Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY 2002

Potts Matthew D, Cambridge MA

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 "Using Spatial and Species Explicit Forest Dynamics Models to Optimize Biodiversity Conservation in a Managed Landscape." Managing biodiversity in tropical forests requires solving an optimization problem that simultaneously maximizes biodiversity and timber value over time. This optimization problem is being solved through the development of sample based biodiversity indices, the development of spatial and species explicit forest dynamics models, and the quantification of the opportunity costs of biodiversity protection.