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Overview (1) List of Core Participants. Christopher Beachy (Minot State University), James Collins (Arizona State University), Alix Darden (The Citadel), Elizabeth Davidson (Arizona State University), Julie Drawbridge (Rider University), Leonard Epp (Mount Union College), Ben Fitzpatrick (University of Tennessee), Laura Muzinic (University of Kentucky), Jeffrey Osborn (University of Kentucky), David Parichy (University of Washington), Stephen Richter (Eastern Kentucky University), Ray Semlitsch (University of Missouri), Brad Shaffer (UC-Davis), Randal Voss (University of Kentucky), and David Weisrock (University of Kentucky). (2) Intellectual Merits. A project is proposed to create a Research Coordination Network with a focus on ambystomatid salamanders - the Ambystoma Research Coordination Network (ARCN). The ARCN includes 27 ambystomatid researchers in addition to the core participants listed above, including members from Mexico, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The overall goal of the program is to enable an integrative model organism system with a networking infrastructure that will sustain opportunities for collaborative research over the long term. The major planned networking activities are: (1) To hold annual meetings so that researchers can exchange research and educational information to better serve member-member functions, the greater scientific community, and the general public, (2) To organize network members into working groups so that they can collectively identify research needs in 4 focal areas: developmental biology, conservation, evolution, and science education, (3) To enable network members with various mechanisms of information delivery to ensure researcher contact throughout the year, (4) To develop a web portal called Sal-Site to consolidate ambystomatid research and informational resources and make them freely available, (5) To provide graduate students with funding to attend annual meetings and visit member labs, and (6) To develop classroom activities using ambystomatid salamanders and engage in public outreach. Some of the mechanisms that we propose for actively promoting participation are : (1) Travel and per diem funding for core participants to annual meetings, and no registration fees for other attendees, (2) Student travel awards with effective prioritization of awardees, (3) Annual meetings that are coordinated with a major national meeting, (4) Active involvement of participants in the development of research and informational resources, (5) Creation of an environment that emphasizes cross-disciplinary approaches to increase the probability of collaboration, (6) Development of Sal-Site to ensureopen and free access to resources and information, and (7) Use of various technologies to allow continuous communication among network members. (3) Broader Impacts. The proposed project will: (1) Provide training opportunities for graduate students from multiple US institutions, (2) Help establish a new science education graduate degree program at University of Kentucky, (3) Provide educational outreach opportunities in Eastern Kentucky school districts that have very few resources and a history of social, economic, and educational hardship, (4) Develop a salamander model system that will provide a translational mechanism for researchers working in other model vertebrate organism systems, (5) Develop a model organism system that emphasizes integrative research and the contributions of scientists that span the continuum of biological research, (6) Draw attention to the conservation biology of ambystomatid salamanders and other amphibians, (7) Bring critical research resources to the research community, (8) Bring together an international group of scientists to discuss environmental problems confronting salamanders and ecosystems, (9) Develop a national and international source of general information about Ambystoma and make it publicly available through web-based information delivery, (10) Provide a model for data and material sharing for ambystomatid researchers, (11) Increase diversity in science by targeting the involvement of minorities, new investigators, diverse organizations, and students. |
