COMPARATIVE AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY OF HEARING

该提案是马里兰大学帕克分校生物和心理学系以及神经科学和认知科学研究生项目的共同努力。我们在马里兰大学有一个由10名教师组成的杰出小组，他们对比较听力和听力进化有共同的研究兴趣。实验方法和物种研究的广度为我们提供了提供研究生和博士后水平的研究培训的机会，这在其他地方是不存在的。研究培训计划的核心是10名拥有可靠研究和培训记录的资助研究人员，他们中的大多数人都在同一栋楼里。这个小组之间有很强的研究互动历史，这项培训补助金的最初五年资助进一步促进了这一点。研究生和博士后学生（以及本科生）利用教师和研究小组之间的互动。该计划每年将资助4名博士生和3名博士后。我们的计划强调两个独立但密切相关的问题。第一是比较听觉的功能和结构，第二是听觉系统的演变。我们项目的主要目标是培养对脊椎动物听觉机制的多样性和听觉系统的进化有欣赏和理解的科学家。我们期望在我们的课程中接受培训的个人将在学术环境中对进化和/或比较问题进行全职研究。至少，我们的培训将确保他们能够将他们的工作纳入适当的内容，并帮助我们增加对这些问题的理解。在全国范围内招收博士生前、博士后。非常重要的是，马里兰大学和我们的参与部门和学院在招聘、保留和留住女性和少数族裔方面有着良好的记录。我们继续利用这些机会，继续将招募和留住妇女和少数民族作为我们项目的一个非常重要的方面。

This proposal is a joint effort of the Departments of Biology and Psychology and the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Graduate Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. We have at UMD an exceptional group of 10 faculty with a common research interest in comparative hearing and evolution of hearing. The breadth of experimental approaches and species studies, provides us with an opportunity to provide research training at the graduate and postdoctoral level that exists no where else. At the core of the research training program are 10 funded investigators with proven research and training records, most of whom are located in the same building. There is a strong history of research interaction among this group, and this was further facilitated by the initial five year funding of this training grant. Graduate and postdoctoral students (as well as undergraduates) take advantage of the interaction between faculty and research groups. The proposed program will provide support for four predoctoral and three postdoctoral fellows each year. Two separate but closely related issues are emphasized in our program. The first is that comparative auditory function and structure, and the second is the evolution of the auditory system. The major goal of our program is to produce scientists who have an appreciation for, and an understanding of, the diversity of vertebrate hearing mechanisms and the evolution of the auditory system. We anticipate that the individuals trained in our program will conduct full-time research on evolutionary and/or comparative questions in academic settings. At the very least, our training will ensure that they will be able to put their work into the appropriate content and help add to our growing understanding of these issues. Predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees are recruited nationally. Very importantly, UMD and our participating departments and colleges have strong records of recruiting, retaining, and retention of women and minorities. We continue to take advantage of these opportunities to continue to make recruitment and retention of women and minorities a very important aspect of our program.