RAPID: Collaborative Proposal: Development of Digital Models of Minerals and Rocks for Online Geoscience Classes

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The sudden shift to remote online teaching due to the COVID-19 crisis has especially impacted laboratory classes. Petrologists and mineralogists have created three-dimensional models of rock and mineral specimens, which are available online. The commercial site that hosts these does not include a searchable database. This project will create a searchable database and copy the models to a university-hosted server. Additional specimens will be added. Image-processing has become routine, which has made it practical to create visually and topologically accurate representation of geologic specimens. Teachers have been creating these images and putting them on a commercial website for the use of the wider community. The problem is that this collection of hundreds of virtual specimens is not searchable. The PIs will create a searchable database with the specific metadata that will be useful to science teachers. Moreover, the virtual specimens will also be copied to a university-hosted server, which will assure access for years. Additional specimens will be imaged. This virtual collection has become vital in the time of COVID-19 and a shift to widespread online instruction.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.