Collaborative Research: AGeS2 (Awards for Geochronology Student research) Program: Democratizing access to geochronology and promoting interdisciplinary science

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Geochronology is profoundly important in Earth science research. Geochronology data are required to quantitatively resolve the 4th dimension of time inherent in Earth science, and are increasingly necessary to conduct modern, cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research. The growing geochronology need is accompanied by strong demands to broaden community access to geochronology data, enhance the ability of laboratories to meet this pressure, and increase community awareness of how these data are produced and interpreted. The AGeS (Awards for Geochronology Student research) program provides opportunities for graduate students to develop the scientific rationale for projects involving geochronology, and then provides them with hands-on experience actually acquiring data in labs, all while being mentored by geochronologists. This project will grow AGeS2 into a wider cross-disciplinary initiative to further enhance access to geochronology data, promote geochronology training, and stimulate new synergistic science. AGeS2 is aimed at 1) democratizing access to geochronology, 2) educating users of geochronology data, 3) promoting synergistic science by fostering new relationships between labs and other disciplines, and 4) providing strategic, high-quality, scientifically-valuable geochronology data for projects in which both users and producers of the data are intellectually engaged. It doubles the annual award funding for graduate student geochronology projects. A new partnership with the Geological Society of America (GSA) will allow successful management of this broader effort. AGeS2 will take advantage of new opportunities for cohort- and community building afforded by the program's popularity to maximize the educational and scientific outcomes of AGeS investments. These activities will include regular teleconferences with each year's AGeS student cohorts and two AGeS gatherings prior to the national GSA meeting. Ongoing student-lab-advisor interactions will be encouraged throughout the typical 2 year AGeS project duration to further promote project success.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.