This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY 2005. The fellowship supports research and training at the postdoctoral level at the intersection of biology and the informational, computational, mathematical, and statistical sciences. The goal of the fellowship is to provide training to a young scientist in preparation for a career in biological informatics in which research and education will be integrated. There is an increasing need for training in biological informatics at all occupational levels, and it is expected that Fellows trained through these fellowships will play important roles in training the future workforce.
The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "Modeling the Pacific Flyway: An individual-based exploration of migratory shorebirds." Shorebirds in North America have experienced declines, for unknown reasons, over the last several decades. This research is developing a spatially-explicit, individual-based model of shorebird migration and population dynamics, using Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri) as a focal species. The models are being parameterized from empirical data and used to explore several hypotheses of population decline.
The training goals are to learn methods to develop ecological models that can be of both practical and theoretical interest and to teach this skill to others. This research will substantially broaden the Fellow's ecological knowledge, deepen her mathematical and computational skills, and enable her to work in close collaboration with field and conservation biologists.
