American Museum Of Natural History

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AMNH, IN COLLABORATION WITH INFORMAL SCIENCE INSTITUTIONS ISI, NASA MISSION TEAMS AND SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS S

A PARTNERSHIP TO SUPPORT A MUSEUM- AND SCHOOL-BASED TEACHING RESIDENCY FOR EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS

TEACHER QUALITY PARTNERSHIPS GRANTS

MOVING NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS INTO PRACTICE: A MIDDLE SCHOOL ECOLOGY UNIT AND TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL

EARTH SCIENCE TEACHER URBAN RESIDENCY PROGRAM: A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN A MUSEUM AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO EARTH SCIENCE TEACHER PREPARATION: UNITING SCIENCE, INFORMAL SCIENCE EDUCATION, AND SCHOOLS TO RAISE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

LEARNING SCIENCE AS INQUIRY WITH THE URBAN ADVANTAGE: FORMAL-INFORMAL COLLABORATIONS TO INCREASE SCIENCE LITERACY AND STUDENT LEARNING

EQUIPMENT:MRI TRACK 2 ACQUISITION OF A 3D X-RAY MICROSCOPE FOR ADVANCED SPECIMEN-BASED ORGANISMAL RESEARCH -THIS MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION (MRI) AWARD WILL PROVIDE FUNDS TO ACQUIRE AN X-RAY MICROSCOPE TO SUPPORT CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) IN NEW YORK. WITH OVER 170 WORKING SCIENTISTS, THE AMNH IS A GLOBALLY-LEADING RESEARCH INSTITUTION FOR THE STUDY OF ORGANISMAL STRUCTURE, FUNCTION, SYSTEMATICS, AND EVOLUTION, AS WELL AS ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES. THE X-RAY MICROSCOPE IS A NEXT-GENERATION IMAGING DEVICE THAT ALLOWS VISUALIZATION OF THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF OBJECTS, RESOLVING FEATURES AS SMALL AS ONE-THOUSANDTH OF A MILLIMETER. THIS INSTRUMENT WILL ALLOW HIGH RESOLUTION 3D VISUALIZATION OF AMNH?S WORLD-CLASS NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS, WHICH INCLUDES 34 MILLION SCIENTIFIC OBJECTS, PRIMARILY BIOLOGICAL, FOSSIL, AND GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. THE RESULTING RESEARCH WILL YIELD SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENTS ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS, INCLUDING THE ANATOMY, EVOLUTION, GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT, AND FUNCTION OF ORGANISMS, AS WELL AS CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE EVOLUTION OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS, ACROSS THE FIELDS OF PALEONTOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, OCEANOGRAPHY, AND MINERALOGY. THE NEW INSTRUMENT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO TRAINING OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS VIA THE RICHARD GILDER GRADUATE SCHOOL AND AFFILIATED PROGRAMS (E.G., CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY). IT WILL INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY OF AMNH SPECIMENS BY ALLOWING ONLINE SHARING OF DIGITAL DATA. IT WILL ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO EXHIBITION AND PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS BY GENERATING SUPERB 3D VISUALIZATIONS OF IMPORTANT SPECIMENS, INCLUDING MINUTE DETAILS OF TINY INSECTS AND FOSSIL SPECIMENS THAT CANNOT BE EXTRACTED FROM THE ROCKS THEY WERE PRESERVED IN. THE 630 VERSA X-RAY MICROSCOPE (XRM) IS A MICRO- TO NANO-COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (CT) SYSTEM WITH CAPABILITIES THAT ARE CRITICAL TO THE NEXT-GENERATION OF SPECIMEN-BASED RESEARCH, INCLUDING SUB-MICRON RESOLUTION (TRUE SPATIAL RESOLUTION DOWN TO 0.5 ?M), HIGH X-RAY FLUX ALLOWING FASTER THROUGHPUT AND INCREASED SCAN QUALITY, AND PROPAGATION PHASE-CONTRAST TO ENHANCE EDGE-DETECTION AND THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN STRUCTURES OF SIMILAR DENSITIES FOR LOW-ABSORBING MATERIALS. THIS INSTRUMENT WILL EXTEND THE FRONTIERS OF SPECIMEN-BASED RESEARCH BY SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASING ACHIEVABLE SCAN RESOLUTION AND THE QUALITY OF SCANS THAT CAN BE OBTAINED AT HIGH RESOLUTIONS WITHIN A WIDE RANGE OF INTACT SPECIMEN SIZES. THE INSTRUMENT WILL PROVIDE AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE FOR RESEARCHERS AT THE AMNH AS WELL AS AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS ACROSS OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND CONSORTIA IN THE NEW YORK CITY REGION. IT WILL STIMULATE THE NEXT GENERATION OF DISCOVERIES BY EXPANDING THE FRONTIERS OF OUR RESEARCH AND TRAINING ACROSS A WIDE USER BASE. IT WILL DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTE TO RESEARCH PROGRAMS ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS INCLUDING THE ORIGINS AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF MAMMALIAN ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY, DIVERSIFICATION OF ARTHROPODS, SKELETAL FUNCTION OF EXTINCT HOMININS, EFFECTS OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ON MARINE ORGANISMS, PROCESSES OF SOLAR SYSTEM FORMATION, THE TRACHEAL SYSTEM OF INSECTS, MICROSTRUCTURAL ANATOMY OF ANIMAL TISSUES, THE FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY OF SMALL-BODIED VERTEBRATES INCLUDING BATS AND FISHES, AND MANY OTHERS. 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.

STAYING IN SCIENCE: INVESTIGATING STEM PERSISTENCE AMONG HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH

CONTINUATION OF NOVEL ANALYTICAL AND EMPIRICAL APPROACHES TO THE ORIGIN AND PREDICTION OF PATHOGENICITY

DECODING URBAN ECOSYSTEMS: COMPUTATIONAL THINKING INTEGRATION IN MIDDLE SCHOOL STEM

PREPARING AND SUPPORTING NEW EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS THROUGH A MUSEUM- AND SCHOOL-BASED TEACHER RESIDENCY PROGRAM

PREPARING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR CAREERS IN MACHINE LEARNING THROUGH MENTORED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

DIGITIZATION TCN: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PLANTS, HERBIVORES, AND PARASITOIDS: A MODEL SYSTEM FOR THE STUDY OF TRI-TROPHIC ASSOCIATIONS

PBI: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE MEGADIVERSE, MICRODISTRIBUTED SPIDER FAMILY OONOPIDAE

THE STARS. A DIGITAL SPACE SHOWTHE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) SEEKS TO PARTNER WITH NASA AND OTHER ENTITIES IN THE PRODUCTION OF A

PLANETARIUM PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT: SPACE SHOW VII AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

THE PURPOSE OF THIS AGREEMENT IS TO FUND RESEARCH SUPPORTING THE DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY DARPA BIOLOGICAL TECHNOLOGIES OFFICES BTO MONITORING OF DISEASE TRANSMISSION PROJECT. THIS EFFORT SHALL BE CARRIED OUT GENERALLY AS SET FORTH IN EXHIBIT B, RESEARCH DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT, DATED JANUARY 24, 2023, AND IN THE RECIPIENTS REVISED PROPOSAL TITLED, PREDICTION AND MONITORING OF DISEASE TRANSMISSION, DATED JANUARY 24, 2023, COPIES OF WHICH ARE IN THE POSSESSION OF BOTH PARTIES.

STAYING IN SCIENCE: EXAMINING THE PATHWAYS OF UNDERREPRESENTED YOUTH MENTORED IN RESEARCH

PURPOSE: AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NARRATIVE INTRODUCTION THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AND LAUNCH A ROBUST, INNOVATIVE, AND SIGNIFICANT CLIMATE IMPACT INITIATIVE AIMED AT DRIVING ACTION, EDUCATION AND OUTREACH, AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. DRAWING ON THE DEEP EXPERTISE AND WIDE BREADTH OF FOCUS OF AMNHS EDUCATION AND SCIENCE DIVISIONS, AND WITH A STRATEGIC FOCUS ON DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS WITH EXTERNAL EXPERTS AND PRACTITIONERS, THIS INITIATIVE WILL GENERATE MULTIPLE AREAS OF IMPACT CENTERED IN NEW YORK CITY (NYC) WITH REGIONAL REACH. AS A PREEMINENT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION, CENTER OF RESEARCH, AND TOURISM DESTINATION, BOTH LOCALLY BELOVED AND GLOBALLY RENOWNED, AMNH IS UNIQUELY WELL-POSITIONED TO UNDERTAKE THIS CRITICAL AND URGENT PROJECT. THE CLIMATE CRISIS CONTINUES TO ACCELERATE, RESULTING IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL DEVASTATION THAT COMBINES WITH SYSTEMIC INEQUITIES TO RESULT IN DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACTS ON THE MOST VULNERABLE AND MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES. BASED ON CURRENT PROJECTIONS, BY THE 2050S, NEW YORK WILL REACH UNPRECEDENTED TEMPERATURES, EXPECTED TO INCREASE BY UP TO 5.7 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT AND HEAT-RELATED DEATHS EXPECTED TO BE FIVE TIMES WHAT THEY ARE TODAY; WITH SEA LEVELS RISING BY UP TO 30 INCHES, COASTAL FLOODING IS EXPECTED TO AFFECT NEARLY ONE MILLION NEW YORKERS (ONENYC 2050: A LIVABLE CLIMATE, 2022). TO ENGAGE WITH THIS CRISISAND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC, ETHICAL, SOCIAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONSALL OF SOCIETY MUST BE INVOLVED IN BUILDING A NEW FUTURE THROUGH RAPID SYSTEM-WIDE TRANSFORMATION. AMNHS CLIMATE IMPACT INITIATIVE AIMS TO MEET THIS NEED BY BUILDING ON AND ADVANCING ONGOING CLIMATE-RELATED WORK AT THE MUSEUM AND DEVELOPING NEW MODES OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT, PARTICULARLY THROUGH THE CREATION OF NEW PARTNERSHIPS IN NYC AND THE REGION, IN WAYS THAT ARE DIRECTLY CONNECTED AND RESPONSIVE TO THE SPECIFIC NEEDS OF AMNHS MOST IMMEDIATE COMMUNITIES. THE INITIATIVE WILL INCREASE THE VISIBILITY AND CAPACITY TO IMPLEMENT NYCS RECENTLY ANNOUNCED GREEN ECONOMY ACTION PLAN THAT LAYS OUT A ROADMAP FOR INVESTING IN JOBS AND SECTORS THAT WILL HELP THE CITY COMPANY CLIMATE CHANGE, AND TRAIN AND POSITION NEW YORKERSPARTICULARLY THOSE FROM ENVIRONMENTALLY-DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIESTO BENEFIT FROM THE NEARLY 400,0000 PROJECTED GREEN-COLLAR JOBS IN NYC BY 2040 (NYCEDC, 2024). ABOUT AMNH: SINCE 1869, AMNH HAS ADVANCED ITS GLOBAL MISSION TO DISCOVER, INTERPRET, AND DISSEMINATE INFORMATION ABOUT HUMAN CULTURES, THE NATURAL WORLD, AND THE UNIVERSE THROUGH A WIDE PROGRAM OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND EXHIBITION. IT IS A LEADER IN SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION FOR LEARNERS OF ALL AGES, OFFERING ROBUST PROGRAMMING FOR STUDENTS FROM THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL THROUGH COLLEGE AND GRADUATE LEVELS, AND EXCELS AT PRESENTING SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS AND INFORMATION IN WAYS THAT ARE ACCESSIBLE TO DIVERSE PUBLIC LEARNERS. AMNH IS ALSO HOME TO THE RICHARD GILDER GRADUATE SCHOOL (RGGS), WHICH CONFERS THE PH.D. IN COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY AND MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING EARTH SCIENCE, MAKING AMNH THE ONLY MUSEUM IN THE UNITED STATES TO CONFER THESE DEGREES. AMNH IS WORLD-RENOWNED FOR NOT ONLY ITS EXHIBITIONS AND COLLECTIONS OF OVER 34 MILLION SPECIMENS AND ARTIFACTS, WHICH SERVE AS A FIELD GUIDE TO THE PLANET AND PRESENT A PANORAMA OF THE WORLD'S CULTURES, BUT ALSO FOR ITS ROBUST ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH INITIATIVES. APPROXIMATELY 200 IN-HOUSE SCIENTISTS WORK ACROSS THE BROAD DISCIPLINES OF ANTHROPOLOGY, ASTROPHYSICS, BIOLOGY, EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, AND PALEONTOLOGY, AND RESEARCHERS CARRY OUT AROUND 100 INTERNATIONAL FIELD EXPEDITIONS EACH YEAR. THE CLIMATE IMPACT INITIATIVE WILL DRAW ON THE BREADTH AND DEPTH OF THE EXPERTISE OF AMNHS EDUCATIONAL, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT, AND SCIENTIFIC STAFF--MANY OF WHOM HAVE FOCUSED THEIR RESEARCH ON THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON BIODIVERSITY AND SPECIES LOSS AND ON INVESTIGATING HOW PALEOCLIMATE SYSTEMS CAN INFORM PREDICTIONS ABOUT TODAYS CLIMATE. AMNH IS CURRENTLY UNDER

COASTAL SEES COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING COUPLED BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL RESILIENCE ACROSS COASTAL PACIFIC ISLAND SYSTEMS

STRATEGIES: SCIENCE RESEARCH MENTORING PROGRAM (SRMP)

LEARNING THEORY IN MUSEUMS: INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF SERENDIPITY IN PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNING OF STEM -SERENDIPITY, OR INSIGHT COUPLED WITH CHANCE, HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AND PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN THE WORK OF COUNTLESS SCHOLARS AND RESEARCHERS. FOR INSTANCE, EXAMPLES OF SERENDIPITOUS DISCOVERIES INCLUDE PENICILLIN, RADIOACTIVITY, AND THE ADHESIVE FOR POST-IT NOTES. YET SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS ARE NEITHER RARE NOR SOLELY THE DOMAIN OF MAGNIFICENT DISCOVERIES; THEY HAPPEN REGULARLY TO ALL. THIS PROJECT INVESTIGATES HOW UNPLANNED YET MEANINGFUL LEARNING EXPERIENCES-TERMED SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS-CAN SPARK CURIOSITY, DEEPEN UNDERSTANDING, AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION IN INFORMAL SCIENCE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS LIKE MUSEUMS. SERENDIPITOUS LEARNING OCCURS WHEN A LEARNER ENCOUNTERS AN INSIGHT BY CHANCE WHILE HAVING THE BACKGROUND TO RECOGNIZE AND ACT ON THE DISCOVERY. THESE MOMENTS OFTEN ARISE WHEN VISITORS ENCOUNTER SOMETHING UNEXPECTED THAT CONNECTS WITH THEIR PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND, WHEN THEY FEEL A SENSE OF AGENCY, LEADS TO INSIGHTS THAT ENCOURAGE FURTHER EXPLORATION. WHILE RESEARCH ON SERENDIPITY HAS BURGEONED IN THE LAST TWO DECADES IN THE CONTEXT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, ITS ROLE IN SUPPORTING LEARNING IN EDUCATION CONTEXTS IS ONLY BEGINNING. BY EXAMINING WHEN, HOW, AND FOR WHOM SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS OCCUR, THIS RESEARCH AIMS TO FURTHER UNDERSTAND THIS PHENOMENON IN INFORMAL LEARNING SPACES LIKE MUSEUMS. THE PROJECT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO NATIONAL EFFORTS TO INCREASE PUBLIC ACCESS TO AND PARTICIPATION IN STEM. THIS THEORY-BUILDING EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION WILL EXPLORE THE ROLE OF SERENDIPITY IN LEARNING AT MUSEUMS. IT BUILDS ON AND REFINES A NEW MODEL OF LEARNING IN MUSEUMS - SAIL (SERENDIPITY AND AGENCY IN INFORMAL LEARNING) CONCEPTUALIZED DURING EARLY PILOT WORK. THE CORE RESEARCH QUESTION IS, WHAT ARE THE KEY FEATURES AND CONTEXTUAL CONDITIONS THAT SUPPORT SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS ACROSS DIFFERENT EXHIBIT TYPES? USING A MIXED-METHODS APPROACH, THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL CONDUCT SURVEYS, INTERVIEWS AND OBSERVATIONS, AND IN-MUSEUM EXPERIENCE SAMPLING TO DOCUMENT WHEN AND WHERE THESE MOMENTS OCCUR, WHAT TRIGGERS THEM, AND WHAT COGNITIVE, EMOTIONAL, AND BEHAVIORAL OUTCOMES THEY PRODUCE. THE PROJECT SPECIFICALLY EXAMINES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERENDIPITY AND PRIOR EXPERIENCE, PERSONAL AGENCY, AND SPATIAL CONTEXT (E.G., LIMINAL OR TRANSITIONAL AREAS WITHIN MUSEUMS THAT FOSTER CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SPACES). A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS, INCLUDING YOUTH CO-RESEARCHERS AND MUSEUM STAFF, WILL GUIDE THE STUDY TO ENSURE RELEVANCE TO REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS. AS FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH, FINDINGS WILL ADVANCE A NEW THEORY OF LEARNING IN INFORMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS. TO ENSURE THIS STUDY CONSIDERS POTENTIAL PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS, THE TEAM WILL REGULARLY EXPLORE EMERGING FINDINGS IN COLLABORATIONS WITH MUSEUM EDUCATORS AND EXHIBIT DEVELOPERS. THIS AISL INTEGRATING RESEARCH & PRACTICE AWARD IS FUNDED BY THE ADVANCING INFORMAL STEM LEARNING (AISL) PROGRAM, WHICH SEEKS TO ADVANCE NEW APPROACHES TO, AND EVIDENCE-BASED UNDERSTANDING OF, THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF STEM LEARNING IN INFORMAL ENVIRONMENTS. THIS INCLUDES PROVIDING EVERYONE WITH MULTIPLE PATHWAYS FOR ACCESSING AND ENGAGING IN STEM LEARNING EXPERIENCES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: COLLABORATIVE DATABASING OF NORTH AMERICAN BEE COLLECTIONS WITHIN A GLOBAL INFORMATICS NETWORK

INVESTIGATING EFFECTIVE STEM TEACHING THROUGH A CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE LENS

SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION OF PEDIPALPI (WHIP SPIDERS AND WHIP SCORPIONS): PHYLOGENOMICS AND MORPHOLOGY OF UNDERSTUDIED ARACHNIDS

NOVEL ANALYTICAL AND EMPIRICAL APPROACHES TO THE ORIGIN AND PREDICTION OF PATHOGENICITY

MRI: ACQUISITION OF AN ELECTRON MICROPROBE AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

UNLOCKING THE SCIENCE POTENTIAL OF A HISTORIC FOSSIL COLLECTION -NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS PRESERVE IRREPLACEABLE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF LIFE ON EARTH, BUT THEIR VALUE FOR SCIENCE AND SOCIETY GOES UNREALIZED UNLESS THEY ARE ACCESSIBLE TO RESEARCHERS, EDUCATORS, AND THE PUBLIC. THIS PROJECT SUPPORTS THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) IN UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF AN HISTORICALLY AND SCIENTIFICALLY IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF FOSSILS DONATED TO THE AMNH BY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (CU) IN 2022. THE CU COLLECTION COMPRISES AROUND 350,000 INVERTEBRATE FOSSILS SUCH AS TRILOBITES, AMMONITES, AND CORALS SPANNING OVER HALF A BILLION YEARS OF EARTH?S HISTORY. THE COLLECTION WAS AMASSED FROM THE 1850S TO THE 1970S BY PALEONTOLOGISTS AND CONTRIBUTED TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF SEVERAL FOUNDATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS, INCLUDING CONTINENTAL DRIFT AND SEA-LEVEL CHANGE THROUGH TIME. THE DEGRADED CABINETRY THAT HAS HOUSED THE COLLECTION FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS NOW SEVERELY LIMITS ACCESS FOR RESEARCH AND CURATION, AND IT IS IN URGENT NEED OF RE-HOUSING AND DIGITIZATION TO ENSURE ITS LONG-TERM VALUE TO THE BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY. THIS PROJECT WILL ENABLE AMNH TO REPLACE THE CABINETRY AND PRODUCE SPECIMEN PHOTOGRAPHS AND DATA THAT WILL BE SHARED PUBLICLY THROUGH THE AMNH?S ONLINE DATABASE AND THE GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION FACILITY (GBIF). THE COLLECTION WILL BE BROADLY ACCESSIBLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES, CREATING NEW RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. IT WILL PROVIDE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATE INTERNS AND AN EARLY-CAREER PROJECT ASSISTANT IN STEM SUBJECTS INCLUDING TAXONOMY, DIGITIZATION AND THE USE OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AND ENGAGE A BROAD PUBLIC AUDIENCE THROUGH NEW WEB CONTENT. THE CU COLLECTION IS ONE OF THE MOST SCIENTIFICALLY AND HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT DONATIONS EVER RECEIVED BY THE DIVISION OF PALEONTOLOGY AT THE AMNH. IT COMPRISES AROUND 350,000 SPECIMENS DIVIDED INTO APPROXIMATELY 50,000 LOTS, COLLECTED THROUGH THE EXTENSIVE, METICULOUS FIELDWORK OF PALEONTOLOGISTS AND GEOSCIENTISTS JOHN STRONG NEWBERRY, AMADEUS WILLIAM GRABAU AND MARSHALL KAY, THEIR STUDENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS, FORMING THE BASIS OF OVER 120 PUBLICATIONS ON THE TYPE SPECIMENS ALONE. THE SPECIMENS WERE COLLECTED FROM HUNDREDS OF LOCALITIES ACROSS NORTH AMERICA AND NORTHERN EUROPE; MANY OF WHICH ARE NO LONGER PRODUCTIVE. DURING THIS THREE-YEAR PROJECT, AMNH WILL REPLACE DEGRADED STORAGE CABINETRY WITH NEW MUSEUM-GRADE STEEL CABINETS AND DRAWERS; CLEAN AND RE-HOUSE SPECIMENS IN ARCHIVAL MATERIALS; PHOTOGRAPH APPROXIMATELY 50,000 SPECIMEN LOTS AND LABELS; AND DIGITIZE ASSOCIATED TAXONOMIC, LOCALITY AND STRATIGRAPHIC DATA. GENERATIVE AI WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO THE DIGITIZATION WORKFLOW TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY IN LABEL TRANSCRIPTION WHILE MAINTAINING CURATORIAL OVERSIGHT AND QUALITY CONTROL. THE RESULTING CATALOG DATA AND IMAGES WILL BE UPLOADED TO AMNH?S AXIELL EMU COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE THROUGH THE AMNH PALEONTOLOGY DATABASE AND GBIF, SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVING DISCOVERABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY FOR RESEARCHERS WORLDWIDE. THE PROJECT WILL SUPPORT CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN PALEONTOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, INCLUDING THE DIVERSITY OF EXTINCT ORGANISMS, THE MECHANISMS DRIVING THEIR EVOLUTION AND EXTINCTION, AND THE COMPLEX INTERACTIONS BETWEEN LIFE AND EARTH?S SYSTEM THROUGH GEOLOGICAL TIME. THIS PROJECT ALIGNS WITH THE NSF?S BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) PRIORITY AREAS. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

ADVANCING PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF 21ST CENTURY SCIENCES

REHOUSING AND EXPANDING ACCESS TO THE TYPE AND RARE BIRD COLLECTION, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY -THE DEPARTMENT OF ORNITHOLOGY AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) IN NEW YORK CITY HOUSES ONE OF THE WORLD?S MOST IMPORTANT COLLECTIONS OF TYPE AND RARE BIRD SPECIMENS. TYPE SPECIMENS ARE GLOBALLY UNIQUE AND ARE USED BY TAXONOMISTS TO DESCRIBE SPECIES. THE AMNH COLLECTION IS ALSO USED MORE BROADLY BY RESEARCHERS, NATURALISTS, AND ARTISTS FOR A RANGE OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. HOWEVER, THE TYPE AND RARE BIRD COLLECTION IS CURRENTLY STORED IN NEARLY CENTURY-OLD CABINETRY, WHICH THREATENS THE PHYSICAL INTEGRITY OF THE SPECIMENS DUE TO SOOT ACCUMULATION AND JOSTLING DURING THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF DRAWERS. THIS AWARD WILL SAFEGUARD A GLOBALLY SIGNIFICANT COLLECTION BY PROVIDING NEW CABINETRY AND AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECORD SPECIMEN DATA, INCLUDING IMAGING A SELECT SUBSET OF SPECIMENS. THE ENHANCED SPECIMEN DATA WILL BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE AND RETRIEVABLE ON OPEN-ACCESS ONLINE DATABASES. THIS PROJECT WILL ENSURE THE LONG-TERM PROTECTION OF THE SPECIMENS AND IMPROVE ACCESS FOR BOTH ON-SITE AND ONLINE USERS. TO MAINTAIN THE AMNH TYPE AND RARE BIRD COLLECTION AT THE HIGHEST CURATION STANDARDS AND EXPAND ITS ACCESSIBILITY, THE PROJECT WILL ACHIEVE THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: 1) REPLACE CENTURY-OLD CABINETRY WITH 54 NEW CABINETS ON COMPACTORS; 2) ADD 3,037 ADDITIONAL RARE BIRD SPECIMENS, REPRESENTING A 36% INCREASE IN THE COLLECTION; 3) IMAGE THE NON-PASSERINE PRIMARY-TYPE COLLECTION AND MAKE IT AVAILABLE ONLINE; AND 4) IMPROVE METADATA AND GEOREFERENCE ALL 11,898 SPECIMENS HOUSED IN THE TYPE AND RARE BIRD ROOM. DIGITIZING THESE COLLECTIONS IS CRUCIAL AS TYPE SPECIMENS ARE NOT LOANED OUT, WHICH WILL ALLOW REMOTE RESEARCHERS ACCESS FOR THEIR INVESTIGATIONS. THE PROJECT WILL UTILIZE AN EDUCATIONAL AND OUTREACH PLATFORM INVOLVING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA TO FULFILL THESE OBJECTIVES. COLLECTIVELY, THIS PROPOSAL WILL BROADEN THE UTILITY OF THE COLLECTION THROUGH IMPROVED ACCESS VIA DIGITIZATION, ONLINE RESOURCES, ONSITE FACILITIES, AND WORKFORCE TRAINING, ENSURING THE COLLECTIONS VIABILITY INTO THE FUTURE. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

PI: LISA GUGENHEIM/AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORYNASA SCIENCE RESEARCH MENTORING PROGRAM (NASA SRMP)SUMMARY: THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HIS

MRI-R2: ACQUISITION OF A HIGH RESOLUTION CT-SCANNER AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

HUMAN HEALTH, BIODIVERSITY, AND MICROBIAL ECOLOGY: STRATEGIES TO EDUCATE

HUMAN HEALTH AND 'HUMAN BULLETINS': SCIENTISTS AND TEENS EXPLORE HEALTH SCIENCES

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP)

COLOMBIA IS THE SECOND MOST BIODIVERSE COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. THE COLOMBIA BIODIVERSITY OBSERVATION NETWORK (BON) CONSISTS OF NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGERS CONSERVATION PRACTITIONERS AND SCIENTISTS WHO DEFINE PRIORITIES FOR MONITORING BIODIVERSITY AT RE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GEODE: GENEALOGY AND ECOLOGY OF ODONATA: THE FIRST RESOLVED EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY AND GLOBAL BIOGEOGRAPHY OF AN ENTIRE INSECT ORDER

LIVING FOSSILS: INTEGRATING PHYLOGENOMICS AND COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY TO ASSEMBLE THE SCORPION TREE OF LIFE

IIBR INFORMATICS: UNLOCKING THE INCREDIBLE POTENTIAL FOR MUSEUM SPECIMENS TO YIELD DNA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: COMPARING THE ROLES OF CONSERVED AND NOVEL MOLECULAR BUILDING BLOCKS UNDERLYING KLEPTOCNIDY IN NUDIBRANCH GASTROPODS. -UNDERSTANDING HOW NEW BIOLOGICAL TRAITS ARISE IS A FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION IN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, WITH BROAD IMPLICATIONS FOR EXPLAINING THE ORIGINS OF BIODIVERSITY, PREDICTING HOW ORGANISMS RESPOND TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE, AND ADVANCING BIOTECHNOLOGY INNOVATION. MOST RESEARCH INTO EVOLUTIONARY NOVELTY HAS FOCUSED ON TRAITS THAT ARISE THROUGH THE GAIN OF NEW GENES OR PATHWAYS; FAR LESS IS KNOWN ABOUT HOW THE LOSS OR MODIFICATION OF EXISTING PATHWAYS CAN GENERATE NOVELTY. THIS PROJECT INVESTIGATES THE PROCESS OF KLEPTOCNIDY, WHICH IS THE THEFT AND STORAGE OF MICROSCOPIC STINGING STRUCTURES (NEMATOCYSTS) FROM CNIDARIAN PREY, A STRIKING NATURAL EXAMPLE OF BIOLOGICAL INNOVATION THAT HAS EVOLVED INDEPENDENTLY MULTIPLE TIMES. THE RESEARCH WILL DETERMINE WHETHER THIS UNIQUE PROCESS EVOLVED IN NUDIBRANCH SEA SLUGS THROUGH SPECIALIZATION OF PHAGOCYTOSIS, AN ANCIENT CELLULAR PROCESS USED ACROSS ANIMALS FOR IMMUNE DEFENSE AND INTRACELLULAR DIGESTION. BY GENERATING HIGH-QUALITY GENOMIC, TRANSCRIPTOMIC, AND SINGLE-CELL DATA RESOURCES FOR MARINE INVERTEBRATES, THE PROJECT PRODUCES STRATEGIC BIOLOGICAL DATA ASSETS USEFUL TO THE BROADER SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE ACROSS EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, COMPARATIVE IMMUNOLOGY, AND CELL BIOLOGY. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO SUPPORT THE TRAINING OF GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS IN GENOMICS AND COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS THROUGH RESEARCH EXPERIENCES AND WILL BROADEN PARTICIPATION IN SCIENCE THROUGH PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES. OVERALL, THESE EFFORTS WILL CONTRIBUTE SUBSTANTIALLY TO THE TRAINING OF A COMPETITIVE STEM WORKFORCE IN MOLECULAR TOOLS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY. THIS COLLABORATIVE PROJECT TESTS WHETHER KLEPTOCNIDY EVOLVED PRIMARILY THROUGH SPECIALIZATION (LOSS OF FUNCTION) OF CONSERVED PHAGOCYTOSIS PATHWAYS OR THROUGH THE ORIGIN OF NEW MOLECULAR MACHINERY. THREE OBJECTIVES INTEGRATE COMPLEMENTARY APPROACHES ACROSS TWO LABORATORY-TRACTABLE NUDIBRANCH SPECIES, BERGHIA STEPHANIEAE AND HERMISSENDA OPALESCENS. OBJECTIVE 1 CHARACTERIZES THE MOLECULAR PROCESSES UNDERLYING KLEPTOCNIDY IN ADULT HERMISSENDA USING RNA-SEQUENCING OF CERATA TISSUES UNDER CNIDARIAN AND NON-CNIDARIAN FEEDING REGIMES, PAIRED WITH PHARMACOLOGICAL INHIBITION ASSAYS TARGETING CANDIDATE PHAGOCYTOSIS PATHWAYS. OBJECTIVE 2 RECONSTRUCTS THE REGULATORY NETWORKS INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CNIDOPHAGE, WHICH IS THE SPECIALIZED CELL TYPE THAT CAPTURES AND STORES NEMATOCYSTS, USING SINGLE-CELL RNA-SEQUENCING ACROSS EARLY JUVENILE BERGHIA DEVELOPMENT, WITH IN SITU HYBRIDIZATION CHAIN REACTION VALIDATION, TO TEST WHETHER CNIDOPHAGES DEVELOP THROUGH PATHWAYS CONSERVED WITH GENERALIST PHAGOCYTIC CELLS. OBJECTIVE 3 EVALUATES THE ROLE OF LINEAGE-SPECIFIC (?NOVEL?) GENES THROUGH COMPARATIVE DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION AND ORTHOLOGY ANALYSES ACROSS APPROXIMATELY 20 CLADOBRANCH NUDIBRANCH SPECIES, INCLUDING INDEPENDENT ORIGINS OF NEMATOCYST SEQUESTRATION, COLLECTED FROM CALIFORNIA AND FRENCH POLYNESIA. OUTPUTS WILL INCLUDE A NEW REFERENCE GENOME, SINGLE-CELL ATLASES, GENE CO-EXPRESSION AND REGULATORY NETWORKS, AND A PHYLOGENETICALLY INFORMED CATALOG OF CONSERVED VERSUS LINEAGE-SPECIFIC GENES UNDERLYING A CHARISMATIC CASE OF EVOLUTIONARY INNOVATION, WHILE PROVIDING FOUNDATIONAL GENOMIC RESOURCES FOR AN EMERGING MARINE INVERTEBRATE MODEL SYSTEM. THE RESULTS OF THIS WORK WILL IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE EVOLUTION OF NOVELTY. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

EXPLORING EARTH SYSTEMS: EXPANDING DATA VISUALIZATION EXPERIENCES FOR MUSEUM LEARNERS

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY WILL PARTNER WITH YALE INSTITUTE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE AND UCLA/GETTY MASTER'S PROGRAM IN THE CONSERVATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS TO CONDUCT CONSERVATION RESEARCH ON CLEANING TAXIDERMY FEATHERS AND PRESERVING AND RESTORING COLOR IN TAXIDERMY FEATHERS AND FUR. THE PROJECT TEAM WILL INVESTIGATE THE IMPACT OF CLEANING METHODS AND MATERIALS ON THE PRESERVATION OF FEATHERS; THE POTENTIAL FOR ULTRAVIOLET ABSORBERS AND HINDERED AMINE LIGHT STABILIZERS TO PRESERVE NATURAL AND RESTORED COLOR TO FUR AND FEATHERS; AND APPLICATION METHODS AND LONG-TERM STABILITY OF COLORANTS FOR RESTORING FADED FEATHERS. AN EXTENSIVE TRAINING, EDUCATION, AND RESOURCE EFFORT WILL ENSURE DISSEMINATION OF BEST PRACTICES FOR THE CARE AND CONSERVATION OF HISTORIC TAXIDERMY. THIS WILL BENEFIT MUSEUMS AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS AT RISK OF LOSING PIECES OF THEIR COLLECTIONS; CONSERVATORS, TAXIDERMISTS, AND PROFESSIONALS CHARGED WITH THE CARE OF HISTORIC TAXIDERMY; AND MUSEUM VISITORS, INCLUDING ARTISTS AND STUDENTS WHO RELY ON ANATOMICALLY CORRECT TAXIDERMY TO LEARN ABOUT BIOLOGY.

REU SITE: SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

EFFECTIVE POLICY RESPONSES TO CHANGES IN BIODIVERSITY ARE ONLY POSSIBLE WITH ADAPTABLE ANALYTIC TOOLS THAT LEVERAGE THE INFLUX OF DATA FROM BIODIVERSITY OBSERVATION SYSTEMS. SUCH ANALYTIC TOOLS MUST ALSO BE STREAMLINED AND READILY MASTERED BY RESEARCHERS MAKING SCIENTIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS. IN THIS PROJECT WE WILL CREATE SOFTWARE TO ASSESS BIODIVERSITY CHANGE INDICATORS BY BUILDING ON THE RECENTLY DEVELOPED SOFTWARE WALLACE AS A NEW GEO BON IN A BOX TOOL. WALLACE IS AN R-BASED APPLICATION WITH A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE THAT SUPPORTS SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELING (SDM) IN A REPRODUCIBLE FLEXIBLE AND EXTENSIBLE PLATFORM TO FACILITATE A WIDE RANGE OF ECOLOGICAL ANALYSES. THESE MODELS CHARACTERIZE ENVIRONMENTAL SUITABILITY FOR SPECIES AND CAN BE USED TO ESTIMATE SPECIES GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS A GEO BON ESSENTIAL BIODIVERSITY VARIABLE (EBV). WALLACE HARNESSES BIODIVERSITY DATA FROM ONLINE DATABASES OR USER INPUT ASSEMBLES A VARIETY OF TOOLS FOR BUILDING AND EVALUATING MODELS AND OFFERS GUIDANCE FOR IMPORTANT CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES. CRITICALLY ITS MODULAR NATURE FACILITATES THE ADDITION OF NEW CUTTING-EDGE INNOVATIONS BY OTHER PROGRAMMERS AS WE PROPOSE HERE. TO EXPAND WALLACE AS A NEW BON IN A BOX WE WILL DEVELOP TWO NEW R PACKAGES TO BE INTEGRATED AS NEW MODULES FOR WALLACE S WORKFLOW TO FACILITATE BIODIVERSITY CHANGE INDICATOR CALCULATIONS FOR GEO BON ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING IN COLLABORATION WITH THE COLOMBIA BON AS A MODEL. THE FIRST PACKAGE WILL USE SINGLE SPECIES RANGE MAPS IN CONJUNCTION WITH REMOTELY SENSED (RS) PRODUCTS TO ESTIMATE THE SPECIES CURRENT RANGE. IT WILL HARNESS RS PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM NASA (AND OTHER) SATELLITES INCLUDING PERCENT FOREST COVER VEGETATION CLASSES AND NDVI WHICH CAN BE SPATIO-TEMPORALLY MATCHED WITH RECENT IN SITU OBSERVATIONS OF SPECIES OCCURRENCE TO DETERMINE HABITAT TOLERANCES (E.G. TO LAND USE CHANGE). THE SECOND PACKAGE WILL ALLOW CALCULATION OF KEY INDICATORS INCLUDING SINGLE-SPECIES BIODIVERSITY CHANGE INDICATORS SUCH AS RANGE SIZE EXTENT OF OCCURRENCE PERCENT SUITABLE LAND COVER OR PROJECTED TRENDS UNDER FUTURE SCENARIOS AT MULTIPLE SPATIAL EXTENTS. CALCULATIONS WILL ALSO INCLUDE MULTI-SPECIES INDICATORS SUCH AS THE EBV TAXONOMIC DIVERSITY AND OTHERS NOT CURRENTLY IMPLEMENTED THROUGH OTHER BON IN A BOX TOOLS WITH A FOCUS ON ONES MOST USEFUL AT REGIONAL SCALES. MODULE OUTPUTS FROM WALLACE WILL BE DESIGNED TO FEED DIRECTLY INTO OTHER BON IN A BOX TOOLS SUCH AS OUR INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATOR INSTITUTO HUMBOLDT S BIOMODELOS. BIOMODELOS IS A WEB APPLICATION ENABLING EXPERT VALIDATION OF SPECIES RANGE ESTIMATES IN SUPPORT OF THE COLOMBIA BON. WE WILL ALSO DEVELOP TRAINING MATERIALS FOR WALLACE TARGETING CONSERVATION PRACTITIONERS THAT REFLECT BEST PRACTICES FOR USING SDM FOR BIODIVERSITY CHANGE INDICATOR CALCULATIONS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION DECISION-MAKING. OUR PROJECT RESULTS WILL ADDRESS CHALLENGES TO OVERCOMING THE GAP BETWEEN BEST MODELING PRACTICES AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION DECISION-MAKING AND WILL FACILITATE RESPONSIBLE REPORTING ON BIODIVERSITY BY NATIONAL BONS. VIA FOCUS ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND ENHANCEMENT OF OPEN-SOURCE USER-FRIENDLY SOFTWARE TO CONTRIBUTE TO BON IN A BOX OUR PROPOSAL WILL ADVANCE BROAD APPLICATION EXPLORATION VISUALIZATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF EBVS AND GENERATION OF EBV DATA. FURTHERMORE DEVELOPING A CONNECTION BETWEEN WALLACE AND BIOMODELOS ANOTHER BON IN A BOX TOOL WILL BE VALUABLE FOR FUTURE INTERFACING WITH EFFORTS AT IUCN BIEN (THE BOTANICAL INFORMATION AND ECOLOGY NETWORK) AND OTHER SIMILAR PROJECTS THAT USE SDM PREDICTIONS AS INPUTS. FINALLY ALTHOUGH WE WILL FOCUS DEVELOPMENT OF OUR BON IN A BOX WITH THE NEEDS OF THE COLOMBIA BON AND WITH NASA EARTH SCIENCE DATA WE WILL INCORPORATE FLEXIBILITY TO ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF DIVERSE USERS AT MULTIPLE SCALES FROM NATIONAL TO GLOBAL AND TO WORK WITH REMOTELY SENSED DATA FROM ANY SPACE AGENCY IN GEO

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE GENOMIC BASIS OF EVOLUTIONARY INNOVATIONS IN THE SQUAMATE TREE OF LIFE -THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF LIFE ON EARTH, ORGANISMS HAVE EVOLVED MULTIPLE ADAPTATIONS TO A CONSTANTLY CHANGING ENVIRONMENT. IN MANY INSTANCES, KEY INNOVATIONS ARISE COINCIDENT WITH THE ORIGINS OF GROUPS AND PROVIDE THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE DIVERSIFICATION OF MANY SPECIES. HOWEVER, THE EVOLUTION OF THE UNDERLYING GENETIC MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE IMPORTANT ADAPTATIONS ACROSS THE TREE OF LIFE ARE NOT WELL KNOWN, LEAVING A MAJOR GAP IN OUR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF KEY INNOVATIONS. THIS RESEARCH WILL COMBINE INFORMATION FROM COMPLETE GENOMES WITH ANATOMICAL DATA FROM BOTH LIVING AND FOSSIL SPECIES OF SQUAMATES (LIZARDS AND SNAKES) TO PINPOINT THE TIMING OF MAJOR EVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN ANATOMY, AND DETERMINE AREAS OF THE GENOME ASSOCIATED WITH SUCH CHANGES. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO PROVIDE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS AND EARLY CAREER SCIENTISTS, YIELD NEW OPEN ACCESS DATABASES, AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE EDUCATION OF UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS IN STEM THROUGH OUTREACH ABOUT RESEARCH ON SQUAMATES AND GENOMICS. SQUAMATES ARE AN EXCELLENT MODEL FOR STUDYING EVOLUTIONARY INNOVATIONS, WITH ~11,000 LIVING SPECIES AND A RICH FOSSIL RECORD SPANNING OVER 240 MILLION YEARS. AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENOMIC BASIS OF EVOLUTIONARY INNOVATIONS ACROSS ALL MAJOR GROUPS OF SQUAMATES HAS BEEN HISTORICALLY LIMITED BY THE LACK OF WHOLE GENOMES, COMPREHENSIVE TRAIT DATA, AND APPROPRIATE ANALYTICAL TOOLS. TO ADDRESS THESE LIMITATIONS, THE PROJECT WILL COMPILE COMPREHENSIVE PHENOTYPIC DATA FOR 370 LIVING AND FOSSIL SQUAMATE SPECIES AND BUILD A DATABASE OF COMPLETE GENOMES REPRESENTING >90% OF LIVING SQUAMATE FAMILIES, RESULTING IN THE MOST COMPLETE DATABASE FOR SQUAMATE REPTILES EVER ASSEMBLED. USING EMERGING TOOLS FOR COMPARATIVE GENOMICS AND PHYLOGENETICS, THIS RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE TWO BROADLY INTERESTING PRODUCTS: 1) THE FIRST WHOLE-GENOMIC SQUAMATE TREE OF LIFE WITH A PRECISE TIMELINE OF SQUAMATE EVOLUTION; 2) A DETAILED UNDERSTANDING OF HOW EVOLUTIONARY RATES ACROSS MULTIPLE REGIONS OF THE SQUAMATE GENOME AND PHENOME HAVE CHANGED ACROSS TIME, AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH EACH OTHER. THE LATTER WILL REVEAL THE GENOMIC CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH KEY ADAPTATIONS IN SQUAMATE EVOLUTION, SUCH AS THE ORIGIN OF HIGHLY MOBILE SNAKE SKULLS AND BODY ELONGATION ACROSS VARIOUS LINEAGES. COLLECTIVELY, THE RESEARCH WILL DETERMINE WHETHER CHANGES IN PROTEIN-CODING GENES OR NON-CODING REGULATORY REGIONS OF THE GENOME ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVOLUTIONARY INNOVATIONS IN THE TREE OF LIFE; IDENTIFY THE GENETIC PATHWAYS INVOLVED IN ORGANISMAL GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT, AND OTHER LIFE FUNCTIONS THAT HAVE DRIVEN SPECIES DIVERSIFICATION; AND PROVIDE DISCOVERIES AND TOOLS WIDELY APPLICABLE TO EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGISTS ACROSS DIVERSE FIELDS OF SPECIALIZATION. 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.

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GRANTS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ALL BIRDS: A TIME-SCALED AVIAN TREE FROM INTEGRATED PHYLOGENOMIC AND FOSSIL DATA

THE ORIGIN OF ULTRA FAINT DWARF GALAXIES AND THEIR GLOBULAR CLUSTERS

INTEGRATING REMOTELY SENSED DATA AND ECOLOGICAL MODELS TO ASSESS SPECIES EXTINCTION RISKS UNDER CLIMATE CHANGESUMMARY: CLIMATE CHANGE IS RARELY CONS

MRI: DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECT 1640: DIRECT EXOPLANET SPECTROSCOPY

THIS PROPOSAL SEEKS SUPPORT FOR A NEW SURVEY OF NEARBY STARS WITH UNIQUE INSTRUMENTATION THAT PROVIDES UNPRECEDENTED SENSITIVITY. THE INSTRUMENTATION

CC* NETWORK-CAMPUS: AMNH MODERN UNIFIED SCIENCE ETHERNET NETWORK (MUSENET) -THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) HAS PROGRESSED STEADILY TO ADVANCE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION (R&E) BY REMOVING BARRIERS FACING SCIENTISTS, RESEARCHERS, AND EDUCATORS AT AMNH THROUGH SUPPORT FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF). SINCE THE INITIAL INVESTMENTS IN A NETWORK SCIENCE DMZ, INSTITUTIONAL HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING, AND LARGE-SCALE RESEARCH DATA STORAGE, THE OVER 170 SCIENTISTS ACROSS FIVE SCIENTIFIC DIVISIONS AT AMNH HAVE COLLABORATED MORE EFFECTIVELY WITH COLLEAGUES ACROSS THE NATION AND GLOBE, SHARED DATA WITH MULTIPLE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST, AND PUBLISHED COMPUTATIONALLY INTENSE RESEARCH. UNDER THIS AWARD, AMNH ADDRESSES KEY LIMITATIONS THAT SURFACED AT THE NETWORKING LAYER AS COLLABORATIONS SCALED AND DEEPENED. THE INITIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SCIENCE DMZ WITH A 10 GBPS CONNECTION WAS SUCCESSFUL, AND EVENTUALLY OUTPACED CAPACITY EXTERNALLY. INTERNALLY, THE SCIENCE NETWORK DMZ DID NOT INCLUDE EVERY CAMPUS LAB OR EVERY COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCE FOR RESEARCH. THIS AWARD ALLOWS AMNH TO CONNECT ALL LABS AND ALL COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCES THROUGH A SHARED BACKBONE AND PROVIDES 100 GBPS FOR COLLABORATION, ENABLING GREATER INSTITUTIONAL ACCESS TO NATIONAL SERVICES SUCH AS THE NATIONAL RESEARCH PLATFORM AND OPEN SCIENCE POOL. IN ADDITION, THE IMPROVED DATA TRANSFER NODES IN THE NETWORK NOW OPERATE AT 100 GBPS ALONG WITH THE PERFSONAR NODES THAT MONITOR NETWORK PERFORMANCE. THE DMZ-BASED SCIENCE NETWORK IS A KEY BUILDING BLOCK FOR INNOVATION AT THE MUSEUM AND WILL POSITIVELY AFFECT EDUCATION AND EXHIBITIONS, WHICH EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ABOUT SCIENCE AND INSPIRE YOUNG MINDS TO PURSUE SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

CAREER: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TWO TRILOBITE DIVERSIFICATION EVENTS TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF EARLY ANIMAL EVOLUTION.

REU SITE: SYSTEMATICS, EVOLUTION AND CONSERVATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

REU SITE: SYSTEMATICS, EVOLUTION AND CONSERVATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY -THIS REU SITE AWARD TO THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH), LOCATED IN NEW YORK, NY, WILL SUPPORT THE TRAINING OF 12 STUDENTS FOR 10 WEEKS DURING THE SUMMERS OF 2023-2025. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT A TOTAL OF 36 STUDENTS, PRIMARILY FROM SCHOOLS WITH LIMITED RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES OR FROM AN UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUP, WILL BE TRAINED IN THE PROGRAM. THE PROGRAM, SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY, AIMS TO BUILD RESEARCH CAPACITY AND STRENGTHEN SKILLS IN STUDENTS WHO PARTICIPATE, GROWING THE FIELD OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES WITH AN AIM TO DIVERSIFY THE DISCIPLINE AS A WHOLE. STUDENTS WILL LEARN HOW RESEARCH IS CONDUCTED, AND MANY WILL PRESENT THE RESULTS OF THEIR WORK AT SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES. ASSESSMENT OF THE PROGRAM WILL BE DONE THROUGH THE ONLINE SALG URSSA TOOL. STUDENTS WILL BE TRACKED AFTER THE PROGRAM IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THEIR CAREER PATHS. THE THEME OF THE REU PROGRAM IS SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION AND STUDENTS WILL BE MENTORED IN LAB AND FIELD TECHNIQUES, ANALYTICAL METHODS, AS WELL AS SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION. STUDENTS WILL BE MENTORED BY MUSEUM SCIENTISTS. INTERESTED STUDENTS WILL REGISTER IN THE NSF ETAP SYSTEM (HTTPS://ETAP.NSF.GOV). IN SELECTING PARTICIPANTS, EMPHASIS IS PLACED ON STUDENT-PROJECT AND STUDENT-MENTOR MATCHING. STUDENT RESEARCH PROJECTS WILL COVER THE VARIOUS FIELDS OF THE SYSTEMATICS DISCIPLINE FROM DESCRIPTIVE TAXONOMY TO POPULATION GENOMICS, LINGUISTICS AND PHYLOGENOMICS; STUDENTS WILL LEARN TO COLLECT DIFFERENT TYPES OF NEONTOLOGICAL AND PALEONTOLOGICAL DATA, AND ACQUIRE EXPERIENCE WITH ADVANCED MORPHOLOGICAL, MOLECULAR, AND COMPUTATIONAL METHODS. STUDENTS WILL LEARN ABOUT THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF MUSEUMS AS STEWARDS OF DIVERSITY THROUGH TIME AND SPACE BY GAINING FAMILIARITY WITH THE AMNH?S VAST COLLECTIONS. FURTHER ENRICHMENT WILL BE THROUGH WEEKLY LECTURES AND TRAINING SESSIONS AS WELL AS WORKSHOPS ON ETHICS AND RESPONSIBLE SCIENTIFIC CONDUCT. MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAM IS AVAILABLE BY VISITING HTTPS://WWW.AMNH.ORG/RESEARCH/RICHARD-GILDER-GRADUATE-SCHOOL/ACADEMICS/FELLOWSHIP-AND-GRANT-OPPORTUNITIES/UNDERGRADUATE-FELLOWSHIPS/REU-BIOLOGY-PROGRAM, OR BY CONTACTING THE PI (DR. JESSICA WARE, JWARE@AMNH.ORG) OR THE CO-PI (DR. CHERYL HAYASHI, CHAYASHI@AMNH.ORG). 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.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MULTI-CENTURY RECORDS OF THE FLORIDA CURRENT AND ITS SOURCES-AN INVESTIGATION OF MULTI-DECADAL VARIABILITY -THE FLORIDA CURRENT REPRESENTS THE ORIGINS OF THE GULF STREAM THAT FLOWS NORTHWARD INTO THE HIGH LATITUDE NORTH ATLANTIC, EVENTUALLY BECOMING THE NORTH ATLANTIC CURRENT. THE FLOW OF THIS WATER MASS WARMS THE ATMOSPHERE ABOVE IT, REDISTRIBUTING HEAT FROM THE TROPICS TO HIGHER LATITUDES. AS THE NORTH ATLANTIC CURRENT COOLS NEAR THE ARCTIC, IT BECOMES DENSE AND SINKS TO THE DEEP OCEAN THEN FLOWS SOUTHWARD AND IN PART DRIVES THE LARGE-SCALE ATLANTIC MERIDIONAL OVERTURNING CIRCULATION, WHICH MODERATES CLIMATE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE AND BEYOND. MUCH ATTENTION HAS BEEN FOCUSED ON THE POSSIBLE SLOWDOWN OF THIS CIRCULATION. ALTHOUGH RESEARCHERS HAVE SOME UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE FLORIDA CURRENT HAS BEHAVED IN MODERN TIMES, BASED ON DIRECT MEASUREMENTS, ITS PAST BEHAVIOR IS POORLY CONSTRAINED. FURTHER, OBSERVATIONS OF THE FLORIDA CURRENT ARE LIMITED TO RECENT DECADES AND IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT THE FLORIDA CURRENT HAS WEAKENED OVER THE LAST 40 YEARS DUE TO HUMAN CAUSED CLIMATE CHANGE. HOWEVER, LONGER-TERM (MULTIDECADAL TO CENTENNIAL) ANNUAL RESOLUTION DATA ON THE FLORIDA CURRENT ARE CURRENTLY TOO SCARCE TO CONFIRM THIS. BECAUSE THE PERIOD OF DIRECT INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATION IS RELATIVELY SHORT, TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURAL VARIABILITY OF THE SYSTEM, THE FLORIDA CURRENT MUST BE STUDIED BY NATURAL CLIMATE ARCHIVES AND PROXY RECORDS. THIS INVESTIGATION WILL UTILIZE PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED CORALS THAT ARE STRATEGICALLY LOCATED TO ADDRESS THE QUESTIONS: 1) WHAT IS THE NATURAL VARIABILITY IN ANNUAL CHANGES TO THE FLORIDA CURRENT OVER THE PAST SEVERAL CENTURIES? 2) HOW DO THOSE CHANGES RELATE TO CLIMATE DRIVERS IN THE REGION, INCLUDING DECADAL SCALE TRENDS TO REGIONAL AND LOCAL CONDITIONS? THE BROADER IMPACT ACTIVITIES OF THIS PROPOSAL INCLUDE SUPPORT FOR SEVERAL UNDERREPRESENTED RESEARCHERS, TRAINING AND MENTORING OF UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND TWO POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS. THE INVESTIGATORS WILL CREATE A MUSEUM DISPLAY IN THE HALL OF PLANET EARTH AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. DIRECT OBSERVATIONS OF THE COMPONENTS OF THE ATLANTIC MERIDIONAL OVERTURNING CIRCULATION (AMOC) ARE LIMITED TO THE LAST COUPLE OF DECADES. MEASUREMENTS OF THE FLORIDA CURRENT, A CRITICAL COMPONENT OF AMOC, HAVE ONLY EXISTED FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS WITH RECENT WORK SUGGESTING A MODEST DECLINE IN THE FLORIDA CURRENT OVER THE PAST CENTURY; HOWEVER, ANNUAL RESOLUTION AND LONG-TERM (> 50 TO 100 YEARS) DATA ON THE FLORIDA CURRENT AND AMOC ARE NECESSARY TO FURTHER EVALUATE THIS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL CONTRIBUTE MUCH NEEDED INFORMATION ON THE RATES AND PROCESSES OF THE FLORIDA CURRENT OVER THE PAST 200-300 YEARS. USING PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED SIDERASTREA AND COLPOPHYLLIA CORALS FROM TOBAGO AND THE FLORIDA STRAITS THAT FAITHFULLY RECORD OCEANOGRAPHIC AND CLIMATE SIGNALS WITHIN THE GEOCHEMISTRY OF THEIR SKELETONS, THIS WORK WILL RECONSTRUCT FLORIDA CURRENT FLOW FROM WATER MASS PROPERTIES. ANNUAL-RESOLUTION MEASUREMENTS OF RADIOCARBON CONTENT WILL RESOLVE WATER MASS SOURCE VARIATIONS BETWEEN SEVERAL INFLOW ROUTES INTO AND THROUGH THE CARIBBEAN SEA THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE VELOCITY OF THE FLORIDA CURRENT. SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST) AND SALINITY (SSS) OBTAINED AT MONTHLY RESOLUTION FROM RATIOS OF STRONTIUM TO CALCIUM (SR/CA) AND OXYGEN ISOTOPES (?18O) RESPECTIVELY WILL ADD HIGHER RESOLUTION INFORMATION ON WATER MASS PROPERTIES DUE TO SPECIFIC HYDROCLIMATES IN WATER SOURCE REGIONS. THE CORALS ARE STRATEGICALLY LOCATED: ONE IS IN THE HEART OF THE FLORIDA CURRENT, THE SECOND IS AT THE SOUTHERN END-MEMBER OF THE CARIBBEAN IN-FLOW. TOGETHER, THESE SITES WILL ?CLOSE THE LOOP? ON INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE FLORIDA CURRENT AND THE RELATIVE CONTRIBUTION OF NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN WATER TO THE CARIBBEAN CURRENT. BY INTEGRATING DATA FROM SEVERAL LOCATIONS, THIS WORK WILL BETTER CONSTRAIN MULTIDECADAL VARIABILITY IN THE RATE OF THE FLORIDA CURRENT FLOW BEFORE THE ONSET OF ANTHROPOGENIC CHANGES. BOX MODELS UTILIZING THE WATER MASS SIGNALS OF RADIOCARBON, SST AND SSS WILL BE COMBINED WITH REANALYSIS OF REGIONAL LAGRANGIAN OUTPUT OCEAN GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS TO RECONSTRUCT DECADAL RESOLVED CHANGES TO THE FLORIDA CURRENT SOURCE WATER OVER THE LAST SEVERAL CENTURIES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

ATOL: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RESOLVING MAMMALIAN PHYLOGENY WITH GENOMIC AND MORPHOLOGICAL APPROACHES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NEARBY M DWARF STARS AS HIGH-PRIORITY TARGETS FOR EXOPLANET SEARCHES

THIS PROPOSAL SUPPORTS COMPLETE, NON-DESTRUCTIVE, 3-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF WHOLE STARDUST SAMPLE TRACKS IN AEROGEL KEYSTONES USING LASER SCANNING CO

CDI-TYPE I: COMBINED GLOBAL PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND MINERALOGICAL MODELS OF PROTOPLANETARY DISKS

CAREER: COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY OF PHAGOCYTOSIS IN GREEN ALGAE AND OTHER PROTISTS WITH EMPHASIS ON ITS ROLES IN THE ENDOSYMBIOTIC ORIGIN OF EUKARYOTIC PH

DIMENSIONS US-BIOTA-SAO PAULO: ASSEMBLY AND EVOLUTION OF THE AMAZONIAN BIOTA AND ITS ENVIRONMENT: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BIOGEOGRAPHY, TURNOVER, AND EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF THE LATE ORDOVICIAN MASS EXTINCTION: PHYLOGENETIC AND FIELD-BASED APPROACHES -EXTINCTION HAS PLAYED A FUNDAMENTAL ROLE IN SHAPING BIODIVERSITY THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF LIFE, ESPECIALLY DURING MASS EXTINCTION EVENTS THAT RESULTED IN GEOLOGICALLY RAPID, CATASTROPHIC SPECIES LOSS. STUDIES OF THE FOSSIL RECORD CAN REVEAL THE MECHANISMS AND LONG-TERM IMPACTS OF EXTINCTION EVENTS AND ARE CRITICAL FOR UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT OF THE CURRENT BIODIVERSITY CRISIS THREATENING MANY LIVING SPECIES. THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL INVESTIGATE THE FIRST MASS EXTINCTION EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF LIFE, WHICH DROVE AROUND 85% OF SPECIES EXTINCT AT THE END OF THE ORDOVICIAN PERIOD AND RESULTED IN RADICAL CHANGES IN THE MORPHOLOGY, ABUNDANCE, AND DOMINANCE OF SURVIVING SPECIES. BY COMBINING FIELD-BASED GEOLOGICAL RESEARCH WITH GLOBAL DATASETS OF FOSSIL OCCURRENCES AND MORPHOLOGY, THE TEAM WILL DOCUMENT PATTERNS OF EXTINCTION, BIOGEOGRAPHIC CHANGE, AND MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION ACROSS THE MASS EXTINCTION EVENT AT LOCAL AND GLOBAL SCALES. STUDENTS WILL BE TRAINED IN THE RESEARCH AND PUBLIC OUTREACH ASPECTS OF THIS INTERNATIONAL PROJECT. FOCUSING ON THE DIVERSE AND ABUNDANT FOSSIL RECORDS OF CRINOIDS AND TRILOBITES, FIELDWORK ON ANTICOSTI ISLAND, QUEBEC, CANADA WILL DOCUMENT PATTERNS OF BODY SIZE EVOLUTION AND THE TIMING OF EXTINCTION VERSUS MIGRATION WITHIN REGIONAL, HIGH-RESOLUTION STRATIGRAPHIC SECTIONS. FIELD INVESTIGATIONS WILL BE COMPLEMENTED BY GLOBAL, PHYLOGENY-BASED STUDIES OF BIOGEOGRAPHY AND BODY SIZE EVOLUTION TO IDENTIFY MIGRATION PATHWAYS, REFUGIA, AND MECHANISMS OF BODY SIZE CHANGE ACROSS THE ORDOVICIAN MASS EXTINCTION. THIS RESEARCH WILL BE THE FIRST TO LEVERAGE PHYLOGENETIC APPROACHES FOR THESE INVESTIGATIONS AND WILL FILL CRITICAL GAPS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LOCAL VERSUS GLOBAL PATTERNS SURROUNDING THE EVENT. THE TEAM WILL ALSO TRAIN MULTIPLE STUDENTS IN ANALYTICAL AND FIELD METHODS AND WILL WORK WITH INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATORS TO DEVELOP A FOSSIL IDENTIFICATION GUIDE, GEOLOGICAL WALKING TOUR, AND ANNUAL PUBLIC TALKS ON ANTICOSTI ISLAND THAT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO LOCAL TOURISM AND EDUCATION. RESEARCH OUTCOMES WILL FURTHER PUBLIC EDUCATION THROUGH PUBLIC TALKS AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXHIBIT AT THE SAM NOBLE MUSEUM AND WILL BENEFIT THE RESEARCH COMMUNITY THROUGH DISSEMINATION OF PHYLOGENETIC, MORPHOLOGIC, AND BIOGEOGRAPHIC DATASETS. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

THE UNTIMELY DEATHS OF STAR CLUSTERS -MOST STARS, INCLUDING OUR OWN SUN, FORM IN CLUSTERS OF HUNDREDS TO MILLIONS OF STARS. AS THESE CLUSTERS GROW OLDER, THEY QUICKLY BEGIN TO LOSE STARS. THIS HAPPENS BOTH FROM STARS PULLING ON EACH OTHER WITH GRAVITY, AND FROM THE GRAVITY OF NEARBY MASSIVE GAS CLOUDS. THESE STARS SPREAD OUT FROM THE CLUSTER BUT STILL MOVE WITH A SIMILAR VELOCITY. SUCH GROUPS OF STARS MOVING TOGETHER ARE OBSERVED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE SUN. THE STARS HEAT THE GAS WITH ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION, WINDS, AND SUPERNOVA EXPLOSIONS. THE INVESTIGATORS WILL STUDY HOW CLUSTERS FORM AND DISPERSE, USING COMPUTER SIMULATIONS. THE PROPOSED WORK HAS THREE GOALS: 1) TO PREDICT THE KIND OF CLUSTER THAT WILL FORM FROM A GIVEN GAS CLOUD; 2) TO TEST WHETHER THE STARS LOST FROM CLUSTERS IN THE MODEL BEHAVE LIKE REAL, OBSERVED STARS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE SUN; 3) TO TEST WHETHER THE FORCE OF GRAVITY FROM GAS CLOUDS CAN EXPLAIN HOW LARGE CLUSTERS SHRINK OVER TIME, AS OBSERVED CLUSTERS APPEAR TO DO. AN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION WILL DEVELOP A TEXTBOOK AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR K-12 TEACHERS. TWO MASTER?S STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP GRAPHICAL DISPLAYS OF THE NEW MODELS AND ENCOURAGE THEIR USE AT PUBLIC EVENTS. THEY PLAN A HAYDEN PLANETARIUM SPACE SHOW TO BE VIEWED BY MILLIONS AROUND THE COUNTRY AND THE WORLD. THE INVESTIGATORS WILL STUDY STAR CLUSTER FORMATION AND DESTRUCTION USING A COMBINATION OF MULTIPLE SOFTWARE TOOLS. AT THE SMALL SCALE, THEY WILL MODEL CLUSTER FORMATION AND GAS EXPULSION WITH THE OPEN-SOURCE TORCH SOFTWARE. THIS USES THE AMUSE FRAMEWORK TO COUPLE THE FLASH ADAPTIVE MESH REFINEMENT MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS CODE WITH DIRECT N-BODY CODES THAT MODEL COLLISIONAL STELLAR DYNAMICS AND STELLAR EVOLUTION CODES THAT FOLLOW THE SECULAR EVOLUTION OF EACH STAR, DETERMINING THE RADIATIVE AND MECHANICAL ENERGY THEY PRODUCE OVER TIME. THEY INCLUDE A RAY-TRACING TREATMENT OF STELLAR PHOTOIONIZATION AS WELL AS JETS, WINDS, SUPERNOVAE, RADIATIVE COOLING, AND SELF-GRAVITY. AT THE LARGE SCALE, THEY WILL USE THE SMUGGLE STAR FORMATION AND FEEDBACK FRAMEWORK IN THE AREPO CODE TO DETERMINE SELF-CONSISTENT INITIAL CONDITIONS AND TIDAL FIELDS. THE SCIENTIFIC GOALS OF THIS WORK ARE TO: (1) DEVELOP SEMI-ANALYTIC MODELS THAT CONNECT PROPERTIES OF SELF-CONSISTENT DENSE GAS CLOUDS (A) TO THE RESULTING CLUSTER MASS, SIZE, CENTRAL CONCENTRATION, AND VIRIAL PARAMETER AND (B) THAT DETERMINE THE MASS LOSS FROM CLUSTERS SUBJECT TO STRONGLY FLUCTUATING TIDAL FORCES. (2) COMPARE THE PROPERTIES OF STARS DISPERSING FROM LOW-MASS CLUSTERS TO THE SYSTEMS OF MOVING GROUPS, ASSOCIATIONS, AND CLUSTERS OBSERVED IN THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD, AND TO OBSERVATIONS OF ASYMMETRIC TIDAL TAILS FROM OPEN CLUSTERS. (3) USE THE SEMI-ANALYTIC MODELS TO FOLLOW POPULATIONS OF CLUSTERS THROUGH A SELF-CONSISTENT GALACTIC TIDAL FIELD TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THESE TIDES DETERMINE THE EVOLUTION FROM POWER-LAW MASS DISTRIBUTIONS OF YOUNG MASSIVE CLUSTERS TO LOG NORMAL DISTRIBUTIONS OF OLD GLOBULAR CLUSTERS. 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.

INTBIO: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EVOLUTIONARY AND FUNCTIONAL TRADE-OFFS IN EXTREME SENSORY CAPABILITIES OF NOCTURNAL PREDATORY SPIDERS

M DWARFS ARE THE MOST COMMON AND LONGEST-LIVED STARS IN THE GALAXY AND THEY HOST SOME OF THE MOST EXCITING PLANETARY SYSTEMS DISCOVERED SO FAR. THE TRANSITING EXOPLANET SURVEY SATELLITE (TESS) AND THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE (JWST) ARE TARGETING

REU SITE: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE AND ASTROPHYSICS REU AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IN COLLABORATION WITH TH

READ BETWEEN THE LINES: DETERMINING ATMOSPHERE AND BULK COMPOSITIONS FOR PLANETARY MASS OBJECTS USING SPECTRAL RETRIEVALS

METEORITIC CHONDRULES REPRESENT OVER 20% OF THE MASS OF THE MOST PRIMITIVE SOLAR SYSTEM ROCKS. THEIR FORMATION REQUIRES RAPID HEATING TO TEMPERATURES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE X AND Y CHROMOSOMES IN STALK-EYED FLIES

DEEP ROOTS OF THE EARTH'S VOLATILE CYCLE THROUGH INCLUSIONS IN DIAMONDS -VOLATILE CYCLES BETWEEN EARTH?S ATMOSPHERE, LITHOSPHERE, CRYOSPHERE AND HYDROSPHERE PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN PLANET EVOLUTION. CARBON, OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN ARE THE DOMINANT VOLATILE ELEMENTS, AND EARTH?S MANTLE IS THE LARGEST RESERVOIR OF THESE ELEMENTS. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT VOLATILES ON EARTH IS WATER. WATER EXERTS KEY CONTROLS OVER THE PROPERTIES OF MAGMA, MANTLE CONVECTION, THE COMPOSITION OF THE EARTH?S ATMOSPHERE, AND THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE. THIS PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE WATER IN THE MANTLE TRANSITION ZONE (410?660?KM DEPTH) AND DEEPER. A SMALL PROPORTION OF DIAMONDS, CARRIED TO THE SURFACE BY RARE AND RAPID VOLCANIC PROCESSES, ENCAPSULATE MINERALS DURING THEIR GROWTH. THESE MINERALS ARE AMONG THE DEEPEST DIRECT SAMPLES AVAILABLE OF THE EARTH'S MANTLE. THE PROJECT WILL USE A COLLECTION OF DIAMONDS HOSTING SUCH MINERALS TO DETERMINE THE WATER CONCENTRATIONS OF THE MANTLE WHERE THE DIAMONDS FORMED. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO EXPAND A LARGE INTERACTIVE EXHIBIT IN THE MINERALS HALL OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY INTO A WEB-BASED VERSION ON A PLATFORM FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH, CALLED OLOGY, AND HOSTED BY THE MUSEUM. THE NEW WEB VERSION WILL BE TESTED IN UPPER ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASSROOMS. WATER IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT VOLATILES ON EARTH. THIS PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE WATER IN THE DEEP REGIONS OF THE PLANET, SUCH AS THE MANTLE TRANSITION ZONE (410?660?KM) AND THE LOWER MANTLE (660?2900?KM), BY STUDYING MINERAL INCLUSIONS IN DIAMONDS. A SMALL PROPORTION OF DIAMONDS, CARRIED TO THE SURFACE BY KIMBERLITE PIPES, CONTAIN INCLUSIONS OF MINERALS THAT WERE ENCAPSULATED BY THE DIAMOND DURING ITS GROWTH. THE MAIN GOALS OF THIS PROJECT ARE: 1) TO IDENTIFY THE FLUX OF WATER TRANSPORTED BY SUBDUCTED SLABS INTO THE DEEP SUBCONTINENTAL MANTLE; 2) TO ESTIMATE THE WATER BUDGET IN THE MANTLE TRANSITION ZONE AND THE TRANSITION ZONE?LOWER MANTLE BOUNDARY, AND TO ASSESS WATER CONCENTRATIONS IN DEEP MANTLE MINERALS SUCH AS MAJORITIC GARNET AND FERROPERICLASE; 3) TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER WATER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAJOR REDOX (REDUCTION?OXIDATION) REACTIONS IN THE DEEP MANTLE. THE PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE MAJORITIC GARNET AND FERROPERICLASE INCLUSIONS IN DIAMONDS FROM ULTRA-DEEP SOURCES, SUCH AS THE AMAZONIAN CRATON IN BRAZIL. SPECIFICALLY, THE RESEARCH WILL IDENTIFY AND CHARACTERIZE MINERAL INCLUSIONS IN A SET OF DIAMONDS FROM JUINA, BRAZIL, USING OPTICAL MICROSCOPY, FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED AND RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY, AS WELL AS CUTTING-EDGE COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY. SOME MAJORITIC GARNETS WILL ALSO BE STUDIED BY SYNCHROTRON M?SSBAUER SPECTROSCOPY, AND PHASES THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO IDENTIFY WILL BE EXAMINED BY SYNCHROTRON X-RAY DIFFRACTION. SOME OF THE MAJORITIC GARNET AND FERROPERICLASE INCLUSIONS WILL BE USED FOR WATER ANALYSIS. THE LARGEST INCLUSIONS AND THOSE COVERING A WIDE RANGE OF COMPOSITIONS WILL BE SELECTED FOR WATER ANALYSIS BY NANOSIMS. WHILE SUFFICIENT STANDARDS EXIST FOR THE ANALYSIS OF MAJORITIC GARNETS, THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO STANDARDS FOR FERROPERICLASE. THEREFORE, THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO EXPERIMENTALLY SYNTHESIZE STANDARDS FOR WATER ANALYSIS IN FERROPERICLASE. GIVEN THE UNIQUE NATURE OF THE STUDIED DIAMONDS, THERE IS STRONG POTENTIAL FOR SIDE PROJECTS ARISING FROM NEWLY DISCOVERED AND EXPOSED MINERAL INCLUSIONS IN JUINA DIAMONDS. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

CC* NETWORKING INFRASTRUCTURE: HIGH PERFORMANCE RESEARCH DATA INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

STELLAR ROTATION WITH ZTF AND RUBIN

"THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY WILL UNDERTAKE THE CONSERVATION OF SIX MONUMENTAL TOTEM POLES AND CARVINGS ON DISPLAY IN ITS HALL OF NORTHWEST COAST INDIANS IN CONNECTION WITH A PLANNED RENOVATION OF THE EXHIBIT AREA. FOUR POSTS WILL BE TREATED IN THEIR VERTICAL INSTALLATION POSITIONS, AS THEY ARE ATTACHED TO BUILT-IN ELEMENTS OF THE HALL CONSTRUCTION. THE TWO OTHER OBJECTS WILL BE RIGGED DOWN FROM THEIR CURRENT VERTICAL INSTALLATION FOR TREATMENT IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION. IMLS FUNDING WILL SUPPORT TWO CONSERVATORS WORKING FULL-TIME FOR UP TO 18 MONTHS UNDER STAFF SUPERVISION, NECESSARY CONSULTATION FEES, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES, AS WELL AS CONSERVATION TRAINING FOR NATIVE AMERICAN INTERNS. TREATMENT STEPS FOR ALL SIX OBJECTS WILL INCLUDE DRY SURFACE CLEANING AND PHOTO-DOCUMENTATION, COATING REMOVAL, REMOVAL OF OLD FILLS AND STRUCTURAL REPAIRS, FILL REPLACEMENT AND INPAINTING, AND FINAL DOCUMENTATION OF TREATMENT. A VIEWING WINDOW WILL ENGAGE VISITORS IN THE CONSERVATION PROCESS, AND LESSONS LEARNED WILL BE BROADLY DISSEMINATED DURING AND AFTER THE PROJECT."

CSBR: NATURAL HISTORY: UPGRADING INFRASTRUCTURE TO PROTECT AN IRREPLACEABLE AND HEAVILY USED PRIMATE COLLECTION

RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE: CC* DATA STORAGE: MULTI-PETABYTE OPEN STORAGE (MPOS) AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY -THIS PROJECT PROVIDES THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) A MAJOR EXPANSION OF DATA MANAGEMENT AND LARGE-SCALE CENTRALIZED STORAGE SUPPORTING A BROAD RANGE OF RESEARCH PROJECTS AND PROVIDES SUPPORTING SERVICES TO FACILITATE THE ACQUISITION, PROCESSING, AND SHARING OF DATA. THIS SIGNIFICANT EXPANSION OF STORAGE AND ADDITIONAL SERVICES ALLOWS AMNH TO ADDRESS STORAGE AND DATA MANAGEMENT NEEDS INSTITUTIONALLY AND ADDRESSES LONG-STANDING PROBLEMS ACUTELY FELT ACROSS THE MUSEUM?S RESEARCH DIVISIONS AND GRADUATE SCHOOL. IN THIS PROJECT, AMNH EXPANDS ITS DATA STORAGE CAPABILITIES USING OPEN STORAGE NETWORK (OSN) STORAGE PODS, PROVIDING OVER 2 PETABYTES (PB) OF CENTRALIZED STORAGE FOR ACTIVE RESEARCH DATA. THE OSN PODS ARE CONNECTED TO THE MUSEUM?S SCIENCE DMZ, A HIGH-PERFORMANCE NETWORK DESIGNED FOR RESEARCH DATA FLOWS, WHICH PROVIDES CONNECTIONS TO ONSITE HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING (HPC) CLUSTERS, DATA TRANSFER NODES (DTNS) IN LABS, AND ANALYTICAL SYSTEMS, AS WELL AS TO OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND RESOURCES IN THE CLOUD VIA A CONNECTION TO THE INTERNET2. THE STORAGE PROVIDED BY THE OSN PODS IS DIRECTLY ACCESSIBLE BY BOTH LOCAL AND CLOUD-BASED RESOURCES SUCH AS COMPUTE NODES AT VARIOUS CLOUD SERVICES AND SUPERCOMPUTING CENTERS NATIONALLY. AMNH LEVERAGES THE INTEGRATED RULE-ORIENTED DATA SYSTEM (IRODS) FOR DATA MANAGEMENT, INDEXING, AUTOMATED INGEST, STORAGE TIERING, COMPLIANCE, DATA INTEGRITY, AND PUBLISHING SERVICES. THE CLOWDER FRAMEWORK PROVIDES A SCALABLE DATA MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK SUPPORTING ANY DATA FORMAT ACROSS MULTIPLE RESEARCH DOMAINS. FINALLY, AMNH MAKES AVAILABLE 20% OF ITS ALLOCATED OSN STORAGE TO THE SHARED OSN CLOUD, MAKING IT ACCESSIBLE TO RESEARCHERS NATIONALLY. 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.

PALMYRA ATOLL RESEARCH COORDINATION NETWORK (PARCNET): INTEGRATING RESEARCH FOR CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEM SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A GENOMIC-ARCHITECTURE-AWARE APPROACH FOR RESOLVING A TAXONOMICALLY COMPLETE PHYLOGENY OF PARROTS -THE TREE OF LIFE IS A POWERFUL TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING EVOLUTION THAT CAN ALSO BE USED FOR RESEARCH ON MEDICINE, WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT, AND AGRICULTURE. HOWEVER, RECENT STUDIES INDICATE THAT GENES TRANSFERRED BETWEEN SPECIES CAN MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR SCIENTISTS TO BUILD AN ACCURATE EVOLUTIONARY TREE OR UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPECIES. THIS PROJECT WILL USE PARROTS, ONE OF THE MOST ENDANGERED AND ILLEGALLY TRAFFICKED GROUPS OF ANIMALS, TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW OFTEN SPECIES TRANSFER GENES AND HOW THAT IMPACTS SCIENTISTS? ABILITY TO ACCURATELY BUILD AN EVOLUTIONARY TREE. THE RESEARCHERS WILL COLLECT GENETIC DATA, INCLUDING SEQUENCING GENOMES, FOR ALL PARROTS. THESE DATA WILL BE USED TO BUILD AN EVOLUTIONARY TREE OF PARROTS AND ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT GENE TRANSFER BETWEEN PARROT SPECIES. THIS DATA WILL ALSO BE USED TO AID CONSERVATION EFFORTS BY DEVELOPING FORENSIC DNA BARCODES THAT WILL HELP LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRECTLY IDENTIFY ILLEGAL PRODUCTS MADE FROM ENDANGERED PARROT SPECIES. THE PROJECT WILL BUILD COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN FORENSIC SCIENTISTS AND NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS, PROVIDE TRAINING AND MENTORING FOR STUDENTS THROUGH EARLY-CAREER RESEARCHERS, AND SHARE FINDINGS WITH THE PUBLIC AND SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES. TO ESTIMATE ACCURATE PHYLOGENETIC TREES IN THE GENOMIC ERA, THE EFFECT OF GENOMIC ARCHITECTURE (THE STRUCTURE, ORGANIZATION, AND CONTENT OF A GENOME) ON PHYLOGENETIC SIGNAL MUST BE UNDERSTOOD. LARGE-SCALE PHYLOGENETIC METHODS OFTEN DO NOT ACCOUNT FOR GENE FLOW, NOR DO THEY ADDRESS THE INTERACTION BETWEEN GENOMIC ARCHITECTURE AND PHYLOGENETIC SIGNAL, WHICH CAN LEAD TO WELL-SUPPORTED BUT INACCURATE EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIPS. THIS PROJECT WILL RECONSTRUCT A NEARLY COMPLETE TIME-CALIBRATED PHYLOGENY OF THE CLADE TO ASSESS GENE FLOW ACROSS AN ENTIRE RADIATION AND PREDICT GENOMIC REGIONS PRONE TO BIASING PHYLOGENETIC ESTIMATES. THE RESEARCHERS WILL GENERATE NEW GENOMIC RESOURCES, INCLUDING FIVE CHROMOSOME-LEVEL REFERENCE GENOMES AND GENOMIC-SCALE MARKERS FOR OVER 400 PREVIOUSLY UNSAMPLED TAXA. THE PROJECT AIMS TO TEST THE FOLLOWING HYPOTHESES TO MAKE GENERAL PREDICTIONS ABOUT THE FACTORS CAUSING GENE TREE DISCORDANCE AND TO INFORM A SPECIES-LEVEL TAXONOMIC REVISION: 1) NON-MONOPHYLETIC SPECIES ARE A COMMON FEATURE ACROSS THE PARROT EVOLUTIONARY TREE; 2) NON-MONOPHYLETIC SPECIES AND WEAKLY SUPPORTED RELATIONSHIPS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A HIGHER PREVALENCE OF GENE FLOW THAT SPANS MILLIONS OF YEARS; AND 3) GENOMIC ARCHITECTURE IS RELATIVELY CONSERVED ACROSS THE PARROT RADIATION AND CAN BE USED TO MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF GENE FLOW IN PHYLOGENETIC INFERENCE ACROSS TEMPORAL SCALES. THIS WORK WILL OFFER A HIGH-RESOLUTION VIEW OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN PHYLOGENETIC SIGNAL, GENE FLOW, AND GENOMIC ARCHITECTURE IN PARROTS, AND DEMONSTRATE HOW THIS FRAMEWORK CAN BE USED FOR IMPROVED TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

NASA-MUSEUM CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE EDUCATION COLLABORATIVE: ONLINE AND BLENDED TEACHER PROFESSIONAL

CHAMELEON (REPTILIA : CHAMAELEONIDAE) PHYLOGENY, BIOGEOGRAPHY AND CONTINENTAL SPECIATION IN MADAGASCAR

REU SITE: 25 YEARS OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GRANTS - MUSEUMS

ICBR: ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ANCIENT DNA AND PALEOPROTEOMICS LABORATORY AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

CAREER: UNDERSTANDING OUR DYNAMIC, YOUNG, SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD -WE CAN EXPLORE OUR LOCAL REGION OF THE GALAXY BY IDENTIFYING OBJECTS THAT APPEAR TO MOVE TOGETHER. THIS INVESTIGATOR WILL PRODUCE A COMPLETE MAP OF THE DYNAMIC, YOUNG, SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. WITHIN ABOUT 500 LIGHT YEARS FROM THE SUN, THERE ARE LARGE, SMALL, AND MEDIUM SIZED FAMILIES OF STARS, BROWN DWARFS, AND PLANETS THAT ARE MOVING THROUGH THE GALAXY TOGETHER. SOME ARE TIGHTLY BOUND, SOME LOOSELY BOUND, SOME BREAKING APART, AND SOME ARE JUST NEWLY FORMED. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DETERMINE HOW THESE FAMILIES FORM AND EVOLVE. IN SO DOING, THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL ADDRESS FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS ABOUT WHERE STARS COME FROM AND HOW THEY ARRIVE AT WHERE THEY ARE NOW. NEW YORK CITY HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATORS WILL BE INCLUDED AS PART OF THE PROJECT. PARTICIPANTS WILL FURTHER COLLABORATE ON CREATING CINEMATIC VISUALS OF THE YOUNG SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. ASTROPHYSICAL THREE-DIMENSIONAL VISUALIZATIONS AND IMAGERY PROVIDE INSIGHTS TO RESEARCHERS AND INSPIRE THE GENERAL PUBLIC. THIS PROJECT WILL PAIR GRAPHICAL PLOTTING AND CLUSTERING ALGORITHM METHODS WITH VISUALIZATION TOOLS TO CREATE A COMPREHENSIVE MAP OF THE 150 PC YOUNG (<1 GYR) SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD INCLUSIVE OF HIGH MASS STARS THROUGH TO BROWN DWARF COMPONENTS. COUPLING OBSERVED PARAMETERS SUCH AS KINEMATICS AND ROTATION RATES THAT ARE AVAILABLE IN PUBLIC CATALOGS WILL PERMIT A MAPPING OF HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURES LIKE CORE CLUSTERS, TIDAL TAILS AND SURROUNDING CORONAE. THIS WILL ENABLE AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THE LOCAL STAR FORMATION HISTORY ACROSS THE WIDEST MASS RANGE POSSIBLE. THIS INFORMATION WILL BE USED TO ADDRESS QUESTIONS SUCH AS HOW STAR FORMING STRUCTURES EVOLVE/DISSIPATE/DISSOLVE OVER TIME, THE DEGREE OF UNIFORMITY OF THE INITIAL MASS FUNCTION ACROSS YOUNG CLUSTERS IN THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THE EVOLUTION OF STELLAR ROTATION AND ANGULAR MOMENTUM WITH TIME AND STELLAR MASS. THE SCIENTIFIC WORK WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO A COHESIVE EDUCATIONAL PIPELINE THAT INCLUDES DEVELOPING PLANETARIUM PRESENTATIONS AND VIDEOS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA AND COURSE INTEGRATION, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF A NEW YORK CITY HIGH SCHOOL EARTH SCIENCE TEACHER. THIS MATERIAL WILL BE DISTRIBUTED TO CLASSROOMS AND SCIENCE CENTERS ACROSS THE GLOBE. 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.

EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.

LAYERED ACCRETION VORTEX EXCITATION AND PLANET FORMATION IN CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP: EAR-PF: EVOLUTION OF TYMPANIC HEARING: EARTH SYSTEM DRIVERS OF SENSORY INNOVATION IN LATE PALEOZOIC TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS -THIS NSF EAR POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP AWARD SEEKS TO UNDERSTAND THE ORIGINS OF HEARING IN THE PERMIAN FORERUNNERS OF TODAY?S AMPHIBIANS, REPTILES, AND MAMMALS. DURING THE LATE PALEOZOIC ERA, VERTEBRATES COLONIZED TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS. VERTEBRATES EVOLVED NEW SENSORY ADAPTATIONS TO NAVIGATE THESE NEW ENVIRONMENTS AND ACQUIRE FOOD. THESE ADAPTATIONS INCLUDED THE ABILITY TO HEAR AIRBORNE SOUNDS (TYMPANIC HEARING, USING A ?TYMPANUM? OR EARDRUM). FOR EXAMPLE, SEVERAL DIFFERENT GROUPS OF FOSSIL VERTEBRATES APPEAR TO INDEPENDENTLY EVOLVE ANATOMICAL FEATURES RELATED TO TYMPANIC HEARING AROUND THE SAME TIME, MORE THAN 250 MILLION YEARS AGO. HOWEVER, THE ORIGINS AND DRIVERS OF THESE CHANGES REMAIN UNKNOWN. THIS WORK WILL INVESTIGATE WHETHER THE ORIGINS OF TYMPANIC HEARING ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES IN THE POSITION OF EARTH?S CONTINENTS, ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE, AND THE ORIGINS OF SOUND PRODUCTION IN INSECTS. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THE EFFECTS OF GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS ON THE BIODIVERSITY OF EARLY VERTEBRATES. THE PROJECT WILL BROADEN THE IMPACT OF THE RESEARCH THROUGH CREATION OF 3D MODELS AND ENGAGING STUDENTS AT VARIOUS LEVELS IN RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES. IMPEDANCE MATCHING, OR TYMPANIC, HEARING EVOLVED INDEPENDENTLY IN THE PERMIAN ANCESTORS OF AMPHIBIANS, MAMMALS AND REPTILES, FROM A CARBONIFEROUS COMMON ANCESTOR THAT WAS NOT FULLY TERRESTRIAL. HOWEVER, THE ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC DRIVERS OF THESE CLUSTERED ORIGINS OF TYMPANIC HEARING REMAIN UNKNOWN. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO ADDRESS THIS FUNDAMENTAL GAP IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF SENSORY EVOLUTION AND EARTH PROCESSES BY INVESTIGATING THESE DRIVERS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON BIODIVERSITY DURING THE PALEOZOIC USING BIOMECHANICAL, PHYLOGENETIC, AND PALEOECOLOGICAL APPROACHES. THIS PROJECT WILL USE INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES SUCH AS BIOMECHANICAL MODELING TO STUDY THE HEARING PERFORMANCE OF STEM REPTILES TO EVALUATE THE TYMPANIC HEARING CAPABILITIES OF CARBONIFEROUS AND PERMIAN TETRAPODS. PRELIMINARY RESULTS SUGGEST THAT TYMPANIC HEARING ORIGINATED IN THE MIDDLE PERMIAN OR EARLIER, DURING AN INTERVAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL UPHEAVAL OF GLOBAL CHANGE, WHICH SAW DRASTIC CONTINENTAL PROCESSES AND HABITAT RESTRUCTURING. THIS FELLOWSHIP WILL BROADEN THE IMPACT OF THE INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH BY TRAINING A NEW GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS WITH STRONG ANATOMICAL, COMPUTATIONAL, AND ANALYTICAL EXPERTISE. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

WE SEEK TO UNDERSTAND THE FORMATION AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND TO SIMULTANEOUSLY GAIN INSIGHTS INTO ASTEROIDS, WHICH ARE BOTH MISSIO

WHAT CONTROLS STAR FORMATION IN GALAXIES?

ADDING A LARGE US COLLECTION OF MOLLUSKS FROM THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY TO THE EASTERN SEABOARD TCN -NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS PROVIDE STRATEGIC BIOLOGICAL DATA ASSETS THAT DOCUMENT BIODIVERSITY ACROSS SPACE AND TIME, UNDERPINNING DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION. HOWEVER, THEIR SCIENTIFIC VALUE DEPENDS ON MAKING SPECIMEN DATA ACCESSIBLE TO RESEARCHERS, DECISION-MAKERS, INDUSTRY, EDUCATORS AND THE PUBLIC. THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) MALACOLOGY COLLECTION IS ONE OF SEVEN LARGEST MOLLUSK COLLECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES AND HOLDS AN ESTIMATED 188,000 SPECIMENS FROM THE ATLANTIC AND GULF COASTS OF THE UNITED STATES, SPANNING 150 YEARS OF COLLECTING. HOWEVER, ONLY 18?20% OF THE COLLECTION HAS BEEN DIGITIZED. THIS PROJECT WILL INTEGRATE AMNH'S EASTERN SEABOARD MOLLUSK HOLDINGS INTO THE EASTERN SEABOARD (ESB) THEMATIC COLLECTIONS NETWORK (TCN), BRINGING THE TOTAL PROPORTION OF DIGITIZED U.S. ESB MOLLUSK RECORDS TO OVER 90%. MAKING THESE STANDARDIZED AND STRUCTURED DATA PUBLICLY AVAILABLE WILL DIRECTLY SUPPORT RESEARCH ON MARINE AND COASTAL BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, WHILE ADVANCING BIOTECHNOLOGY INNOVATION BY ENABLING BIOINFORMATIC ANALYSES, GENOMIC RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND DATA-DRIVEN DISCOVERY RELEVANT TO U.S. COASTAL COMMUNITIES AND ECONOMIES. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO BUILD PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN ACADEMIA, INDUSTRY AND OTHERS TO DEVELOP A COMPETITIVE STEM WORKFORCE. THIS PROJECT WILL ENGAGE BROAD PUBLIC AUDIENCES THROUGH WEB CONTENT AND SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH TIED TO AMNH'S EXISTING EXHIBITS. THIS PROJECT IS ALIGNED WITH THE NSF PRIORITIES IN BIOTECHNOLOGY. OVER A THREE-YEAR PERIOD, AMNH WILL DATABASE APPROXIMATELY 40,000 UNCATALOGUED LOTS (~160,000 SPECIMENS) OF MOLLUSKS FROM THE ATLANTIC AND GULF COASTS, GEOREFERENCE ASSOCIATED COLLECTING LOCALITIES, AND PRODUCE HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES OF 93 TYPE LOTS REPRESENTING 50 SIGNIFICANT EASTERN SEABOARD SPECIES. DIGITIZATION WILL COMBINE OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION (OCR)-ASSISTED LABEL TRANSCRIPTION WITH DIRECT DATA ENTRY INTO AMNH'S AXIELL EMU COLLECTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, FOLLOWING THE ESTABLISHED ESB TCN WORKFLOW. SPECIMEN RECORDS WILL BE ENRICHED WITH TAXONOMIC, TEMPORAL, LOCALITY, AND TRAIT DATA, INCLUDING LIVE- VS. DEAD-COLLECTED STATUS AND THE PRESENCE OF EPIBIONTS WHERE RECORDED, AND DISSEMINATED FREELY THROUGH THE AMNH INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY WEB PORTAL, THE INVERTEBASE SYMBIOTA PORTAL, IDIGBIO, GBIF, AND OBIS. THE ADDITION OF AMNH'S HOLDINGS WILL SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASE THE DENSITY AND TAXONOMIC BREADTH OF OCCURRENCE DATA AVAILABLE FOR SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELING AND HISTORICAL BASELINE ANALYSES, FILLING OUTSTANDING GEOGRAPHIC, TEMPORAL, AND TAXONOMIC GAPS IN THE ESB TCN DATASET, INCLUDING UNDERREPRESENTED HABITAT TYPES SUCH AS ESTUARIES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

REU SITE: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE AND ASTROPHYSICS REU AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IN COLLABORATION WITH T

DIMENSIONS USBIOTA- SAO PAULO: COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL: TRAITS AS PREDICTORS OF ADAPTIVE DIVERSIFICATION ALONG THE BRAZILIAN DRY DIAGONAL

STANDARD RESEARCH GRANT: THE BOTANICAL MANUSCRIPTS OF CHARLES DARWIN

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: REU SITE: EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE AND ASTROPHYSICS REU AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK -THIS AWARD PROVIDES RENEWED FUNDING FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS TO CONDUCT EXPERIMENTAL, OBSERVATIONAL, THEORETICAL, AND COMPUTATIONAL RESEARCH ACTIVITIES IN EARTH SCIENCE, PLANETARY SCIENCE, AND ASTRONOMY AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) IN NEW YORK CITY. UP TO EIGHT STUDENTS PER YEAR WILL BE SELECTED TO PERFORM RESEARCH INTO TOPICS RANGING FROM METEORITICS, TO VOLCANOLOGY, TO EXPERIMENTAL OR THEORETICAL ASTROPHYSICS. THE PARTICIPANTS WILL BE RIGOROUSLY TRAINED AND WELL-EDUCATED IN THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE SCIENTIFIC ENTERPRISE, AND WILL RECEIVE VALUABLE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE IN AN ACTIVE, IMMERSIVE, AND INCLUSIVE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT. ALTHOUGH IT RECRUITS FROM A NATIONWIDE POOL, THIS RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES (REU) SITE PARTICULARLY LEVERAGES LONGSTANDING COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN SCIENTISTS IN THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (CUNY) SYSTEM AND AT AMNH. CUNY IS A 225,000-STUDENT URBAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY NETWORK WHOSE STUDENTS PRIMARILY COME FROM COMMUNITIES UNDERREPRESENTED IN SCIENCE. THE CUNY/AMNH PARTNERSHIP WILL THEREFORE ENHANCE THE REU SITE'S ABILITY TO RECRUIT STUDENTS IN URBAN, UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS. IN ADDITION TO THEIR PRIMARY RESEARCH ACTIVITIES, REU INTERNS WILL ALSO PARTICIPATE IN MUSEUM PROGRAMS, ATTEND FIELD TRIPS, COLLOQUIA, AND CONFERENCES TO PRESENT RESEARCH, AND PRESENT THEIR WORK IN A SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. THIS SITE IS SUPPORTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NSF REU PROGRAM. THIS PROGRAM IS CO-FUNDED BY THE DIVISION OF EARTH SCIENCE IN THE DIRECTORATE FOR GEOSCIENCE AND THE DIVISION OF ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCES IN THE DIRECTORATE FOR MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PHYLOGENY AND CLASSIFICATION OF RANID FROGS (ANURA NATANURA): SYNTHESIS OF MORPHOLOGY AND MOLECULES

SEES FELLOWS: INTEGRATING BIOLOGY AND ECONOMETRICS ACROSS MULTIPLE SCALES FOR SUSTAINABLE WILDLIFE TRADE MANAGEMENT

NON-REDUNDANT MASK INTERFEROMERIC TECHNIQUES FOR EXTREME ADAPTIVE OPTICS INTEGRAL FIELD SPECTROSCOPY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: USING BROWN DWARFS TO UNDERSTAND EXOPLANETARY ATMOSPHERES: SPECTRAL INVERSIONS OF AN ANALOG POPULATION

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PROJECT 1640: HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING SURVEY OF NEARBY STELLAR ENVIRONMENTS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INTEGRATION OF DEEP OCEAN BENTHIC SAMPLER TECHNOLOGY WITH MICROBIAL BIOGEOCHEMISTRY OF METHANE SEEPS AND ISOLATION OF PIEZOPH

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: AN INCLUSIVE PHYLOGENY FOR THE PSEUDOXYRHOPHIINE SNAKES IN MADAGASCAR: UNDERSTANDING CAUSES OF SPECIES DIVERSIFICATION

STAR: PHYLOGENOMICS AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF NEOTROPICAL TITYUS: THE WORLD'S MOST SPECIOSE SCORPION GENUS -THE NEOTROPICAL REGION OF THE AMERICAS IS AMONG THE MOST BIODIVERSE PLACES ON EARTH, BUT MUCH OF THIS BIODIVERSITY IS STILL POORLY DESCRIBED AND UNDERSTUDIED. DATA ON THE REGION?S BIOTA IS ESSENTIAL TO PROTECT ECOSYSTEMS AND HUMAN HEALTH. MOST RESEARCH IN THE NEOTROPICS HAS FOCUSED ON PLANTS AND VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. HOWEVER, MOST ANIMAL SPECIES ARE INVERTEBRATES, MANY OF WHICH PLAY CRITICAL ROLES IN ECOSYSTEMS. SCORPIONS ARE AMONG THE OLDEST LINEAGES OF TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS, AND SOME PRODUCE POTENT TOXINS THAT ARE POTENTIALLY VALUABLE FOR MEDICAL USES. THE GENUS TITYUS, A GROUP OF SCORPIONS THAT OCCURS THROUGHOUT THE NEOTROPICS, COMPRISES MORE THAN 10% OF THE WORLD?S SCORPION SPECIES AND INCLUDES HALF THE SCORPION SPECIES RESPONSIBLE FOR DANGEROUS VENOMOUS STINGS IN HUMANS. THE DISTRIBUTIONS OF SOME MEDICALLY IMPORTANT TITYUS SPECIES APPEAR TO BE EXPANDING AS A CONSEQUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE. DESPITE THEIR MEDICAL AND ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE, THE CLASSIFICATION OF TITYUS IS UNRESOLVED, HINDERING THE ABILITY OF SPECIALISTS AND NONSPECIALISTS, INCLUDING PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS, TO IDENTIFY THEM. THIS PROJECT WILL USE MODERN GENOMIC AND MORPHOLOGICAL DATA TO RECONSTRUCT THE EVOLUTION OF TITYUS AND REVISE THEIR CLASSIFICATION, PROVIDING A FRAMEWORK FOR THEIR IDENTIFICATION AND ENHANCING UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THEY EVOLVED AND DIVERSIFIED. TRAINEES CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROJECT WILL GAIN EXPERTISE IN DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS. PUBLIC OUTREACH EFFORTS FROM THIS PROJECT WILL ENHANCE KNOWLEDGE OF SCORPIONS, THEIR MEDICAL IMPORTANCE, AND THEIR ROLE IN TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS. THE PROJECT WILL SEQUENCE ULTRACONSERVED ELEMENTS (UCES) FROM ALL MAJOR LINEAGES OF TITYUS ACROSS THEIR RANGE AND ASSEMBLE CORRESPONDING MORPHOLOGICAL DATASETS TO RECONSTRUCT A COMPREHENSIVE, TIME-CALIBRATED PHYLOGENETIC TREE FOR TITYUS. THE PHYLOGENY AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS WILL THEN BE USED, TOGETHER WITH DATA ON GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTIONS, TO PROPOSE A PREDICTIVE CLASSIFICATION FOR TITYUS, INCLUDING UPDATED DIAGNOSES AND IDENTIFICATION KEYS FOR BOTH PUBLIC AND SCIENTIFIC USE. THE PHYLOGENETIC TREE ALSO WILL PROVIDE THE FRAMEWORK FOR TESTING HYPOTHESES ABOUT SCORPION EVOLUTION AND DIVERSIFICATION. SPECIFICALLY, THE PROJECT WILL TEST FOR DIFFERENCES IN DIVERSIFICATION RATES AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES AND ASSESS WHETHER SIMILAR MORPHOLOGIES AROSE THROUGH CONVERGENT EVOLUTION. FINALLY, THE PROJECT WILL RECONSTRUCT ANCESTRAL RANGES AND TEST BIOGEOGRAPHICAL PATTERNS TO EVALUATE HOW AND WHEN TITYUS LINEAGES ATTAINED THEIR PRESENT DISTRIBUTION AND EVALUATE HOW FUTURE CLIMATE SCENARIOS MAY CAUSE THE DISTRIBUTIONS OF MEDICALLY IMPORTANT TITYUS SPECIES TO EXPAND OR CONTRACT. THIS PROJECT WILL INCLUDE A SHORT COURSE ON THE BIOLOGY OF SCORPIONS AND PROVIDE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, UNDERGRADUATES, AND A POST-DOC. ALL DATASETS AND RESOURCES GENERATED BY THIS PROJECT WILL BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

CC* COMPUTE: HIGH PERFORMANCE CAMPUS COMPUTING FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING EVOLUTIONARY TRANSFORMATIONS IN CRANIODENTAL AND LOCOMOTOR SPECIALIZATIONS

WE PROPOSE TO USE THREE NON DESTRUCTIVE 3 DIMENSIONAL 3D IMAGING AND ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES TO DISCOVER NEW COMET GRAINS, LEARN THEIR MINERAL IDENTITIES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE CONDOR ARRAY TELESCOPE SURVEY OF THE SKY -A RESEARCH COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT STONY BROOK AND THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY HAS BEEN OPERATING THE CONDOR ARRAY TELESCOPE AT A VERY DARK ASTRONOMICAL SITE IN THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF NEW MEXICO SINCE 2021. WITH RENEWED NSF SUPPORT, THE TEAM WILL ADD TWO NEW TELESCOPES TO THE INSTRUMENT, SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCING ITS CAPABILITIES. THEY WILL CONTINUE TO OPERATE CONDOR TO OBTAIN, ANALYZE, AND INTERPRET A VARIETY OF OBSERVATIONS SPANNING THE ENTIRE NORTHERN SKY, FOCUSING ON SEVERAL IMPORTANT SCIENCE TOPICS TO WHICH THE INSTRUMENTS CAN MAKE PARTICULARLY SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS. IN ADDITION, THE TEAM WILL PRODUCE A ONE-HOUR-LONG VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FEATURING CONDOR NEW MEXICO AND THE RICH CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS IN THE REGION. THIS FILM WILL EXPLORE THE INTERACTION BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND CULTURAL HISTORY, WITH A PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON THE APACHE PEOPLE, WHOSE ANCESTORS HAVE LIVED IN THE REGION FOR CENTURIES. THE TEAM WILL ALSO INCORPORATE THEIR SURVEY IMAGES INTO A HAYDEN PLANETARIUM SPACE SHOW TENTATIVELY TITLED ?MULTI-MESSENGER ASTROPHYSICS.? CONDOR COMBINES SIX OFF-THE-SHELF REFRACTING TELESCOPES WITH SIX OFF-THE-SHELF CMOS CAMERAS. IT IS OPTIMIZED FOR LOW-SURFACE-BRIGHTNESS SENSITIVITY, WIDE FIELD OF VIEW, AND RAPID TIME RESOLUTION. THE INSTRUMENTS WILL DETECT AND STUDY LARGE PORTIONS OF THE EXTREMELY FAINT AND EXTREMELY DISTANT FILAMENTS OF THE ?COSMIC WEB? OF INTERGALACTIC GAS THAT STRETCHES BETWEEN THE GALAXIES, SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE LARGEST-SCALE STRUCTURES OF THE UNIVERSE FORM AND EVOLVE OVER TIME; IMAGE THE SKY IN EIGHT OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EMISSION LINES OF ASTROPHYSICS, MAKING THE RESULTING SURVEY IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE AS A COMMUNITY RESOURCE; OBSERVE THE RAPIDLY-EVOLVING AFTERGLOWS OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTS WITHIN THE FIRST SECONDS FOLLOWING THEIR DISCOVERY, PROVIDING A DIRECT WINDOW INTO THE MECHANISMS DRIVING THE MOST ENERGETIC EXPLOSIONS KNOWN; AND MONITOR THE ENTIRE STELLAR BULGE OF THE MILKY WAY AT A RAPID 20-SECOND CADENCE, SEARCHING FOR LOW-MASS PLANETS, MOONS, ASTEROIDS, AND MORE TOWARD THE CENTER OF OUR GALAXY. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP)

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: JAWS AND BACKBONE: CHONDRICHTHYAN PHYLOGENY AND A SPINE FOR THE VERTEBRATE TREE OF LIFE

LASER CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY AND X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF GRAINS IN AEROGEL: THIS PROPOSAL BUILDS ON OUR SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNIQUES FOR

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBULAR CLUSTER FORMATION IN HIERARCHICALLY COLLAPSING CLOUDS AS AN ORIGIN FOR MULTIPLE STELLAR POPULATIONS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INTEGRATING MOLECULAR AND MATERIAL EVOLUTION OF SPIDER AQUEOUS GLUES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE: DI-ODE: DIGITAL INTEGRATION OF ODONATES -THIS AWARD WILL ENABLE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE TO DIGITIZE AND INTEGRATE OVER ONE MILLION DRAGONFLY AND DAMSELFLY (ODONATA) SPECIMENS FROM MAJOR NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. THE PROJECT, CALLED DI-ODE (DIGITAL INTEGRATION OF ODONATA), WILL CREATE A UNIFIED, PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE DIGITAL PLATFORM THROUGH ODONATA CENTRAL, LINKING HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECIMEN IMAGES WITH CRITICAL DATA SUCH AS COLLECTION LOCALITIES AND SPECIES IDENTIFICATIONS. THIS INITIATIVE WILL EXPAND ACCESS TO THESE IMPORTANT BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES FOR SCIENTISTS, EDUCATORS, STUDENTS, AND THE PUBLIC. DI-ODE INCLUDES ROBUST TRAINING PROGRAMS TO BUILD SKILLS IN BIODIVERSITY DATA SCIENCE AND COLLECTIONS DIGITIZATION. THE PROJECT WILL ENHANCE STEM EDUCATION, PROMOTE DATA LITERACY, AND ENGAGE COMMUNITY SCIENTISTS, CONTRIBUTING TO ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND SCIENTIFIC LITERACY. THROUGH OUTREACH AND DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY, DI-ODE WILL STRENGTHEN EFFORTS TO MONITOR ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND INFORM FRESHWATER CONSERVATION ACROSS THE GLOBE. THE PROJECT WILL TRANSFORM HOW ODONATA BIODIVERSITY DATA ARE ACCESSED AND ANALYZED BY THE RESEARCH COMMUNITY. DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES ARE ECOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE INDICATORS OF FRESHWATER HEALTH AND HAVE BEEN THE FOCUS OF MAJOR STUDIES IN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, SYSTEMATICS, AND BIOGEOGRAPHY. HOWEVER, MUCH OF THE VALUABLE SPECIMEN DATA REMAINS LOCKED IN POORLY ACCESSIBLE PHYSICAL COLLECTIONS. DI-ODE ADDRESSES THIS GAP BY CREATING EFFICIENT, SCALABLE DIGITIZATION WORKFLOWS, USING CUSTOMIZED OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION (OCR), ADVANCED GEOREFERENCING, AND DATA MANAGEMENT TOOLS. THE RESULTING INFRASTRUCTURE WILL ENABLE NOVEL RESEARCH IN GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, COMPARATIVE ECOLOGY, AND PHYLOGENETICS. BY IMPROVING DATA QUALITY AND ACCESS, DI-ODE WILL FOSTER CROSS-DISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION AND PROVIDE A MODEL FOR DIGITIZING AND MOBILIZING DATA FROM OTHER INVERTEBRATE GROUPS. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

DARWIN MANUSCRIPT PROJECT

DIGITIZATION TCN: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FOSSIL INSECT COLLABORATIVE: A DEEP-TIME APPROACH TO STUDYING DIVERSIFICATION AND RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL

CONSTRUCTION OF STUDENT DORMS AT THE SOUTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

EQUIPMENT: MRI TRACK 1 ACQUISITION OF AN X-RAY MICRODIFFRACTION SYSTEM TO IDENTIFY CRYSTALLINE MATERIALS FOR EDUCATION, RESEARCH, AND MUSEUM CONSERVATION -THIS IS A PROJECT TO ACQUIRE A MULTI-PURPOSE X-RAY DIFFRACTOMETER FOR MICRODIFFRACTION AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH). THE INSTRUMENT IS CRITICAL TO CURATION AND RESEARCH DISSEMINATION OF SPECIMENS IN THE COLLECTIONS OF THE AMNH, BECAUSE ONLY THE SMALLEST FRAGMENT OR SURFACE OF A SMALL ARTIFACT IS NEEDED TO CHARACTERIZE THE SPECIMEN. AS THE COLLECTIONS SERVE THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY, ACCURATE CHARACTERIZATION IS A SERVICE TO SOCIETY. THE NEW XRMD SYSTEM WILL BE USED BY SCIENTISTS AND CONSERVATORS, AND BY STUDENTS AT ALL LEVELS, AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, LAMONT-DOHERTY EARTH OBSERVATORY/COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, AND OTHER POTENTIAL USERS IN THE REGION. NUMEROUS PROJECTS BY MORE THAN EIGHT INVESTIGATORS ARE PLANNED INITIALLY FOR A NEW MICRODIFFRACTION INSTRUMENT. TARGETS OF STUDY INCLUDE DIVERSE MICAS AND SERPENTINES METAMORPHIC ROCKS AND OPHIOLITES, WEATHERING OF AND CARBON BEHAVIOR IN PERIDOTITES EXPOSED IN THE AERIAL AND SUBAERIAL ENVIRONMENT, MINERALS AS STANDARDS FOR SPECTROSCOPIC TECHNIQUES FROM RAMAN TO ASTRONOMICAL SPECTRA, A VARIETY OF MINERALS IN DIFFERENT METEORITES, AND CALCIUM CARBONATE POLYMORPHS IN MARINE ORGANISMS. TO ADVANCE THE SCIENCE OF THE PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF ART AND NATURAL HISTORY OBJECTS, MICRODIFFRACTION STUDIES WILL BE CARRIED OUT ON CHEMICAL PESTICIDE RESIDUES, PIGMENTS, AND MINERALIZATION IN FOSSILS. XRMD WILL BE USED ROUTINELY TO IDENTIFY SAMPLES FROM THE MINERAL, ROCK, AND METEORITE COLLECTIONS TO IMPROVE THEIR CHARACTERIZATION AND VALUE TO THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY AND THE PUBLIC. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ECOLOGY DISRUPTED: USING REAL SCIENTIFIC DATA ABOUT DAILY LIFE TO LINK ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES TO ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN SECOND

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BACKYARD WORLDS - CHARACTERIZING OUR NEAREST NEIGHBORS THROUGH CITIZEN SCIENCE

REU SITE: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE AND ASTROPHYSICS REU AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

SAFEGUARDING OUR NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY HERITAGE: AN INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE FOR THE MARSUPIAL COLLECTION AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL SURVEY AND INVENTORY OF SOLIFUGAE

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP) -THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP) IS A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE, FEDERAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. GRFP HELPS ENSURE THE VITALITY AND DIVERSITY OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING WORKFORCE OF THE UNITED STATES. THE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES AND SUPPORTS OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENTS WHO ARE PURSUING RESEARCH-BASED MASTER'S AND DOCTORAL DEGREES IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) AND IN STEM EDUCATION. THE GRFP PROVIDES THREE YEARS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE GRADUATE EDUCATION OF INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED THEIR POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS IN STEM AND STEM EDUCATION. THIS AWARD SUPPORTS THE NSF GRADUATE FELLOWS PURSUING GRADUATE EDUCATION AT THIS GRFP INSTITUTION. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

IMAGING THE MEXICAN ARCHAEOLOGY COLLECTION

RCN - THE SCARABAEINAE RESEARCH NETWORK: COORDINATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INVERTEBRATE BIODIVERSITY FOCAL TAXON

SOS OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE LITERACY PARTNERSHIP

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SURVEYS FOR BROWN DWARF SCIENCE HAS BEEN NASA S WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY EXPLORER (WISE) MISSION WHICH UNVEILED

CHONDRITIC METEORITES CONTAIN OUR BEST RECORD OF THE PERIOD OF SOLAR SYSTEM HISTORY BETWEEN THE ACTIVE ACCRETION (INFALL) STAGE, AND THE COLLISIONAL

EAGER: PALEONTOLOGICAL PROTEOMICS INITIATIVE: DEVELOPING THEORY AND APPLICATIONS IN MOLECULAR PALEONTOLOGY

STELLAR DUETS IN THEORY AND OBSERVATIONS. COMMON ENVELOPE, PLANETARY NEBULAE AND THE ORIGIN OF CLOSE BINARIES

WORKSHOP SUPPORT: ENHANCING BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP THROUGH PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (PPSR)

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CROSS-CUTTING IMPROVEMENTS: NON-CLINICAL TOMOGRAPHY USERS RESEARCH NETWORK (NOCTURN) -THE NOCTURN (NON-CLINICAL TOMOGRAPHY USERS RESEARCH NETWORK) RESEARCH COORDINATION NETWORK WILL IMPROVE STANDARDIZATION AND ADOPTION OF FAIR DATA GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR NON-CLINICAL TOMOGRAPHY, BROADLY UNDERSTOOD HERE AS DATA GATHERING TECHNOLOGIES USED IN A WIDE VARIETY OF RESEARCH DISCIPLINES TO OBTAIN SECTIONAL SCANS OF PHYSICAL OBJECTS AND SAMPLES BY USE OF WAVE SIGNALS. THE PROJECT WILL COORDINATE WITH MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS AND GROUPS, BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, ON NEEDED STANDARDIZATION OF COMMON, CORE REQUIREMENTS FOR DATA REUSE, SUCH AS METADATA, STORAGE, AND INTEROPERABILITY. THE GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO INCREASE THE RESEARCH VALUE OF TOMOGRAPHIC DATASETS, FOSTER INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIONS, AND CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR LINKED DATA INITIATIVES AND METADATA AGGREGATION OR ANALYSIS. THE NONSTANDARD FORMATS OF TOMOGRAPHY SCANS CURRENTLY LIMIT DATA REUSE BECAUSE DATASETS OFTEN CANNOT BE SHARED AND QUICKLY BECOME OBSOLETE ONCE THE PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE THAT GENERATED THEM IS DEPRECATED. AS A RESULT, DIGITAL WAREHOUSES FOR PUBLICLY FUNDED TOMOGRAPHY DATA SUCH AS MORPHOBANK, MORPHOSOURCE, AND PHENOME10K TEND ONLY TO HOST OUTPUTS FROM SPECIFIC STEPS IN THE DATA GENERATION PIPELINE THAT UTILIZE NON-PROPRIETARY FILE FORMATS SUCH AS .TXT (FOR METADATA), .TIFF (FOR IMAGE STACKS), AND .STL (FOR DIGITAL 3D OBJECTS). INTERMEDIATE DATA, INCLUDING DETECTOR OUTPUTS, RECONSTRUCTION ALGORITHM PARAMETERS, 3D VOLUME FILES, AND SEGMENTATION EDITOR FILES, OFTEN ARE CONSIDERED TO BE TRANSIENT BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO CROSS-PLATFORM UTILITY. AS A RESULT, FILES REPRESENTING THESE DATA GENERALLY ARE NOT MADE ACCESSIBLE, RENDERING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO REPLICATE EACH STEP OF THE DATA-CAPTURE AND PROCESSING PIPELINE. THIS CURTAILS METHODOLOGICAL REPEATABILITY AND DATA REUSE, AND IT FORESTALLS FUTURE ADVANCES IN IMAGE PROCESSING THAT COULD AUGMENT DATA ALREADY IN HAND. THESE CHALLENGES CAN BE OVERCOME THROUGH BETTER CONNECTIVITY ACROSS THE TOMOGRAPHIC COMMUNITY AND TO THAT END A NETWORK OF MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED REPRESENTATIVES FROM DIVERSE FIELDS OF RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND INDUSTRY RANGING FROM ESTABLISHED PRACTITIONERS AT THE FOREFRONT OF TOMOGRAPHIC SCIENCE AS WELL AS EARLY CAREER SCHOLARS HAVE COME TOGETHER FOR THIS PROJECT TO DEVELOP AND FOSTER ADOPTION OF NEW STANDARDS FOR DATA SHARING ACROSS MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES. THIS AWARD BY THE OFFICE OF ADVANCED CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE IS JOINTLY SUPPORTED BY THE DIRECTORATE FOR ENGINEERING AND THE DIRECTORATE FOR BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. 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.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNRAVELING THE DEEP HISTORY OF AVIAN NEUROLOGICAL COMPLEXITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ORIGINS OF FLIGHT AND ORGANIZATION OF THE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: TRACKING THE EXSOLUTION AND MIGRATION OF VOLATILES IN SHALLOW MAGMA RESERVOIRS

CHARLES DARWIN*S LIBRARY AND CHARLES DARWIN*S EVOLUTION PAPERS: COMPLEMENTARY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

REU SITE: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE AND ASTROPHYSICS REU AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FLUID TRANSPORT AND FLUID-ROCK INTERACTIONS PRESERVED IN TWO SERPENTINITE MELANGES IN THE GUATEMALA SUTURE ZONE

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY WILL BROADEN ACCESS TO ITS VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY ARCHIVE BY CREATING DETAILED FINDINGS AIDS FOR EIGHT OF ITS COLLECTIONS. THE ARCHIVE CONSISTS OF 820 LINEAR FEET OF MATERIALS IN 43 COLLECTIONS, INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPHS, CORRESPONDENCE, AND FIELD NOTES. BUILDING ON WORK FUNDED BY PREVIOUS IMLS GRANTS, THE MUSEUM WILL HIRE A PROJECT ARCHIVIST AND TWO PAID STUDENT INTERNS TO PROCESS, REHOUSE, AND DIGITIZE COLLECTIONS MATERIALS. AS A RESULT OF THE PROJECT, RESEARCHERS FROM A VARIETY OF DISCIPLINES WILL BE ABLE TO DIRECTLY ACCESS CATALOG RECORDS DESCRIBING THE CONTENTS OF THE VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY ARCHIVE COLLECTIONS. PROJECT STAFF WILL SHARE THE RESULTS OF THE PROJECT ONLINE AND AT PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCES.

PARTNERSHIP TO ADVANCE ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY THROUGH PUBLIC EDUCATION

THE OFFICE OF STEM ENGAGEMENT (OSTEM) SEEKS TO: 1. ATTRACT STUDENTS TO STEM THROUGH UNIQUE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES THAT SPARK INTEREST AND PROVIDE CONNECTIONS TO NASAS MISSION AND WORK 2. ENGAGE STUDENTS IN AUTHENTIC LEARNING EXPERIENCES WITH NASA

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH) WILL INCREASE ACCESS TO ITS VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY ARCHIVE BY CREATING ONLINE CATALOG RECORDS FOR THE COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS, CORRESPONDENCE, AND FIELD NOTES. MORE THAN HALF OF THE ARCHIVE IS CURRENTLY UNPROCESSED, AND NONE OF IT IS AVAILABLE TO SEARCH ONLINE. A PROJECT ARCHIVIST AND INTERNS WILL BE HIRED TO WORK WITH AMNH STAFF TO CREATE ONLINE CATALOG RECORDS AND FINDING AIDS. RESEARCHERS FROM A VARIETY OF DISCIPLINES WILL BE ABLE TO DIRECTLY ACCESS RECORDS DESCRIBING THE CONTENTS OF THE ARCHIVE, BROADENING ITS USE AND BRINGING IN NEW USERS, INCLUDING K?12 TEACHERS AND STUDENTS WHO WILL ABLE TO DISCOVER MATERIAL THROUGH GENERAL WEB SEARCHES.

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY PLANS TO DIGITIZE AND IMPROVE ACCESS TO ITS COMPLETE ACCESSIONS ARCHIVE. THE ARCHIVE IS MADE UP OF 58,945 RECORDS OF INDEX CARDS, LEDGERS, AND SIGNED ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS ABOUT WHEN, HOW, AND BY WHOM ARTIFACTS AND SPECIMENS WERE DONATED OR ACQUIRED. CURRENT ACCESSION RECORDS REMAIN LARGELY ONLY ON PAPER, AND THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN DIGITIZED HAVE NOT BEEN TRANSCRIBED AND ARE NOT EASILY SEARCHABLE. THE MUSEUM WILL HIRE ARCHIVIST STAFF TO COMPLETE THE SCANNING AND TRANSCRIPTION OF THESE RECORDS, WHICH WILL MAKE THE ARCHIVE MORE ACCESSIBLE TO MUSEUM CURATORS AND COLLECTIONS STAFF, AS WELL AS TO EXTERNAL RESEARCHERS TO FURTHER THEIR RESEARCH.

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY WILL PILOT A NEW FACILITATION AND VISITOR ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY THAT REFLECTS CURRENT STANDARDS AND RESEARCH ON SCIENCE EDUCATION AND LEARNING. THE PROJECT WILL SHIFT THE TRAINING OF ITS DIVERSE COHORT OF COLLEGE YOUTH FACILITATORS TO PREPARE THEM TO ENGAGE VISITORS IN DEEPER UNDERSTANDINGS OF SCIENCE, RATHER THAN SIMPLY CONVEYING FACTS. THE MUSEUM WILL DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A NEW FACILITATOR TRAINING CURRICULUM THAT INTEGRATES TEACHING PRACTICES ALIGNED WITH NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS. BY POSITIONING YOUTH AS EFFECTIVE FACILITATORS OF CONVERSATIONS, OBSERVATIONS, AND PRACTICES OF SCIENCE, THE MUSEUM AIMS TO FURTHER THEIR INTEREST IN THE POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE CAREERS IN THE MUSEUM FIELD. AN EXTERNAL EVALUATOR WILL WORK WITH MUSEUM STAFF TO MEASURE THE STRATEGY'S IMPACT ON VISITOR ENGAGEMENT AND FACILITATORS' ATTITUDES ABOUT THEIR CAREERS. THE MUSEUM WILL DOCUMENT AND DISSEMINATE PROJECT RESULTS TO THE FIELD.

RUI: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE ORIGIN AND DIVERSIFICATION OF HEARING IN MALAGASY-SOUTH ASIAN CICHLIDS

REVSYS - SYSTEMATICS OF MEDICINAL LEECHES (HIRUDINIDAE): BUILDING ON THE LEGACY OF PEET

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EVOLUTION IN A VORTEX: AN INVENTORY OF THE FISHES AND MOLLUSKS OF THE LOWER CONGO RIVER RAPIDS

EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PHYLOGENY AND RATES OF EVOLUTION IN AN ECOLOGICALLY HYPERDIVERSE MAMMALIAN RADIATION (CHIROPTERA: NOCTILIONOIDEA)

RAPID: RECOVERING AT-RISK HOLOCENE FOSSILS TO TEST PHYLOGENETIC & ECOLOGICAL HYPOTHESES FOR EXTINCTION IN CROCODILES (CROCODYLUS) & GIANT TORTOISES (ALDABRACHELYS) OF MADAGASCAR

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MULTI-CENTURY HYDROLOGIC AND NAO VARIABILITY IN THE TROPICAL WESTERN ATLANTIC - A MARINE NAO SYNTHESIS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SPECIES-LEVEL PHYLOGENETICS OF OPOSSUMS, A WINDOW INTO SOUTH AMERICA'S "SPLENDID ISOLATION"

CSBR: NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS: SUPPORT FOR THE AMNH INVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY COLLECTION; ADDRESSING A CRITICAL NEED TO CONSERVE AND DIGITIZE THE

HUMAN HEALTH AND 'HUMAN BULLETINS': SCIENTISTS AND TEENS EXPLORE HEALTH SCIENCES

TURBULENCE IN PROTOPLANETARY GAS DISKS IS LIKELY DRIVEN BY MAGNETOROTATIONAL INSTABILITIES RESULTIN

DEVELOPING AND ASSESSING PROCESS SKILLS IN CONSERVATION BIOLOGY AND OTHER INTEGRATIVE FIELDS

FOUNDATIONS OF DARWIN'S SCIENCE: A DIGITAL MANUSCRIPTS COLLECTION

COLLABORATIVE: ACCELNET: GLOBAL UNION OF BAT DIVERSITY NETWORKS (GBATNET): BATS AS A MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL VERTEBRATE DIVERSITIFICATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

RUI: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PHYLOGENOMICS OF ANTHOZOA (CNIDARIA): NEW APPROACHES TO LONG-STANDING PROBLEMS

BROWN DWARFS ARE SUBSTELLAR OBJECTS WHOSE PHYSICAL AND ATMOSPHERIC PROPERTIES BRIDGE GIANT PLANETS TO STARS. LIKE JUPITER BROWN DWARFS EXPERIENCE WEATHER PATTERNS DETECTED AS PHOTOMETRIC OR TIME-RESOLVED SPECTROSCOPIC VARIABILITY DUE TO PHOTOSPHERIC INHOMOGENEITIES AND THEIR RAPID ROTATION. IN BROWN DWARFS COLDER THAN 1900K VARIABILITY IS CAUSED BY HETEROGENEOUS CLOUD COVERAGE IN THEIR ATMOSPHERES. PATCHINESS IN CLOUDS AND VARYING OPACITIES ALLOW LIGHT FROM DEEPER LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE TO REACH THE SURFACE OF THE PHOTOSPHERE. UNDERSTANDING VARIABILITY AND THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF BROWN DWARF ATMOSPHERES IS A CRUCIAL STEP TOWARDS DETAILED CHARACTERIZATION OF EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES AND THEIR WEATHER SYSTEMS AS YOUNG BROWN DWARFS OVERLAP IN TEMPERATURES AND SURFACE GRAVITIES WITH GIANT EXOPLANETS. IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS JWST AND GROUND-BASED 30M TELESCOPES WILL ACHIEVE EXQUISITE DETAIL IN BROWN DWARF AND EXOPLANET OBSERVATIONS POSSIBLY EVEN TO BEGIN THE SEARCH FOR BIOSIGNATURES IN EXOPLANET SPECTRA. THEREFORE IT IS CRUCIAL AND TIMELY TO PURSUE DETAILED SPECTROSCOPIC STUDIES TO CHARACTERIZE LOW TEMPERATURE ATMOSPHERES. VARIABILITY SURVEYS UNTIL NOW HAVE BEEN UNINFORMED AS THERE IS NO METHOD TO IDENTIFY VARIABLE BROWN DWARF CANDIDATES A PRIORI AND BOTH LIGHT CURVES AND TIME-RESOLVED SPECTROSCOPY ARE RESOURCE-INTENSIVE OBSERVATIONAL TECHNIQUES. WE PROPOSE A TECHNIQUE TO IDENTIFY CANDIDATE VARIABLE BROWN DWARFS FROM A SINGLE LOW-RESOLUTION NEAR-INFRARED SPECTRUM TO INFORM THESE SEARCHES. THE SPECTRAL SIGNATURES RESULTING FROM INHOMOGENEOUS CLOUD COVERAGE AND LEADING TO PHOTOMETRIC VARIABILITY ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE FROM BLENDEDLIGHT SPECTRAL BINARIES. ESSENTIALLY BOTH SPECTRA LOOK LIKE A BLEND OF TWO DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE ATMOSPHERES. SPECTRAL BINARIES ARE SYSTEMS OF ULTRACOOL DWARFS OF DIFFERENT SUBTYPES WHOSE PROXIMITY IN ANGULAR SPACE YIELDS A SINGLE UNRESOLVED PECULIAR SPECTRUM. THE PATCHINESS IN CLOUD COVERAGE AND VARYING CLOUD OPACITIES ALLOW THE OBSERVER TO PEER DEEPER INTO HOTTER LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE LEADING TO A SIMILAR BLENDED-LIGHT EFFECT ON THE SPECTRUM OF A SINGLE VARIABLE OBJECT. THE SPECTRAL BINARY TECHNIQUE IS ABLE TO IDENTIFY BLENDED ATMOSPHERES WHETHER THEY ORIGINATE FROM TWO BINARY COMPONENTS OR TWO CLOUD DECKS IN A SINGLE OBJECT. THEREFORE WE CAN OPTIMIZE THE TECHNIQUE TO IDENTIFY VARIABLE BROWN DWARFS ON THEIR OWN. WE PROPOSE A PILOT PROGRAM TO OPTIMIZE THE SPECTRAL BINARY TECHNIQUE TO IDENTIFY HIGH-PROBABILITY CANDIDATE PHOTOMETRICALLY VARIABLE BROWN DWARFS WITH A SINGLE LOW-RESOLUTION NEAR-INFRARED SPECTRUM FOLLOWING THESE STEPS: - GATHER ALL PUBLICLY AVAILABLE NEAR INFRARED SPECTRA OF ULTRACOOL DWARFS LATER THAN L3 INCLUDING YOUNG AND FIELD BROWN DWARFS - ANALYZE AND REFINE EXISTING SPECTRAL INDICES FOR REDUNDANCY WITH PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS - DESIGN NEW SPECTRAL INDICES FOR VARIABILITY BY IDENTIFYING THE STATIC SIGNATURES OF VARIABILITY AND/OR CLOUDS FROM SPECTRA OF KNOWN VARIABLE BROWN DWARFS - VALIDATE TECHNIQUE AND DELIVER NEW HIGH-PROBABILITY CANDIDATES FROM ARCHIVAL NEAR-INFRARED SPECTRA OF FIELD AND YOUNG L- AND T-TYPE BROWN DWARFS - FUTURE FOLLOW-UP AFTER THIS PILOT PROGRAM WILL INCLUDE ADAPTIVE OPTICS IMAGING TO CONFIRM BINARY SYSTEMS AND TESS LIGHT CURVES TO MEASURE VARIABILITY ON CANDIDATES THUS ENABLING FUTURE EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERE STUDIES. THIS PROPOSAL ALIGNS WITH TWO OF NASA'S STRATEGIC GOALS BOTH PHYSICS OF THE COSMOS AND EXOPLANET EXPLORATION. AS AN IMMEDIATE GOAL THE DESIGN OF THE TECHNIQUE WILL PROVIDE CANDIDATES FOR VARIABILITY SEARCHES PERMITTING A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF ULTRACOOL ATMOSPHERES. WE WILL STUDY VARIABILITY SIGNATURES IN PARALLEL BETWEEN YOUNG AND FIELD BROWN DWARFS TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF SURFACE GRAVITY IN SHAPING THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF ULTRACOOL ATMOSPHERES. SINCE YOUNG BROWN DWARFS ARE PROXIES TO DIRECTLY-IMAGED EXOPLANETS OUR ATMOSPHERIC STUDIES CAN BE DIRECTLY MAPPED TO EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL MOBILITY ASSIGNMENT

FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY OF THE KNEE AND DEVELOPMENT-IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERPRETING EARLY HOMININ LOCOMOTION

RAPID: SUPPORTS AND CHALLENGES IN AN EDUCATIONAL CRISIS: THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON YOUTH STEM PATHWAYS

STELLAR ROTATION PERIODS REVEAL THE AGES OF STARS AND COULD ADVANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GALACTIC ARCHAEOLOGY AND EXOPLANET POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS VIA GYROCHRONOLOGY

OF THE MEASURABLE PROPERTIES FOR A LARGE ENSEMBLE OF MAIN SEQUENCE FIELD STARS ROTATION PERIODS CONTAIN THE MOST INFORMATION ABOUT STELLAR AGE AND PROVIDE THE BEST LEVERAGE FOR ADVANCING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GALACTIC ARCHAEOLOGY..

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY WILL PILOT ENHANCED FIELD TRIP EXPERIENCES FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES, WITH A FOCUS ON ADDRESSING ISSUES OF EQUITY, ACCESS, AND INCLUSION. THE MUSEUM WILL PARTNER WITH TEACHERS TO CO-ASSESS HOW EXISTING FIELD TRIP RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS ARE USED. THEY WILL CO-DEVELOP NEW PROFESSIONAL LEARNING EXPERIENCES GUIDED BY THE NEW YORK STATE CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE-SUSTAINING (CR-S) EDUCATION FRAMEWORK THAT SUPPORT TEACHERS’ STRATEGIC PLANNING OF FIELD TRIPS THROUGH AN EXPLICIT LENS OF EQUITY AND ACCESS. THIS PROJECT WILL INFORM THE MUSEUM’S EFFORTS TO DEVELOP A NEW MODEL FOR TEACHERS AT ALL GRADE LEVELS TO PLAN AND EXECUTE IMPACTFUL, RICH, AND MEANINGFUL FIELD TRIP EXPERIENCES FOR DIVERSE STUDENTS ACROSS NEW YORK CITY AND THE REGION.

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY WILL DEVELOP AN UPDATED COLLECTIONS DATABASE FOR ITS DIVISION OF ANTHROPOLOGY COLLECTION TO INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY AND EXPAND USE BY RESEARCHERS, LAY AUDIENCES, MUSEUM STAFF, INDIVIDUALS AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS, AND MEMBERS OF COMMUNITIES OF ORIGIN. FOLLOWING A DISCOVERY PHASE TO IDENTIFY A FULL LIST OF FUNCTIONALITY NEEDS FOR THE DATABASE, THE MUSEUM WILL WORK IN CLOSE PARTNERSHIP WITH AN OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FIRM TO DESIGN AND DEVELOP A SIMPLIFIED DATABASE INFRASTRUCTURE TO OPTIMIZE FUNCTIONALITY; INCREASE CROSS-REFERENTIAL SEARCHABILITY; AND ENABLE STAFF TO EASILY MANAGE CONTENT. THE PROJECT TEAM, WORKING WITH A GROUP OF EXPERTS IN THE FIELD, WILL CONDUCT MONITORING AND PROTOTYPING TO EVALUATE PROGRESS AND THE NEW SYSTEM'S EFFECTIVENESS, ALLOWING IMPROVEMENTS TO BE MADE THROUGHOUT EVERY PHASE OF THE PROJECT. THE PROJECT WILL REVITALIZE THE STEWARDSHIP OF THE COLLECTION WHILE PROVIDING GLOBAL ACCESS FOR A DIVERSE ARRAY OF AUDIENCES.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INTEGRATIVE PHYLOGENOMICS OF WING REPURPOSING, VESTIGIALITY AND LOSS -INSECTS HAVE BECOME THE MOST EVOLUTIONARILY SUCCESSFUL GROUP OF ANIMALS ON EARTH DUE, IN PART, TO WINGS ? THEIR MOST STRIKING ADAPTATION. WINGS PROVIDE INSECTS WITH A MYRIAD OF ADVANTAGES (E.G., IN FLIGHT, COURTSHIP, DEFENSE) OVER THEIR NON-WINGED RELATIVES. DESPITE THIS, THERE ARE COUNTLESS EXAMPLES OF INSECTS THAT HAVE EVOLVED TO HAVE LOST THEIR WINGS, OR HAVE HAD THEM REDUCED TO THE POINT THAT THEY ARE NOT FUNCTIONAL FOR FLIGHT. COCKROACHES ARE A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THIS, AS IT APPEARS THAT THEY HAVE LOST FUNCTIONAL WINGS DOZENS OF TIMES THROUGHOUT THEIR 250 MILLION YEAR EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY. THIS RESEARCH WILL DESCRIBE COCKROACH WING EVOLUTION PATTERNS, WITH THE AIM OF BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE VALUE OF HAVING WINGS, LOSING THEM, OR REPURPOSING THEM FOR NEW FUNCTIONS. IN PARTICULAR, THIS PROJECT WILL EXAMINE MODIFICATIONS OF WINGS IN THE MOST SPECIALIZED SUBGROUP OF COCKROACHES ? TERMITES ? AND THEIR CLOSEST COCKROACH RELATIVES. ACHIEVING THESE AIMS TEACHES US ABOUT THE PROCESSES THAT SHAPE EARTH?S BIODIVERSITY, HOW PEOPLE MIGHT CONSERVE THOSE PROCESSES, AND HOW SOCIETIES CAN LEARN FROM THEM TO BETTER ACHIEVE THEIR OWN AIMS (E.G., BIOINSPIRED DESIGN OF TECHNOLOGY). THE PROJECT WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN A MANNER THAT WILL BRING TOGETHER INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS FOR COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT IN THE US AND ABROAD. THE GRANT WILL ALSO FUND A MENTORSHIP WORKSHOP TO MAXIMIZE THE BENEFIT TO PROJECT PARTICIPANTS AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL ACADEMIC COMMUNITY. THE WORKSHOP WILL AIM TO IMPROVE MENTORSHIP APPROACHES AT THE PRE-PROFESSIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL STAGE TO GENERATE MORE EQUITABLE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES. THIS INTEGRATED PHYLOGENOMIC STUDY WILL ASSESS THE MACRO-EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF WING-EVOLUTION. THE RESEARCH WILL INTEGRATE MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE FOREWING BASE, AND DATA ON WING PRESENCE/ABSENCE/VESTIGIALITY/MECHANICAL-SHEDDING OVER A PHYLOGENETIC FRAMEWORK THAT ADDITIONALLY AIMS TO PLACE IMPORTANT ROGUE LINEAGES. THE RESULTING ANCESTRAL STATE RECONSTRUCTION WILL ADDRESS HYPOTHESES ABOUT THE EVOLUTIONARY CONSERVATION OF MECHANICAL WING-LOSS, DEVELOPMENTAL WING-LOSS, REGAIN, VESTIGIALITY, AND CORRELATIONS AMONG THESE. THIS PRODUCT WILL FURTHER ALLOW ROBUST PLACEMENT OF CONTROVERSIAL FOSSILS AND THUS IMPROVE DIVERGENCE DATE INFERENCES. IN ALL, THIS STUDY WILL LEND UNDERSTANDING TO THE EVOLUTION OF WINGS, THE ORIGINS OF PHENOTYPES PRECEDING EUSOCIALITY IN TERMITES, AND EVOLUTIONARY PATTERNS AMONG COCKROACHES. CONCURRENT TO THE INTELLECTUAL COMPONENT, THIS GRANT WILL FUND A MENTORSHIP IMPROVEMENT WORKSHOP, AND OTHER BROADER IMPACT ACTIVITIES. 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.

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY WILL IMPROVE THE CARE AND ACCESS OF THEIR COLLECTIONS OF AFRICAN AND ASIAN ELEPHANT SKULLS, AND AFRICAN BOVID SPECIMENS. PROJECT ACTIVITIES WILL INCLUDE UNIFYING BOVID SPECIMENS THAT ARE IN OFFSITE STORAGE WITH THE SPECIMENS IN COMPACT STORAGE AT THE MUSEUM’S NEW GILDER CENTER; AS WELL AS CLEANING, REHOUSING, DIGITIZING, AND MOVING ELEPHANT SKULLS TO OFFSITE STORAGE WHERE POST-CRANIA ARE KEPT. TWO PART-TIME CONSERVATION INTERNS WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT TO THE MUSEUM TEAM BY CARRYING OUT CRITICAL CLEANING, STABILIZATION, AND DOCUMENTATION TASKS ON THE SKULLS. MUSEUM STAFF AND RESEARCHERS WILL EXPERIENCE INCREASED ACCESS TO FREQUENTLY USED SPECIMENS, AND THE OBJECTS WILL BENEFIT FROM REDUCED EXPOSURE TO KEY AGENTS OF DETERIORATION.

SEA TURTLES OF THE PALMYRA ATOLL NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DISENTANGLING PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONTROLS ON INDIAN OCEAN CARBON STORAGE DURING THE LAST GLACIAL-INTERGLACIAL TRANSITION

HUMAN HEALTH, BIODIVERSITY, AND MICROBIAL ECOLOGY: STRATEGIES TO EDUCATE

DIGITIZATION TCN: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DOCUMENTING MARINE BIODIVERSITY THROUGH DIGITIZATION OF INVERTEBRATE COLLECTIONS (DIGIN)

DIGITIZATION TCN: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE CRETACEOUS WORLD: DIGITIZING FOSSILS TO RECONSTRUCT EVOLVING ECOSYSTEMS IN THE WESTERN INTERIOR SEAWAY

OPUS: SYNTHESIZING 30 YEARS OF RESEARCH ON 200 MILLION YEARS OF EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY ON THE "HIGHER" FLIES (BRACHYCERAN DIPTERA)

INTEGRATED MEDIA AND TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: GRACE MISSION CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE AT AMNH: THE PROPOSED INTEGRATED TEACHE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE CONDOR SOUTHERN SKY SURVEY (PLUS NORTHERN EXTENSION)

EAGER: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MECHANISMS OF ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING AN ALGAL ENDOSYMBIONT IN A VERTEBRATE HOST

INTBIO: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SILK PROTEIN INNOVATION AND NOVELTY (SPIN) : INTEGRATING ACROSS DISCIPLINES TO DECIPHER SILK FIBER EVOLUTION -SILK IS ONE OF NATURE?S STRONGEST AND LIGHTEST BIOMATERIALS. IT IS USED BY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SPECIES FOR AN ARRAY OF APPLICATIONS. YET, OUTSIDE OF A FEW SPECIES, LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE GENOMIC BASIS AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF NATURAL SILKS. THIS PROJECT TAKES AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO EXAMINE THE MOLECULAR, DEVELOPMENTAL, AND FUNCTIONAL BASIS OF SILK ACROSS A DIVERSITY OF USES. AN INTEGRATIVE TEAM OF NATURAL HISTORIANS, MOLECULAR BIOLOGISTS, DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGISTS, AND BIOENGINEERS ARE COMBINING THEIR EXPERTISE TO GAIN INSIGHT INTO HOW NATURE SHAPES SILK FIBER FUNCTION. THIS RESEARCH IS FOUNDATIONAL TO ENGINEERING NEW MATERIALS THAT CAN APPLIED TO MANY PRODUCTS, FROM SURGICAL ADHESIVES TO SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING. AS PART OF THIS PROJECT, MULTIPLE POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS AND GRADUATE STUDENTS GAIN INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING IN GENOMICS, GENE EDITING, AND ENGINEERING. FURTHERMORE, THIS PROJECT CREATES A TRAVELING MUSEUM EXHIBIT TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE NATURAL PROPERTIES OF SILK. SILK HAS BEEN SHAPED AND RE-ADAPTED FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY DIVERSITY OF USES ACROSS MULTIPLE DISTANTLY RELATED ARTHROPOD GROUPS AND HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS OF EVOLUTION. TO DATE, SILK RESEARCH IN INSECTS HAS FOCUSED LARGELY ON FIBERS FROM THE DOMESTICATED SILKWORM MOTH, BOMBYX MORI. THIS PROJECT USES A COMPARATIVE, MULTI-TIERED APPROACH TO STUDY SILKS OF THE MOST DOMINANT CLADE OF SILK-PRODUCING INSECTS, THE CADDISFLIES AND MOTHS. THE COMBINATION OF GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS, FUNCTIONAL GENETICS, AND BIOPHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS WILL ILLUMINATE HOW SILKS ADHERE TO UNDERWATER SUBSTRATES, HOW THEY CONSOLIDATE INTO AN INSOLUBLE FIBER, AND HELP UNDERSTAND THE MOLECULAR BASIS OF THEIR MECHANICAL PROPERTIES. EVOLUTIONARY CORRELATIONS ARE WOVEN BETWEEN GENOTYPES AND PHENOTYPES AND DIRECT TESTS OF CAUSALITY ARE CONDUCTED IN STRATEGICALLY CHOSEN FOCAL SPECIES THAT ARE AMENABLE TO GENETIC MODIFICATION. OVERALL, THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THE OVERARCHING QUESTION, ?HOW DOES NATURE SHAPE SILK FIBER FUNCTION?? WITH A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR A FUNDAMENTAL BIOLOGICAL SUPERSTRUCTURE THAT HAS UNTAPPED POTENTIAL FOR THE PRODUCTION OF NEW POLYMER-BASED BIOMATERIALS. 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.

REU SITE: SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

REU SITE: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE AND ASTROPHYSICS REU AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IN COLLABORATION WITH

DIGITIZATION PEN: CONTRIBUTION OF DIGITAL DATA FROM GROUND-DWELLING ORTHOPTEROID ORDERS AT AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY TO THE SYMBIOTA COLLECTIONS OF ARTHROPODS NETWORK

RENOVATION OF THE OSBORN MEMORIAL LABORATORIES AT THE SOUTHWESTERN RESEARCH STATION

COMPUTER VISION AND ASTRONOMY: A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR EXOPLANET DISCOVERY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ASSESSMENT OF SULFUR RECYCLING IN ARC MAGMATISM THROUGH SECONDARY ION MASS SPECTROMETRY STUDY OF SULFUR ISOTOPES IN EXPERIMEN

+CREATING AN IMAGE DATABASE FOR ACCESS TO THE PHILIPPINES ETHNOLOGY COLLECTION

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION OF THE NOVEL SELF-CURING BIOADHESIVE OF MOTH-SPECIALIST SPIDERS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DIVERSIFICATION IN THE DEEP-SEA AND THE EVOLUTION OF FANGS, BIOLUMINESCENCE, HERMAPHRODITISM, AND MARINE HABITAT TRANSITIONS

TEACHING SCIENCE TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: A NEW APPROACH TO TEACHER PREPARATION

CONSERVATION PROGRAM

DARWIN'S EVOLUTIONARY BOTANY

MUSEUMS FOR AMERICA

MUSEUMS FOR AMERICA

RESOURCES TO INCREASE GEOSCIENCE LITERACY: LEVERAGING EARTH SCIENCE RESEARCH TO EDUCATE TEACHERS, STUDENTS, AND THE PUBLIC

MUSEUMS FOR AMERICA

MUSEUMS FOR AMERICA

MUSEUMS FOR AMERICA

MUSEUMS FOR AMERICA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A BIOTIC INVENTORY OF TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATES, SPIDERS, AND HAEMOSPORIDIAN PARASITES OF SULAWESI, INDONESIA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IPY: OBSERVATION AND MODELING OF TUNDRA ECOSYSTEM RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE