1 August 2008
Andrew Rominger
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Dear National Science Foundation,
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for funding
my summer research at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
as part of the Deep Time Grant. The diversity of life has long been
for me a source of inspiration and curiosity. Heeding the call of science
as a way of exploring life in its billions-year-old diversification
I have been thrilled and privileged to take part in the Research Training
Program. I have spent the past 10 weeks working with Douglas Erwin and
Peter Wagner on a project exploring the diversification of brachiopods
during the Permian of West Texas as well as gaining familiarity with
other disciplines in paleobiology and natural history generally.
The opportunity granted by the Smithsonian to explore fields as varied
as tropical insect diversity, avian molecular taxonomy and the role
of speciation/extinction coupled with paleo-biogeography has given me
unequaled perspective on that fundamental question, why is there such
a diversity of life on Earth? My project on brachiopods has also opened
my eyes to evolutionary processes generating biological diversity, as
well as the scientific methods to identify and studies these processes.
Our research seeks to combine two distinct methods in paleobiology,
one the phylogenetic analysis of taxa to reconstruct evolutionary relationships,
and the other the morphometric analysis of physical characteristics
using the concepts of theoretical morphology to understand the developmental-evolutionary
constraints placed on life's diversification. By combining these disparate
perspectives we hope to illuminate how morphologic novelties arise through
evolutionary time, and whether specific clades diversify disproportionately
because they evolve in an adaptive region of their respective morphospace.
Equally important to my development as a scientist has been the exposure
to a plethora of scientific methods. I have learned only about the collection
of discrete and continuous morphologic data through direct observation
of fossil specimens and also image analysis software. Additionally,
I have learned how to analyze such data use pre-programmed computational
software, and have also become proficient in programming my own functions
to conduct analyzes of morphologic variation. I have also benefited
greatly from gaining the conceptual understanding of evolutionary models
and statistical paradigms which must accompany such data collection
and analysis.
I know that I will carry these experiences onward into my future research
and academic pursuits. Specifically I am eager to apply ideas from combined
phylogenetic/morphometric analyzes to questions such as the evolution
of body size, the evolution of ecological equivalence and further exploration
of hyper-diverse groups such as the Permian brachiopods. I hope to be
able to pursue these possibilities in graduate school and possibly as
a fellow at the Smithsonian. The financial support of the National Science
Foundation has made these experiences possible, and consequently has
further inspired my fascination in biology and cemented my commitment
to pursuing a career in scientific research.
Sincerely,
Andrew Rominger
Research Training Program
Class of '08