The oUTCT PEN: Outwardly Mobilizing the UTCT Vertebrate Archive for Research and Training

德克萨斯大学高分辨率x射线CT设备（UTCT）成立于1997年，旨在为自然科学领域的研究人员提供HRXCT——医学CT的直系后代。通过该合同，oUTCT将与oVert（开放脊椎动物）项目合作，使近9tb的现有高分辨率x射线计算机断层扫描（HRXCT）数据公开访问，并培训下一代学生对这些数据的最佳实践。来自世界各地的科学家将他们最重要、最珍贵的自然历史标本带到UTCT，对它们的内部特征进行无损成像和测量。这种HRXCT技术的应用取得了巨大的成功，导致扫描仪在全国各地的机构扩散。在两年的时间里，oUTCT将为90个UTCT客户端上传HRXCT数据到MorphoSource。将提供大约3000个标本扫描，代表近1500种化石和现存脊椎动物物种，以便从科学家到艺术家到K-12教育工作者都可以轻松地发现和下载它们。这项动员将由UTCT的本科生完成，他们将学习HRXCT数据采集和可视化的基础知识以及基本的生物信息学。UTCT数据集部分是通过数十项NSF资助获得的，在学术出版物中被引用超过18,000次，由于其广泛的范围，高数据质量和历史意义，仍然有很高的需求。这种需求在一定程度上受到面向公众的形态学数字图书馆（DigiMorph.org）的推动，这是一个自2002年以来由美国国家科学基金会资助的在线项目，设在UTCT，为1000多个生物和古生物标本提供hrxct衍生的动画。在oUTCT项目中，UTCT和DigiMorph将与佛罗里达大学的oVert和iDigBio以及杜克大学的MorphoSource数据存储库合作，使这一无与伦比的HRXCT数据集更容易发现，更容易重新利用。作为该项目教育推广的一部分，oUTCT还将为覆盖近20所大学和学术机构的oVert社区提供培训，以最大限度地发挥该项目的科学影响。UTCT每年将举办两次短期课程，由oVert和iDigBio共同主办，培训与oVert和MorphoSource相关的学生和科学家，了解HRXCT数据采集、可视化、分析和长期管理的基础知识。这些活动将扩大原有oVert项目的影响，并使NSF的回报最大化。他还投资了UTCT、DigiMorph、iDigBio和MorphoSource。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。

The University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility (UTCT) was established in 1997 to make HRXCT - a direct descendant of medical CT - available to researchers in the natural sciences. Through this award, oUTCT will partner with the oVert (openVertebrate) project to make nearly nine terabytes of existing high-resolution X-ray computed tomographic (HRXCT) data publicly accessible, and to train the next generation of students in best practices for these data. Scientists from around the world have brought their most important and precious natural history specimens to UTCT to image and measure their interior features nondestructively. This application of HRXCT technology has been tremendously successful, resulting in the proliferation of scanners at institutions across the country. Over the course of two years, oUTCT will upload HRXCT data for 90 UTCT clients to MorphoSource. About 3000 specimen scans, representing nearly 1,500 fossil and extant vertebrate species, will be made available so they can be easily discovered and downloaded by everyone from scientists to artists to K-12 educators. This mobilization will be accomplished by undergraduate students employed at UTCT, who will learn the basics of HRXCT data acquisition and visualization as well as basic bioinformatics.The UTCT datasets, acquired in part via dozens of NSF grants and cited more than 18,000 times in academic publications, remain in high demand due to their broad scope, high data quality, and historical significance. This demand has been fueled in part by the public-facing Digital Library of Morphology (DigiMorph.org), an NSF-funded project online since 2002 and housed at UTCT, which serves HRXCT-derived animations for more than 1,000 biological and paleontological specimens. In the oUTCT project, UTCT and DigiMorph will partner with oVert and iDigBio, both at the University of Florida, and the MorphoSource data repository at Duke University to make this unparalleled collection of HRXCT datasets more readily discoverable and more easily repurposed. As part of the educational outreach for this project, oUTCT will also provide training to the oVert community, which spans nearly 20 universities and academic institutions, to maximize the scientific impact of that project. The UTCT will host two short courses per year, cosponsored by oVert and iDigBio, to train students and scientists associated with oVert and MorphoSource in the fundamentals of HRXCT data acquisition, visualization, analysis, and long-term management. These activities will expand the impact of the original oVert project and maximize the return on NSF?s investment in it, UTCT, DigiMorph, iDigBio, and MorphoSource.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.