Collaborative Research: Community Facility Support: Facilitating Access and Innovation through a Collaborative Organization for Rock Deformation (CORD)

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This award will establish a community facility for rock deformation by funding for two full-time laboratory technician positions, both of which will jointly support the rock deformation laboratories at both Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of forming a "Collaborative Organization for Rock Deformation" (CORD). Experimental rock deformation studies provide fundamental insights into the natural phenomena which shape our Earth and other planets, including earthquake generation and viscous flow of rocks and ices. Increasing knowledge of rock properties also plays a key role in meeting societal needs such as exploiting natural resources and enabling CO2 sequestration to mitigate climate change. Owing to technical complexity, only a handful of laboratories exist in the US with the capability to perform such work. Beyond dedicated experimentalists running the equipment, there is a broad user community with interest in performing experiments but without the resources and experience to start their own laboratories. The key challenge in increasing access to existing equipment is the training of users, and maintenance and safe operation of complex machinery. The presence of dedicated technical personnel is an effective way to facilitate access to this sophisticated equipment for a much broader section of the Earth science community and provide a robust, effective, and welcoming laboratory research environment. The two laboratory technicians will jointly support rock deformation laboratories at Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology that form the Collaborative Organization for Rock Deformation (CORD). Visiting scientists will be able to become acquainted with faculty, staff, and students at MIT and Brown. In addition to the extensive suite of rock deformation equipment, visiting scientists will have access to other resources at our universities, including libraries, seminars, and technical facilities. Besides improving outreach to other universities and organizations, the CORD project will promote coordination between the two partner laboratories. Regular meetings, lectures and workshops that can be attended by all those interested available by web-link will be held. Because each of the two technicians will spend equal time at each university, both groups will benefit from insights and best practices from the other location. Lastly, the presence of dedicated technical personnel will facilitate the development of new experimental capabilities, pushing the boundaries of experimental geophysics. The primary goal of this proposal is to encourage and facilitate participation in experimental rock deformation studies by a broader spectrum of scientists within the Earth science community. The technician support will increase the availability and efficiency of use of the equipment in the two laboratories to colleagues from other organizations, who are interested in rock deformation, but currently lack access to laboratory facilities and expertise. The secondary goal is to develop new experimental capabilities. By sharing the support staff equally, two individuals with complementary skill sets can be hired which will increase the depth of support. Each laboratory technician will become an expert operator of equipment in both laboratories and, in close collaboration with the investigators, will train new users. The primary responsibility of the technicians will be to maintain the equipment in dependable working order and enable its safe and efficient operation with a broad user base. Maintenance is a priority for maximizing access to visitors working on fixed schedules. Routine tasks include training of new users in collaboration with PIs, and replacement of seals and gaskets, calibration of load cells, displacement transducers etc. The technicians will organize and ensure consistent archiving of experimental data. Other duties include maintaining inventories of consumables and lists of suppliers. Assisting in the design and implementation of new innovative capabilities of the equipment is also an important component of the responsibilities. Scientific and technical advances go hand-in-hand. Both visitors and resident personnel will wish for new experimental capabilities. Sharing technical support will also provide inter-laboratory calibrations, standardization of techniques, and development of a consistent format for data management.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.