Advancing U.S. Quaternary Science by Supporting Early Career Scientists: 2019 INQUA Congress Travel Fellowship Program

美国国家科学院将通过该旅行奖学金计划支持10名美国早期职业科学家前往2019年国际第四纪协会（INQUA）大会。四年一次的国际会议为来自世界各地的第四纪（地球历史的最后260万年）科学家提供了展示他们的研究和讨论各自学科最新发展的最佳机会。没有这种援助，这些科学家就无法正常参与。本届大会为早期职业科学家提供了一个特别的规划线索，将为美国参与者提供独特的机会，在他们的获奖者群体中讨论他们的原创研究，并与处于各个职业阶段的美国和国际科学家讨论。这些相互作用可能会导致对现有数据分析的改进，并通过学科和跨学科的工作产生收集额外数据和构建新假设的想法。该奖学金项目更广泛的影响在于，获奖者有机会接触到优秀的国际研究，并有机会在国际层面上展示他们的研究。这种参与可能会促进国际合作，使他们保持参与，使他们有机会与许多第四纪科学分支学科的杰出科学家互动，并促进跨学科合作。这些获奖者可以建立长期的科学关系，就像以前的项目一样。此外，还计划设立一个指导部分，由美国资深科学家帮助获奖者有效地在国会和人际网络中游弋。国际科学组织理事会是美国国家科学院政策和全球事务部国际网络与合作主题的一部分，也是美国国际第四纪研究联盟国家委员会（USNC/INQUA）的所在地。该项目将提供小额旅行奖学金，以支持美国研究生和早期职业科学家参加将于2019年7月25日至31日在爱尔兰都柏林举行的第20届国际学术会议。USNC/INQUA将为在美国机构从事第四纪研究的美国公民或永久居民研究生和早期职业科学家提供至少10个旅行奖学金，每个奖学金不超过2,000美元，这些科学家在第20届INQUA大会上以第一作者的身份发表论文，并为该群体组织指导活动。选择旅行奖获得者的过程将旨在增加那些传统上在地球科学领域得不到充分服务和代表性不足的人的积极参与。这一策略与NSF的INCLUDES计划的目标是一致的。该项目将获奖者暴露在联盟中，并为他们提供参与科学活动的可能性，并最终代表美国参加INQUA的管理活动。所有这些卓有成效的互动将推动美国第四纪科学的发展。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 National Academy of Sciences will support 10 U.S. Early Career Scientists' travel to the 2019 International Quaternary Association (INQUA) Congress through this Travel Fellowship Program. The quadrennial INQUA International Congress represents the foremost opportunity for Quaternary (last 2.6 million years of Earth's history) scientists from around the world to present their research and discuss the latest developments in their disciplines. Without this assistance these scientists could not normally participate. This Congress, which has a special programming thread for early career scientists, will give U.S. participants the unique opportunity to discuss their original research among their cohort of awardees and with U.S. and international scientists at all career stages. These interactions will likely result in improvements of the analysis of existing data, and the generation of ideas for the gathering of additional data and the construction of new hypotheses through disciplinary and interdisciplinary work. The broader impact of this fellowship program is in the exposure of the awardees to excellent international research and in giving them the opportunity to show their research at the international level. Such participation will likely foster international collaboration, keep them engaged, give them the opportunity to interact with preeminent scientists across the many Quaternary science subdisciplines, and foster interdisciplinary collaborations. These awardees can establish long-lasting scientific relationships as has happened in previous editions of the program. A mentoring component is also planned in which senior U.S. scientists help the awardees navigate the Congress and network effectively.The Board on International Scientific Organizations, part of the International Networks and Cooperation theme within the NAS Policy and Global Affairs Division, is home to the U.S. National Committee for the International Union for Quaternary Research (USNC/INQUA). The project will provide small travel fellowships to support U.S. graduate student and early career scientist participation in the 20th INQUA Congress to be held in Dublin, Ireland, July 25-31, 2019. USNC/INQUA will competitively award at least 10 travel fellowships at up to $2,000 each for U.S. citizens or permanent resident graduate students and early career scientists working on Quaternary research at U.S. institutions who are presenting papers as first authors at the 20th INQUA Congress and organize mentoring activities for the cohort. The process of selecting the travel award recipients will aim at increasing the active participation of those who have been traditionally underserved and underrepresented in the Earth sciences. This strategy is consistent with the goal of NSF's INCLUDES program. This program exposes awardees to the union and affords them the possibility of getting involved in the scientific and, eventually, governance activities representing the U.S. in INQUA. All of these fruitful interactions will advance U.S. Quaternary science.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.