This International Research Experiences for Students project will provide U.S. graduate students with the opportunity to gain international research experience through research stays of approximately three months at the Station Biologique de Roscoff (SBR), a research institute of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Roscoff, France. The SBR is led by Director Bernard Kloareg. Students will conduct research on the molecular ecology and evolution of marine photosynthetic organisms. The SBR hosts students from all over Europe participating in the Marie Curie early career program, and it leads the Network of Excellence Marine Genomics Europe, a large international research consortium. Through this award, funding is provided to the University of Washington to support approximately eight U.S. graduate students per year over a three year period to conduct research at SBR. The principal investigator Ginger Armbrust from the University of Washington, and the coPI, Paul Falkowski of Rutgers University, will recruit students from a nationwide pool to participate in the program. This award is jointly supported by the Office of International Science and Engineering, the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, and the Division of Ocean Sciences.
Intellectual Merit Over the past decade, marine sciences has been transformed by the development of and access to enormous data sets of both genomic sequences for marine microorganisms and large scale environmental data sets and model output. A challenge for early career marine scientists is to learn how to integrate these two vastly different spatial scales of data. Students participating in this program will learn how to excel in today's research environment of international collaborations where scientists with different expertise work together to tackle large-scale questions. Students will study marine photosynthetic organisms from a variety of perspectives including ecology, oceanography, evolution, cell biology, and genomics at a world-class institution.
Broader Impacts Support is provided for approximately 24 U.S. graduate students to conduct research in marine sciences in France, thus providing a large group of U.S. students with international research experiences that will prepare them to operate successfully in a global environment. Because SBR is involved in many international and EU projects, the linkages created by the students' visits will support lasting international collaborations not only with French scientists but with researchers throughout Europe.
