Laboratory Technician Support: Expanding Capabilities for Experimental Hydrogeophysics Research and Outreach

该奖项将资助一名实验性水文物理学技术人员，以支持一些当前NSF资助的项目;帮助维护一个大型现场设备池;在科罗拉多矿业学院的坦克和风洞设施中建立能力，该设施向社区开放;并提供一些外展机会，从高中生到专业人士。 通过雇用一名全职技术员，设备将得到更好的维护，数据将以一致、高质量的格式公布;并将为目前不可行的地球物理方法提供更多的外联机会。 所有这些任务应提供机会，更有效和高效的数据收集，方法传播和推广。技术人员将支持一系列目前资助和悬而未决的NSF提案，主题范围从探索树木和地下水通量之间的联系，到木材对径流和生态系统服务的影响，到绘制各种系统中的地下流动路径。 在每一个项目中，课题组都提供了主要的地球物理支持，使得数据收集和设备管理的强度很高。通过将地球物理学应用于不太常用的地球系统进行地球物理调查，如树木和溪流，该小组已经能够回答一些关于地球耦合过程的基本问题。 重要的是，考虑到水文研究中常见的延时过程，地球物理数据的产生量很大，这使得开发周到，有效的方法来管理和发布数据势在必行，技术人员可以提供帮助。 技术员的作用是：1）维护和校准地球物理设备; 2）制定最佳做法协议，供传播; 3）组织数据管理和出版; 4）支持实地地球物理学外联工作; 5）支持对本科生和研究生进行先进地球物理方法的培训和辅导。 入选技术人员的预期技术能力包括操作和维护一系列地球物理现场设备的能力，包括电气、电磁和地震设备以及井下电缆测井设备等。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award will fund an experimental hydrogeophysics technician to support a number of current NSF-funded projects; help maintain a large field equipment pool; build capacity in a tank and wind-tunnel facility at Colorado School of Mines that is open to the community; and provide a number of outreach opportunities, from high school students to professionals. By hiring a full-time technician, equipment will be better maintained, data will be published in consistent, quality formats; and will allow additional outreach opportunities in geophysical methods that are currently not feasible. All of these tasks should provide opportunities for more effective and efficient data collection, method dissemination, and outreach.The technician will support a series of currently funded and pending NSF proposals, ranging in topic from exploring connections between trees and groundwater fluxes to the impact of wood on streamflow and ecosystem services to mapping subsurface flowpaths in a variety of systems. In each of these projects, the research group provides the primary geophysics support, making the intensity of data collection and equipment management high. By applying geophysics to less commonly studied earth systems for geophysical investigation, like trees and streams, the group has been able to answer some fundamental questions about coupled processes in the earth. Importantly, geophysical data production is large when considering time-lapse processes common in hydrologic studies, which makes development of thoughtful, efficient ways to manage and publish data imperative, something a technician can help with. The role of the technician will be to: 1) maintain and calibrate geophysical equipment; 2) develop best-practices protocol development that will be available for dissemination; 3) organize data management and publication; 4) support field geophysics outreach, and 5) support training and mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students on advanced geophysical methods. Expected technical capabilities of the selected technician include the ability to operate and maintain a series of geophysical field equipment, including electrical, electromagnetic, and seismic gear as well as downhole wireline logging equipment, among others.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.