CREST Phase II: Cyber-ShARE Center of Excellence

网络共享（“网络基础设施共享资源，以推进研究和教育”）卓越中心在得克萨斯大学埃尔帕索（UTEP）成立于2007年，使命，以促进教育和研究，通过网络基础设施，支持信息交流和整合，以及跨学科的合作研究。该中心进行研究，并准备一支能够解决社会面临的一些最具挑战性的问题的劳动力。该中心的跨学科研究产生了工具和方法，通过促进分享知识，概念，方法和观点的能力来支持学术跨学科合作。作为协作科学与工程研究的国家领导者，该中心开发并应用了基于团队的合作学习，跨学科团队合作和知识整合模式。网络基础设施（CI）的进步领域是数据管理、数据分析和支持协作的虚拟组织。特别是，竞争情报研究的重点是科学家的能力，以文件的数据收集和产品开发的方式，使共享和重复使用的科学成果，通过加强与出处和其他关键信息的结果。该中心的横切专业知识是在协作和协作环境，语义为基础的方法，知识合成和表示（本体论和出处），和传播的不确定性，在综合分析。 该专业知识将通过以下子项目实现超越：（1）知识表示、谈判和集成：通过语义学连接人类和机器的知识模型（2）利用网络基础设施促进对生态系统过程的理解（3）开发地球结构三维模型的综合分析Cyber-ShARE在分析气候变化对环境的影响和地球结构建模方面的研究通过该中心的跨学科方法得到了支持的CI。我们的环境科学小组正在通过创新的多尺度数据收集和分析，沿着最小化误差传播和确保数据质量的新方法，推进对极端沙漠和北极环境中碳通量的理解。 我们的地球物理学研究小组正在通过数据整合和模型融合的计算方法开发更精确的格兰德河裂谷系统模型。该中心开发了新的工具，使研究人员能够更有效地分析通过这些项目和我们国家周围的环境和地震传感器网络收集的大量数据。 传感器数据对于了解短期和长期的全球变化至关重要，有助于更好地了解气候变化对水和能源的影响，以及地球结构对地震风险的影响。在下一阶段的资助中，Cyber-ShARE中心将继续在环境科学和地球科学领域开展由CI支持的创新、协同STEM研究。 作为三个子项目的一部分，我们将研究大量的研究问题，其中包括：我们如何在先进的网络基础设施的帮助下，为跨学科研究创建个人心理模型和综合概念框架的机器可理解的表示？什么因素控制着沙漠和北极陆地生态系统中碳、水和能量的陆-气交换？在什么样的空间和时间尺度上？如何使用语义网技术来增强开放获取环境数据的共享、发现、检索、集成、分析和可视化？格兰德河裂谷的演化是什么？它与其他活动裂谷（如东非裂谷系）有何关系？科学家能否理解、相信并接受通过开发CI和基于CI的应用程序（可以无缝集成并优化融合现有信息源）而产生的西南（和其他地区）构造演化的新见解？该中心是至关重要的，以扩大跨学科的培训和教育，CI知识渊博的公民，包括谁获得高级学位，并代表21世纪人口的STEM学生。 与地质学、环境和计算机科学研究生的全国平均水平相比（NSF 2008年），网络共享学生中82.7%是西班牙裔，而全国平均水平是4.7%，36.5%是女性，而全国平均水平是30.8%。该中心的目标是在第二阶段使代表性不足的群体的公民参与程度更高。该中心将扩大网络共享合作网络，以包括其他主要的CI项目，国际合作者和行业合作伙伴。

The Cyber-ShARE ("Cyberinfrastructure for Sharing resources to Advance Research and Education") Center of Excellence at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) was established in 2007 with a mission to advance education and research through cyberinfrastructures that support information exchange and integration, as well as collaborative interdisciplinary research. The Center conducts research and prepares a workforce that can tackle some of the most challenging problems confronting society. The interdisciplinary research at the Center has resulted in tools and approaches that support scholarly interdisciplinary collaboration by facilitating the ability to share knowledge, concepts, approaches, and perspectives. As national leaders in the study of collaborative science and engineering, the Center has developed and applied models of team-based, cooperative learning, interdisciplinary teamwork, and knowledge integration. Areas of advancement in cyberinfrastructure (CI) have been in data management, data analysis, and virtual organizations in support of collaboration. In particular, CI research has focused on scientists' ability to document data collection and product development in ways that enable sharing and reuse of scientific results by enhancing results with provenance and other critical information.The Center's crosscutting expertise is in collaboration and collaborative environments, semantic-based approaches to knowledge synthesis and representation (ontologies and provenance), and propagation of uncertainty in integrated analyses. The subprojects through which this expertise will transcend are as follows:(1) Knowledge Representation, Negotiation and Integration: Linking Human and Machine Knowledge Models through Semantics(2) Advancing Understanding of Ecosystem Processes Using Cyberinfrastructure(3) Integrated Analysis for Development of 3-D Models of Earth StructureCyber-ShARE's research in analysis of climate change impacts on the environment and the modeling of Earth's structure has advanced through the Center's interdisciplinary approaches supported by CI. Our environmental science group is advancing understanding of carbon flux in extreme desert and arctic environments through innovative multi-scale data collection and analysis, along with novel methods for minimizing error propagation and ensuring data quality. Our geophysics research group is developing more accurate models of the Rio Grande Rift System through computational approaches to data integration and model fusion. The Center has developed novel tools that allow researchers to more effectively analyze the large amounts of data being collected through environmental and seismic sensor networks in these projects and around our nation. Sensor data are critical for understanding short and long term global change, enabling better understanding of the effects of climate change on water and energy, and the effects of earth structure on earthquake risk. In the next phase of funding, the Cyber-ShARE Center will continue to conduct innovative, synergistic STEM research supported by CI in the areas of environmental science and geosciences. Among a large number of research questions to be investigated as part of the three subprojects are the following: How can we create a machine understandable representation of individual mental models and integrated conceptual frameworks for interdisciplinary research, facilitated by advanced cyber-infrastructure?What factors control land-atmosphere exchange of carbon, water and energy in desert and arctic terrestrial ecosystems and over what spatial and time scales?How can Semantic Web technologies be used to enhance open access environmental data sharing, discovery, retrieval, integration, analysis, and visualization?What is the evolution of the Rio Grande Rift and how does this relate to other active rifts, for example, the East Africa Rift System?Can scientists understand, believe and accept new insights in the tectonic evolution of the southwest (and other regions) that were produced through the development of CI and CI-based applications that can seamlessly integrate and optimally fuse existing information sources?The Center is critical to broadening training and education of interdisciplinary, CI-knowledgeable citizens, including STEM students who receive advanced degrees and represent the 21st century demographics. Compared to the national averages for graduate students in geology and environmental and computer science (NSF 2008), Cyber-ShARE students are 82.7% Hispanic while the national average is 4.7%, and 36.5% female while the national average is 30.8%. The Center aims to reach even higher levels of involvement of citizens from underrepresented groups during Phase II. The Center will extend the network of Cyber-ShARE collaborations to include other major CI projects, international collaborators, and industry partners.