Advancement of Cyberinfrastructure Careers through Earthquake System Science (ACCESS)

南加州地震中心（SCEC）开发了通过地震系统科学（ACCESS）计划网络基础设施职业的进步，以解决CI相关职业途径中的“薄弱环节”：从以学科为导向的本科学位课程过渡到以问题为导向的地震系统科学研究生课程。SCEC在过去五年中发现了这个问题，因为它实施了SCEC社区建模环境（CME）和SCEC地震信息技术本科生研究（SCEIT）计划。CME计划是计算机科学家和地球科学家之间的合作，旨在为地震系统科学开发新的网络基础设施（CI），包括能够管理地震系统科学所需的大型数据库和计算的“计算平台”。EQUIPIT是一个本科实习生计划，招募了不同一代的研究人员，并为他们提供基于团队的跨学科科学经验。这两个项目已经对CI劳动力的发展产生了重大影响; USEIT通过吸引大量，多样化的本科生考虑CI研究的职业来启动管道，CME为研究生和早期职业科学家提供了发展高级CI技能的机会。ACCESS将加强这些机会和其他机会之间的联系。ACCESS计划的目标是为不同群体的学生提供地震系统科学的研究经验，这将促进他们的职业生涯，并鼓励他们创造性地参与CI开发。其总体目标是为解决系统科学的基本问题准备一个多样化的，精通CI的劳动力。为实现这一目标，将开发三个计划要素：（1）本科生实习，这将支持本科生在SCEC合作实验室进行CI相关研究，以完成高级论文或学士学位的其他研究增强。 (2)研究生实习，将支持研究生在SCEC合作实验室进行长达一年的CI相关研究，以完成硕士论文。(3)ACCESS论坛，一个新的SCEC工作组，将促进地震系统科学的CI职业生涯。ACCESS实习将通过竞争过程授予学生，候选人将包括（但不限于）通过USEIT计划获得地震系统科学经验的学生。 ACCESS将鼓励来自代表性不足和弱势群体的妇女和学生通过与CI相关的研究获得高级学位，并将指导他们在研究型大学担任教师职务。ACCESS将通过SCEC基础计划扩展到国家一级，该计划由NSF和美国地质调查局（USGS）共同资助，包括55所大学和研究机构。ACCESS计划的更广泛的影响包括增强能够将基础研究迁移到地球系统科学实际应用的劳动力。这将有利于美国地质勘探局和其他参与国家减灾计划的机构。此外，地震系统科学与地球气候和其他自然系统的研究有许多共同之处。ACCESS将开发在千万亿次计算环境中探索这种基于模型的研究所需的精通CI的劳动力，这将有利于系统科学。特别是，它将促进CI的垂直集成与千万亿次硬件开发并行，从而支持NSF到2010年实现千万亿次计算的计划。

The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) has developed the Advancement of Cyberinfrastructure Careers through Earthquake System Science (ACCESS) program to address a "weak link" in CI-related career pathways: the transition from discipline-oriented undergraduate degree programs to problem-oriented graduate studies in earthquake system science. SCEC identified this issue over the past five years as it implemented the SCEC Community Modeling Environment (CME) and the SCEC Undergraduate Studies in Earthquake Information Technology (UseIT) programs. The CME program is a collaboration among computer scientists and geoscientists created to develop a new cyberinfrastructure (CI) for earthquake system science, including "computational platforms" capable of managing the large databases and calculations required for earthquake system science. UseIT is an undergraduate intern program that recruits a diverse generation of researchers and gives them experience with team-based, cross-disciplinary science. Both programs have already have had substantial impacts on CI workforce development; USEIT has primed the pipeline by attracting a substantial, diverse group of undergraduates into considering careers in CI research, and CME has provided opportunities for graduate students and early career scientists to develop advanced CI skills. ACCESS will strengthen the connections between these and other opportunities.The objective of the ACCESS program is to provide a diverse group of students with research experiences in earthquake system science that will advance their careers and encourage their creative participation in CI development. Its overarching goal is to prepare a diverse, CI-savvy workforce for solving the fundamental problems of system science. Three programmatic elements will be developed to achieve this goal: (1) Undergraduate Internships, which will support CI-related research in the SCEC Collaboratory by undergraduate students working toward senior theses or other research enhancements of the bachelor's degree. (2) Graduate Internships, which will support up to one year of CI-related research in the SCEC Collaboratory by graduate students working toward a master's thesis. (3) The ACCESS Forum, a new SCEC working group that will promote CI careers in earthquake system science. ACCESS internships will be granted to students through a competitive process, and the candidates will include (though not be restricted to) students who have gained experience in earthquake system science through the USEIT program. ACCESS will encourage women and students from under-represented and disadvantaged groups to achieve advanced degrees through CI-related research, and it will guide them toward faculty positions in research universities. ACCESS will be scaled to a national level through the SCEC base program, which is jointly funded by NSF and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and comprises more than 55 universities and research organizations. The broader impacts of the ACCESS program include enhancing the workforce capable of migrating basic research into the practical applications of geosystem science. This will benefit the USGS and other agencies that participate in the National Hazard Reduction Program. Also, earthquake system science has much in common with the study of Earth's climate and other natural systems. ACCESS will develop the CI-savvy workforce needed to explore this type of model-based research in a petascale computing environment, which will benefit system science in general. In particular, it will promote the vertical integration of CI in parallel with petascale hardware development, thus supporting NSF's plans to achieve petascale computing by 2010.