Support for 2016 Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar on Rock Deformation

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This project provides funding for travel and registration support to U.S. based early-career professionals and students to attend the Gordon Research Conference "From Slow to Fast Deformation and Back", held in Andover, NH from August 21-26, 2016. The Rock Deformation conference series highlights the cutting-edge research on the various time and spatial scales involved in the deformation of rocks in and on the Earth, and the program will showcase recent advances and future trends in rock deformation and applications in structural geology, seismology, geodynamics, planetary geology, and energy & environmental engineering. Central themes for the conference include: (1) architecture and behavior of faults and shear zones; (2) dynamics of rock-rock interfaces: forces and friction; (3) geoengineering and induced rock deformation; (4) slow and fast earthquakes; (5) pore fluid and rock deformation; (6) plasticity of grains and ductile rheology; (7) evolving microstructures and effect on rheology; and (8) coupling time scales in rock deformation models. The project also supports the Rock Deformation Gordon Research Seminar to be held August 20-21 in conjunction with the Rock Deformation Gordon Research Conference. The seminar, designed for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education, focuses on combining observation, theory and modeling to understand rock deformation processes with an emphasis on the use of theory and experimentation to elucidate grain/aggregate-scale processes and numerical efforts to upscale these processes to field conditions, and how laboratory and field data inform and are informed by numerical models of deformation processes.This project supports the participation of U.S. based early career scientists in the biannual Gordon Research Conference on Rock Deformation and the associated Gordon Research Seminar. The conference assembles national and international researchers who study the behavior of rocks and minerals under various stress, pressure, and temperature conditions in order to understand deformation of the Earth's crust and mantle. The conference focuses on cutting-edge topics that include fault zone structure, processes, and behavior with particular emphasis on earthquake mechanisms. Other session focus on the detailed mechanisms of fracture and flow of Earth materials. The associated seminar provides graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and early career researchers opportunity for professional development and focused discussions about their research. Through support of early career scientists and students, the project contributes to the development of STEM workforce and also supports full participation of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM.