Erice 2009: International School on High-pressure Crystallography - unique educational experience for young American scientists in geophysics and mineral physics

该提案寻求资金支持8名年轻科学家（本科生、研究生和博士后）参加将于2009年6月4日至14日在意大利埃里塞举行的高压晶体学国际学院。国际晶体学学院（ISC）自1974年以来每年在埃托雷·马约拉纳中心举行，并处理了各种各样的晶体学主题。ISC长期以来一直被国际科学界公认为先进晶体学的首要教育机会。2009年学院的题目将是：“高压晶体学：从新颖的实验方法到尖端技术的应用”。2009年学校所涵盖的主题将对新一代地球物理和矿物物理科学家非常重要。新的，开创性的实验技术，以及用于研究地球和行星内部矿物的结构，性质和转变的先进计算方法，以及理解这些现象所需的理论背景将被涵盖。额外的多学科主题，如合成化学方面，或生物分子和微生物在高压下的行为，将创造一个独特的学科融合，使参与者对高压科学有一个非常广泛的概述和理解。服务学校有一个为期约10天的强化培训和互动项目，大约有30名讲师和100名学生参加。所有讲师都是非常有成就的科学家，享有国际声誉。学校有一个独特的形式，真正专注于教育，强调直接动手练习，并以类似于戈登研究会议的方式激发教师和学生之间的积极互动。Erice学校的另一个非常重要和独特的特点是通过网络广播系统提供整个课程，该系统自2003年以来一直成功实施，并将课程讲座和材料扩展到更广泛的国际学生群体。根据以前学校的组织者的决定，在高峰时间，世界各地多达700名科学家远程参加了Erice的讲座。值得注意的是，远程参与允许通过聊天室服务与讲师进行互动。制作课程教材的一般政策包括要求每位受邀讲师写一份5-10页的摘要，介绍他/她的贡献，包括一份全面的参考书目。收集到的课堂讲稿在学员到达时分发给他们。讲座讲稿由国际印刷公司以专著的形式出版。本提案所要求的经费用于支付来自美国各机构的8名青年参加者的部分住宿费和生活费（每名学生1000美元）。地球科学材料研究联合会（COMPRES）提供了补充支持。

proposal seeks funds to support participation of eight young scientists (undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers) in the International School on High-pressureCrystallography, which will take place in Erice, Italy, between June 4 and 14, 2009.International Schools of Crystallography (ISC) have been held at the Ettore Majorana Centrein Erice since 1974 each year and have dealt with a broad variety of crystallographic topics.ISC have long been recognized by the international scientific community as a premiere educationalopportunity in advanced crystallography. The title of the 2009 School will be: "High-pressure Crystallography: From Novel Experimental Approaches to Applications in Cutting-Edge Technologies".The topics covered at the 2009 school will be of great importance to the new generation of geophysics and mineral physics scientists. New, groundbreaking experimental techniques, as well as advanced computational approaches used to study structure, properties and transformations of minerals in Earth and planetary interiors, as well as the theoretical background necessary to understand these phenomena will be covered. Additional multidisciplinary topics such as synthetic chemistry aspects, or behavior of biomolecules and microorganisms at high pressure will create a unique blend of subjects that will equip the participants with a very broad overview and understanding of high-pressure science.Erice Schools have a program of about 10 days of intensive training and interaction, and are attended by approximately 30 lecturers and 100 students. All lecturers are very accomplished scientists with international reputation. The school has a unique format, truly focused on education, which emphasizes direct hands-on exercises and stimulates active interaction between the instructors and the students in a fashion similar to the Gordon Research Conferences.Another very important and unique feature of the Erice schools is the availability of the whole course though web broadcasting system, which has been successfully conducted since 2003,and extended the access to the course lectures and materials to a much broader, international student body. As determined by the organizers of previous schools, at peak hours, as many as seven hundred scientists around the world were remotely participating in the Erice lectures.It is also worth noting that the remote participation allows interaction with the lecturers via chat-room service.The general policy for producing course teaching materials consists of requesting each invited lecturer to write a 5-10 page summary of his/her contribution, including a comprehensive list of references. The collected lecture notes are distributed to participants on their arrival. The lecture notes are published in a mongraph book form by international printing companies. The funds requested in this proposal are to cover partial cost of accommodation and subsistence of eight young participants from US institutions ($1000 per student). Supplemental support has been provided by COnsortium for Materials Research in Earth Sciences (COMPRES).