Collaborative Research: IRES Track I: Stronger Together: Exploring How Communal Care Reduces Individual Costs During Challenging Years

合作研究：IRES 第一轨：共同更强：探索公共护理如何在充满挑战的年份降低个人成本

• 批准号: 2122413
• 负责人: Carolyn Bauer
• 金额: $ 13.66万
• 依托单位: Swarthmore College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-04-15 至 2024-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122413&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; IRES; Track; Stronger

This IRES award provides 6 undergraduate and 9 graduate students from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Adelphi University (N.Y.) with international research experience in Chile. Students will engage in 12 months of collaboration with researchers from four academic institutions in Santiago, Chile. The scientific aim of the work is to identify physiological mechanisms whereby communal care of offspring can enhance reproductive success under harsh ecological conditions in the degu (Octodon degus), a social rodent found only in Chile. The students will design their own experiments and contribute to a field study to determine how communal care mitigates the physiological costs of low food availability on breeding females and their young. Students will use modern statistical methods to analyze a long-term dataset on degu social living, stress physiology, and reproductive success. Student-led research will lead to progress in our understanding of how the environment can shape the consequences of communal care of young and thus, will have broad application to conservation biology and human health. The program builds on an ongoing IRES program in Chile and features an unique "generational" advising structure that promotes collaborations within and between current and previous IRES cohorts. An important broader impact of the program is to promote international collaboration, STEM education for middle and high school students, and public outreach about the health benefits of community engagement in child care. In preparation for their international experiences, IRES students will write summaries about the way charismatic social animals live. These writings will become part of educational activities developed by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga STEM Education and Health and Human Performance graduate students. Educational activities on communal care and healthy lifestyles will be tested with middle and high school students participating in three University of Tennessee at Chattanooga outreach programs (GEAR UP, Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math & Science). Activities will be made available online to the general public. Co-PI Bauer will write posts for several social media platforms about how the stress of parenting can be mitigated through family help, societal assistance, and cultural support. The scientific objective of this IRES is to determine how ecology shapes the reproductive consequences of communal breeding, a social strategy in which multiple mothers nurse offspring communally. The overarching experiment is a manipulative field study to determine how low food abundance influences the endocrine and oxidative stress of communally breeding Octodon degus, a social rodent endemic to Chile. Students will conduct independent projects within the framework of this study and will also analyze a long-term dataset. This program supports 5-6 students per year (2 undergrad, 3-4 graduate; 15 individuals over a three-year period). Students will engage in year-long collaborations with one or more of the PIs? four collaborators at four academic institutions in Santiago, Chile. Students interested in studying how social interactions impact stress physiology will collaborate with an expert on social networks and former IRES student at the Universit? de Sherbrooke, Canada. Prior to IRES, international collaborators will provide feedback on project designs and grant proposals. IRES will last 8-10 weeks (June-August) for undergraduate students and 18-20 weeks (June-October) for graduate students. Post-IRES, international collaborators will provide feedback on analyses, presentations, and manuscripts, thereby increasing the likelihood of student productivity and success. Program outcomes, student perceptions of the program and science, and student progression in STEM will be assessed annually during and up to 3 years beyond the proposed program.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.

该IRES奖为田纳西大学Chattanooga和Adelphi University（N.Y.）的6名本科生和9名研究生提供了智利的国际研究经验。学生将与智利圣地亚哥四家学术机构的研究人员进行12个月的合作。这项工作的科学目的是确定生理机制，在这种机制中，对后代的公共护理可以在Degu（Octodon degus）的严峻生态条件下增强生殖成功，这是一种仅在智利中才能发现的社会啮齿动物。学生将设计自己的实验，并为一项现场研究做出贡献，以确定社区护理如何减轻繁殖女性及其年轻食物的生理成本。学生将使用现代的统计方法来分析有关DEGU社会生活，压力生理学和生殖成功的长期数据集。以学生为主导的研究将导致我们对环境如何塑造年轻公共护理的后果的理解，从而在保护生物学和人类健康方面广泛应用。 该计划以智利正在进行的IRES计划为基础，并具有独特的“世代”咨询结构，可促进当前和以前的IRES队列之间的合作。 该计划的一个重要的广泛影响是促进国际合作，中学和高中生的STEM教育以及有关社区参与儿童保育的健康益处的公众宣传。为了为自己的国际经验做准备，IRES学生将摘要有关魅力社交动物的生活方式。这些著作将成为田纳西大学Chattanooga STEM教育与健康与人类绩效研究生开发的教育活动的一部分。有关公共护理和健康生活方式的教育活动将与参加田纳西大学的三所大学的Chattanooga外展计划（Gear Up，向上，向上绑定的数学与科学）一起测试。活动将在线提供给公众。 Co-Pi Bauer将为几个社交媒体平台撰写帖子，以了解如何通过家庭帮助，社会援助和文化支持来减轻育儿的压力。该国税局的科学目标是确定生态学如何塑造社区育种的生殖后果，这是一种社会策略，其中多个母亲在共同的社会中。总体实验是一项操纵性的现场研究，旨在确定食物丰度如何影响智利特有的社会啮齿动物八度幼虫的内分泌和氧化应激。学生将在本研究的框架内开展独立项目，并将分析长期数据集。该计划每年支持5-6名学生（2名本科生，3-4名毕业生；在三年期间15个人）。学生将与一个或多个PI进行为期一年的合作？智利圣地亚哥的四家学术机构的四个合作者。有兴趣研究社交互动如何影响压力生理学的学生将与社交网络专家和大学的前IRES学生合作？加拿大de Sherbrooke。在加入国税局之前，国际合作者将提供有关项目设计和赠款建议的反馈。 IRES将持续8-10周（6月至8月）的本科生，研究生将为18-20周（6月至10月）。国际合作者后，国际合作者将提供有关分析，演示和手稿的反馈，从而提高了学生生产力和成功的可能性。课程成果，学生对计划和科学的看法以及STEM的学生进步将在拟议的计划之外每年进行3年评估。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并认为值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准通过评估来进行评估。