IRES Track I: Comparative Anatomy and Functional Morphology in Cuvier's Paris

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

Functional Morphology and Comparative Anatomy are the studies of how bodies work in humans and other animals, disciplines of research that began and continue, to this day, in the collections in Paris. In this IRES project, new generations of students will be taught to test hypotheses across species using cutting-edge tools in functional morphology and comparative biology, subjects that are of interest to the great number of students interested in careers in STEM fields, thus attempting to inspire this focal 21st Century work-force growth in a place that formed the foundation of the discipline over the last many centuries. Approximately seven undergraduate students a year will be recruited from diverse backgrounds (including recruitment from colleges and universities that serve historically underrepresented groups) and trained in techniques that span live animal behavior, muscle dissection, analyses of bones, teeth and skulls and finally how to make inferences about the behavior and abilities of extinct species from the shapes of their fossils. Not only will students learn these technical skills, but through working with senior professors and their international teams of postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, they will learn the "soft skills" of collaborating across academic teams and cultures. Students will gain these skills and earn authorship on professional presentations and potentially publications, giving them the possibly life changing experiences that may form the core of their continued pursuit of STEM interests and careers. The overarching goal of this project is to train diverse cohorts of students in burgeoning 21st century functional morphology and comparative anatomy techniques. Students will be trained in key techniques the US PI's lab (at North Carolina State University) prior to being accompanied to Paris to work in the lab of one of his collaborators at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle where they will have access to centuries-old collections and the other biological research institutions in the region. There, with the mentorship of the professors and their senior postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, the IRES students will develop independent or group projects that focus on modern approaches to functional morphology and comparative anatomy research questions. These may include 1) behavioral research and experimentation at several zoological facilities (including access to a colony of mouse lemurs, or work with species like the greater bamboo lemur, that are not held in captivity outside of France), 2) dissection work with fresh specimens or specimens from the museum's expansive fluid collection, and analyses of osteological or dental material from 3) modern species or 4) the famous fossil collections also housed in this historically significant museum collection. These studies may ultimately allow the IRES students to use this knowledge about the behavior and anatomy of extant species to evaluate the adaptations of extinct species. 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.