and methods amongst diverse, early career scientists whose ways of working are not locked into place by tradition, long-standing habits, or professional obligation. Key concepts in the product-focused workshop framework include selection of a few, early-career post-doctoral researchers or first-year assistant professors with an innovative stoichiometric vision that lead working groups composed of other early career researchers to clarify that vision in the form of a manuscript that is rapidly but rigorously peer-reviewed for publication. Participants will apply and be selected based not only on their disciplinary focus and accomplishments but also to incorporate diversity that is essential to the creative effectiveness of groups.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.