Old Dominion University – Peer project colaboration http://www.odu.edu/#prospective

Old Dominion University, located in the City of Norfolk in the metropolitan Hampton Roads region of coastal Virginia, is a dynamic public research institution that serves its students and enriches the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation and the world through rigorous academic programs, strategic partnerships, and active civic engagement.

The role of the U.S. collaborator, Dr. Kent Carpenter, will be to aid in continued training in advanced genomics, help in collection and identification of fishes, facilitate completion of sequencing tasks, and integration of scientific results with the NSF PIRE project. Dr. Carpenter has over 35 years of international research experience, primarily in SE Asia. He is the PI of both the NSF PIRE project and a recent NSF project “Pan-Pacific Advanced Study Institute, Advanced Genomic Applications to Marine Science and Resource Management in Southeast Asia.” As a result of the NSF-supported planning visit “Broadening PIRE Success in Southeast Asia to Test Hypotheses of the Origins of Coral Triangle and Sunda Shelf Marine Biodiversity and Build Collaboration in Vietnam and Thailand,” the NSF PIRE project will continue to work in Vietnam through late 2014. Dr. Carpenter will also continue to seek funding for research in Vietnam well beyond 2014.

As part of this PIRE project, Dr. Carpenter will help organize and take part in a joint research and training sessions using advanced genomics in Vietnam in 2013 and 2014. This activity will ensure the proposed PEER project is integrated into a project that is synergistic with and complements more broad research and development goals. It will also ensure that the newest methods of advanced genomics are integrated into the PEER project. Dr. Carpenter has collaborators in the rapidly developing field of advanced genomics using next generation sequencing and will be bringing them to Vietnam for the joint U.S.-Vietnam training sessions. Dr. Carpenter is also an expert systematic ichthyologist with primary interests in SE Asian fishes. He served for many years as technical editor and contributor for numerous Food and Agriculture Organization fisheries species identification guides, including the field guide “Fishes of the Cambodian Mekong” (Rainboth, 1996). He will serve as taxonomic and fish biology consultant for the PEER project, particularly during field collection activities to ensure correct identification of samples. Dr. Carpenter will also help facilitate sequencing and laboratory activities in Vietnam by helping with access to sequencing supplies and facilities. He has an active research laboratory with 2 Post-doctoral associates, 3 Ph.D students, and 4 Master’s students, all of whom are working on projects related to SE Asian biota. His laboratory also typically has 5 undergraduate interns actively working in international projects. Dr. Carpenter will continue to integrate the research of his laboratory into research and development projects in Vietnam to help forge continued collaborative ties with members of the PEER and PIRE projects.