IRES-Track I: People, primates, and tropical forests: Integrated primatological and ecological research to advance human-primate coexistence and ecosystem health in Indonesia

该奖项是根据《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)整体资助的。该项目为来自圣地亚哥州立大学的15名美国学生提供了在印度尼西亚苏拉威西进行为期6周的以人与灵长类共存和生态系统健康为重点的国际实地研究体验的机会。该项目将通过从代表性不足的群体中招募学生参与者来扩大STEM劳动力的多样性。借助PI和外籍导师在灵长类动物和热带生态学方面的专业知识，学生们将进行研究，以促进我们对灵长类动物如何适应人类引发的环境变化的理解，以及对人类和灵长类动物共存方式的影响，以及人类活动如何影响热带生态系统的健康。学生将学习如何撰写研究计划书和进行独立的实地研究。学生还将从个人成长和成熟方面的实地工作经验中受益，并发展宝贵的生活技能，如人际交往和跨文化交流。这种国际研究经验将造就一批学生，他们为研究和在日益多元文化的工作环境中就业做好了更好的准备。它还将有助于在如何促进生态系统健康和人类与野生动物的可持续共存方面增加想法和观点的多样性。该项目将吸引美国学生参与国际背景下的高质量合作研究，并通过招收代表不足的群体的学生来扩大STEM劳动力的多样性。来自圣地亚哥州立大学的五名学生将在每年夏天在印度尼西亚苏拉威西进行为期6周的实地研究。圣地亚哥州立大学是一家指定的拉美裔服务机构和亚裔美国原住民太平洋岛民服务机构。这项研究来自灵长类动物学和热带森林生态学的交叉领域，其首要主题是人与灵长类动物的共存和生态系统健康。在南苏拉威西Hasanuddin大学的PI和外籍教师导师的指导下，学生们将开发一些项目，重点是林场边缘的人与灵长类动物的冲突，在供应环境中人与灵长类动物的相互作用，气候变化对植物物候的影响，以及灵长类动物在热带森林再生中的作用。学生将获得开发研究问题、撰写研究方案、收集数据、使用这些数据检验假设以及分析和传播研究结果的经验。这一国际研究经验将使学生能够发展各种研究方法的技能，并培养团队合作、解决问题和跨文化沟通的技能，这些技能对于成为全球合格的科学家和专业人员至关重要。该项目固有的合作性质意味着，通过扩展研究技能和向国际受众传播研究成果，该项目也将对印度尼西亚教师、学生和公园工作人员的能力建设做出直接贡献。该项目的成果还将有助于为森林管理政策提供信息，制定旨在最大限度地减少人与灵长类相互作用的频率和强度的缓解努力，以及侧重于提高人们对苏拉威西特有动植物威胁的认识的保护推广计划。最终，该项目将展示跨学科研究和国际合作在应对当今重大挑战方面的价值，并培养出一批参与全球事务的科学家和专业人员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This project provides opportunities for a total of 15 U.S. students from San Diego State University to engage in a 6-week long international field research experience focused on human-primate coexistence and ecosystem health in Sulawesi, Indonesia. This project will expand the diversity of the STEM workforce by recruiting student participants from underrepresented groups. Drawing from the expertise in primatology and tropical ecology of the PI and foreign mentor, students will conduct research that will advance our understanding of how primates adapt to human-induced environmental change, with implications for ways for people and primates to coexist, and how human activities affect the health of tropical ecosystems. Student participants will learn how to write a research proposal and carry out independent field research. Students will also benefit from the fieldwork experience in terms of personal growth and maturity and the development of invaluable life skills, such as interpersonal and cross-cultural communication. This international research experience will produce cohorts of students who are better prepared for research and for employment in increasingly multicultural workplace environments. It will also help increase the diversity of ideas and perspectives on ways to advance ecosystem health and the sustainable coexistence of humans and wildlife.This project will engage U.S. students in high-quality collaborative research in an international setting and expand the diversity of the STEM workforce by recruiting students from underrepresented groups. Five students from San Diego State University, a designated Hispanic Serving Institution and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution, will conduct field research in Sulawesi, Indonesia for a 6-week period during each summer of the award. Drawing from the intersecting fields of primatology and tropical forest ecology, the overarching theme of the research is human-primate coexistence and ecosystem health. Under the mentorship of the PI and the foreign faculty mentor at Hasanuddin University, South Sulawesi, students will develop projects focused on human-primate conflict at the forest-farm edge, human-primate interactions in a provisioning context, the impact of climate change on plant phenology, and the role of primates in tropical forest regeneration. Students will gain experience developing a research question, writing a research proposal, collecting data, using those data to test hypotheses, and analyzing and disseminating the research findings. This international research experience will enable students to develop skills in diverse research methods and to build teamwork, problem-solving, and cross-cultural communication skills critical for becoming globally competent scientists and professionals. The inherent collaborative nature of this project means that there will be direct contributions to the capacity building of faculty, students, and park staff in Indonesia as well, via expanded research skills and dissemination of research findings to international audiences. The project results will also help inform forest management policy, the development of mitigation efforts aimed at minimizing the frequency and intensity of human-primate interactions, and conservation outreach programs focused on expanding people’s awareness of the threats to Sulawesi’s endemic flora and fauna. Ultimately, this project will showcase the value of interdisciplinary research and international collaboration in addressing today’s grand challenges and produce a cadre of STEM students who are globally engaged scientists and professionals.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.