Conference Proposal: Support Student and Early Professional Attendance to the 2020 North American Ornithological Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico

鸟类学（Ornithology）的研究往往分为许多科学团体，每个团体都集中研究一两个国家的鸟类。这是一个问题，因为鸟类几乎无处不在，而且迁徙距离很远。他们无视国界。因此，来自不同国家研究鸟类的科学家（鸟类学家）将从更多的合作中受益。这是很难实现的，因为出差到很远的地方开会，建立新的合作关系，在经济上可能会让人望而却步，尤其是对年轻的鸟类学家来说，他们是这个领域的未来。该项目将支持学生和早期职业专业人士前往2020年8月10日至15日在波多黎各圣胡安举行的第七届北美鸟类学会议（NAOC）。会议的主题是“应对全球挑战的飞行路径”，会议地点位于加勒比海，将汇集来自北美、中美和南美的鸟类学家。他们将会面讨论许多话题，包括迁徙、保护、生态和进化。科学亮点将包括一位著名鸟类学家的主题演讲，全体会议，以及为期四天的关于各种主题的演讲。这次会议将吸引许多来自波多黎各的与会者，他们往往负担不起在美国大陆举行会议的费用。将会有5个辅导活动，约20个针对青年参与者的工作坊，以及公众参与的多项活动。该项目将资助60多名参与者的旅行。来自美国国家科学基金会的资金将增加召集协会已经提供的资金，以促进来自拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的鸟类学家的高度参与。他们中的许多人将首次加入北美鸟类学会的参与者。预计将有1300多名与会者，代表学术界、非营利组织和各种政府机构，包括来自北美、墨西哥、加勒比和新世界热带地区的8个鸟类学会。本次会议的几项倡议以以往鸟类学会议的经验为基础，旨在灌输信任并发展必要的基础设施，以协调对整个西半球鸟类及其赖以生存的环境的理解和保护。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 study of birds (Ornithology) tends to be divided among many scientific societies that each focus on birds of one or two countries. This is a problem because birds are found almost everywhere and move great distances in migration. They ignore national borders. Scientists from different countries who study birds (ornithologists) would thus benefit from working more together. This is hard to achieve because travel to distant meetings to form new partnerships can be financially prohibitive, especially for young ornithologists, who are the future of the field. This project will support travel by students and early career professionals to the 7th North American Ornithological Conference (NAOC) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 10-15 August, 2020. The conference theme, "Flight Paths Addressing Global Challenges", and its Caribbean location will bring together ornithologists from across North, Central and South America. They will meet to talk about many topics, including migration, conservation, ecology and evolution. Scientific highlights will include a keynote address by a famous ornithologist, plenary talks, and four days of presentations on a wide variety of topics. The conference will attract many participants from Puerto Rico, who are often unable to afford meetings in the continental United States. There will be five mentoring activities, about 20 workshops targeted at young participants, and involvement of the public in multiple activities. This project will help fund travel of more than 60 participants. Funds from NSF will augment funds already provided by the convening societies, to leverage an extraordinary level of participation by ornithologists from Latin America and the Caribbean. Many of them will be joining participants from North American ornithological societies for the first time. More than 1,300 attendees are expected, representing academia, non-profit organizations, and diverse government agencies, and including eight ornithological societies from North America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the New World Tropics. Several initiatives in this conference build on lessons from previous ornithological conferences to instill trust and develop infrastructure necessary to coordinate understanding and protection of birds, and the environments on which they depend, throughout the Western Hemisphere.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.