Thomas Getty - US grants

Behavioral ecology addresses questions about how behavior mediates processes with important ecological and evolutionary consequences. For instance, we would like to know how foraging behavior is adapted to the distribution of resources and how these behavioral adjustments influence the relationship between the distribution of a resource density and the rate at which it is harvested. The details of this relationship are important for a variety of behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary problems. Earlier attempts to understand this kind of relationship have taken a "black box" approach to describing mathematically the relationship between prey distribution and predation rate. The goal of this project is to open up the black box and analyze the component parts (processes and mechanisms), focusing on the role of perception in search and prey detection. Ecological foraging theory has paid little attention to how perception influences foraging behavior. Models developed to guide naval search operations include perceptual processes and constraints that are not explicit in ecological models. This project will examine whether the approach developed in operations research helps us to understand the role of perception in animal foraging behavior. The particular system under study is a native sparrow species foraging for cryptic weed seeds. During experiments, individuals are video-taped as they search for seeds scattered on the soil. From detailed analysis of the location of individual seeds and of search tactics and success, Dr. Getty can develop alternative models and test their ability to describe and predict behavioral tactics and predation rates under various conditions. From these analyses, he can determine the extent to which perceptual processes alter the relationship between resources, behavior, and resource exploitation.

This IGERT project examines the problem of sequential decision-making as a unifying framework for the study of several central topics in cognitive science: selective attention, navigation, language processing, and the coordination of action in multiple-agent groups. The overarching question our students are trained to investigate is the following: how is it possible for an agent to decide what actions to take to achieve long-term goals? We recognize that decision-making in complex environments is a sequential process, involving a series of episodes in which an agent, based on information available through its senses and stored in memory, selects the action appropriate for its goals. The problem is made difficult by perceptual uncertainty arising from sensory limitations and environmental complexity, by the challenge of sorting through the large space of actions available, and by inherent delays in feedback about the long-term consequences of actions. A wide variety of fundamental cognitive tasks can be cast as sequential decision-making problems. Understanding how such problems may be solved will be a critical component of a general theory of intelligent behavior in organisms, and will be essential for the design of truly intelligent machines. To study these problems, we adopt a comparative approach, combining insights from a range of model systems, including humans, non-human animals, robots, and intelligent software agents. This multidisciplinary framework will enable students to integrate ideas and methods from different fields that have been concerned with the study of sequential decision-making (psychology, behavioral biology, linguistics, and computer science), but that have so far remained largely separate. The training program is designed to create a new generation of scientists trained in this innovative, multidisciplinary approach. Graduate training will be focused on fundamental disciplinary education, a common set of courses focused on the sequential decision-making framework, and a strong emphasis on mentored, interdisciplinary research activities that span each student's entire graduate program.

IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing new, innovative models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fourth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-two institutions for programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. The intellectual foci of this specific award reside in the Directorates for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; Engineering; Biological Sciences; and Education and Human Resources.

Abstract: Using the STEM Dimensions of Bioenergy Sustainability
to Bring Leading-edge Graduate Research to K-12 Learning Settings.

The intellectual focus of this new GK-12 project at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) is on the ecological dimensions of bioenergy sustainability. Graduate students in Michigan State University?s Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Behavior and Environmental Science & Public Policy programs who are engaged in STEM research at KBS will partner with teachers in the KBS K-12 Partnership for Science Literacy, the new Department of Energy Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), and the NSF Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) project on the Ecology of Agricultural Landscapes. Project activities include establishing schoolyard science research plots in K-12 Partner districts that mimic aspects of GLBRC research plots and serve as the foundation for a schoolyard research network. Fellows will work collaboratively with each other, their advisors, and project partners to incorporate their own research into K-12 research and inquiry activities that address Michigan and national science education standards.

Fellows will improve their ability to place their research in its broader societal and global contexts, to collaborate across disciplines, to integrate their research and teaching, and to communicate their research to professional, K-12 and public audiences. The opportunity to work collaboratively with fellows on authentic research related to pressing national needs will enhance the professional development of the K-12 partner teachers and enrich the education of K-12 students. This project will also enhance ongoing efforts at KBS to recruit a greater number and diversity of young people into STEM science disciplines.