Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY 2002

Head Jason J, Dallas TX

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY2002. 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 "Recovering the influences of environmental change on vertebrate faunas using a morphological phylogeographic analysis of recent and fossil erycine snakes." Morphometric analysis and robust statistics are being used to determine phylogeographic responses of recent and fossil erycine snake faunas to environmental transitions. This research examines the systematic levels at which fossils can be recognized by osteological variability, how reptiles respond to environmental changes through time, and the extent that fossils can predict faunal responses to anthropogenic environmental modifications.