Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY 2002

Vandergast Amy G, San Diego CA

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 Geographic Information Systems in spatially explicit analyses of population genetic structure." This research uses geographic information systems (GIS) to explore methods that incorporate explicit environmental information in distributional analyses of genetic variation within species. The investigations are focused in Southern California, where previous research has produced detailed environmental data layers and many genetic data sets for species in similar functional groups. It is being determined the extent to which landscape-level processes influence the creation, distribution, and maintenance of genetic biodiversity across this region.