STC: Center for Chemical Currencies of a Microbial Planet

海洋表面的微观居民所发挥的作用影响着我们星球上生命的方方面面，无论距离海岸有多远。海洋浮游植物负责地球上一半的光合作用，这是一个复杂系统的第一步，这个系统每年从大气中吸收500亿吨碳来维持它们的生长。其中，250亿吨生物活性物质被释放到海水中，并在数小时至数天内被海洋细菌转化回二氧化碳，这是一个快速循环。这个快速循环核心的化学-微生物网络仍然没有得到很好的约束；因此，其主要货币和管制措施仍然难以捉摸；它对海洋环境变化的敏感性尚不清楚；它对未来气候情景的反应是不可预测的。微生物星球化学货币研究中心（C-CoMP）将研究、教育和知识转移活动结合起来，在不断变化的海洋背景下，通过加强对海洋科学的参与，对海洋表面碳通量形成机械理解。C-CoMP支持融合生物学、化学、建模和信息学的科学团队，以缩小有机分子的身份和动力学方面长期存在的知识差距，有机分子作为海洋和大气之间元素转移的货币。C-CoMP促进教育、推广和知识转移活动，吸引所有年龄段的学生，扩大下一代海洋科学家的参与，并将新颖的开放科学方法扩展到互补的学术和工业社区。该中心框架对这一使命至关重要，它独特地促进了实验和计算科学、方法和概念挑战的开放交流，以及建立综合科学和教育伙伴关系的合作。随着美国社会对海洋科学研究和海洋素养的广泛参与，下一代海洋科学家将更好地反映美国人口的多样性。海洋碳库的气候-碳反馈是未来气候预测的主要不确定性，海洋变化的轨迹和速率直接取决于微生物对温度升高、海洋酸化和气候变化驱动的其他扰动的响应。C-CoMP的研究填补了海洋和大气之间碳流驱动机制的知识空白，对预测气候模型具有全球意义。本中心支持跨学科科学团队遵循开放和可重复的科学实践，以解决：(1)海洋表面碳通量的化学货币；(2)介导这种通量的化学-微生物网络的结构和调控；(3)网络的敏感性及其对气候的反馈。C-CoMP利用新兴的工具和技术来解决这些主题中的关键挑战，与现有的海洋项目协同作用，并与NSF的大理念保持一致。C-CoMP的教育和外联活动力求克服海洋知识的障碍，使海洋研究的参与多样化。该中心正在开发(1)在K-12和更广泛的公众中扩大海洋知识的倡议，(2)海洋科学本科课程和研究机会，为研究经验提供多个切入点，(3)学士后课程，使本科生过渡到海洋科学的研究生教育和职业，以及(4)跨学科的研究生和博士后课程，为下一代海洋科学家做好准备。C-CoMP团队包括教育教师，他们评估教育和推广活动的影响，并向教育社区输出成功的STEM计划。C-CoMP是革命性的技术，用于研究微生物系统中的化学转化，以建立对微生物对元素循环的巨大影响的理解。开放科学、跨学科合作、社区参与和包容性实践促进了关键科学问题和STEM计划的战略进展。C-CoMP的科学、教育和知识转移主题通过持续的科学家网络有效地解决关键的研究挑战，同时扩大劳动力，与学术、工业和政策合作伙伴一起解决多学科问题。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。

Functions carried out by microscopic inhabitants of the surface ocean affect every aspect of life on our planet, regardless of distance from the coast. Ocean phytoplankton are responsible for half of the photosynthesis on Earth, the first step in a complex system that annually withdraws 50 billion metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere to sustain their growth. Of this, 25 billion metric tons participate in a rapid cycle in which biologically reactive material is released into seawater and converted back into carbon dioxide by marine bacteria within hours to days. The chemical-microbe network at the heart of this fast cycle remains poorly constrained; consequently, its primary currencies and controls remain elusive; its sensitivities to changing ocean conditions are unknown; and its responses to future climate scenarios are not predictable. The Center for Chemical Currencies of a Microbial Planet (C-CoMP) integrates research, education and knowledge transfer activities to develop a mechanistic understanding of surface ocean carbon flux within the context of a changing ocean and through increased participation in ocean sciences. C-CoMP supports science teams that merge biology, chemistry, modeling, and informatics to close long-standing knowledge gaps in the identities and dynamics of organic molecules that serve as the currencies of elemental transfer between the ocean and atmosphere. C-CoMP fosters education, outreach, and knowledge transfer activities that engage students of all ages, broaden participation in the next generation of ocean scientists, and extend novel open-science approaches into complementary academic and industrial communities. The Center framework is critical to this mission, uniquely facilitating an open exchange of experimental and computational science, methodological and conceptual challenges, and collaborations that establish integrated science and education partnerships. With expanded participation in ocean science research and ocean literacy across the US society, the next generation of ocean scientists will better reflect the diverse US population. Climate-carbon feedbacks on the marine carbon reservoir are major uncertainties for future climate projections, and the trajectory and rate of ocean changes depend directly on microbial responses to temperature increases, ocean acidification, and other perturbations driven by climate change. C-CoMP research closes an urgent knowledge gap in the mechanisms driving carbon flow between ocean and atmosphere, with global implications for predictive climate models. The Center supports interdisciplinary science teams following open and reproducible science practices to address: (1) the chemical currencies of surface ocean carbon flux; (2) the structure and regulation of the chemical-microbe network that mediates this flux; and (3) sensitivity of the network and its feedbacks on climate. C-CoMP leverages emerging tools and technologies to tackle critical challenges in these themes, in synergy with existing ocean programs and consistent with NSF’s Big Ideas. C-CoMP education and outreach activities seek to overcome barriers to ocean literacy and diversify participation in ocean research. The Center is developing (1) initiatives to expand ocean literacy in K-12 and the broader public, (2) ocean sciences undergraduate curricula and research opportunities that provide multiple entry points into research experiences, (3) post-baccalaureate programs to transition undergraduates into graduate education and careers in ocean science, and (4) interdisciplinary graduate student and postdoctoral programs that prepare the next generation of ocean scientists. The C-CoMP team includes education faculty who evaluate the impacts of education and outreach activities and export successful STEM initiatives to the education community. C-CoMP is revolutionizing the technologies for studying chemical transformations in microbial systems to build understanding of the outsized impact of microbes on elemental cycles. Open science, cross-disciplinary collaborations, community engagement, and inclusive practices foster strategic advances in critical science problems and STEM initiatives. C-CoMP science, education, and knowledge-transfer themes are efficiently addressed through a sustained network of scientists addressing critical research challenges while broadening the workforce that will tackle multi-disciplinary problems with academic, industrial and policy partners.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.