CSUB Center for Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration

加州州立大学贝克斯菲尔德分校(CSUB)将发起一个新的科学技术卓越研究中心(CREST)，以开展与加利福尼亚州圣华金河谷南部水资源相关的重要研究，并研究该地区潜在的碳汇地点和技术。该中心的研究和教育活动将促进加州一所主要州立大学的学生参与、最先进的研究和教师生产率的提高，该大学服务于在STEM学科中历来代表性不足的学生群体。学生将从圣华金河谷南部招收，作为他们教育的一部分，并培养他们继续攻读地球科学、数学和/或工程方面的博士课程的愿望。具体的研究活动将通过四个协作子项目进行：a)负责全球重要农业中心圣华金河谷南部大部分天然供水的Sierran河流的径流预报；b)Sierran积雪和融化时间的统计模拟，以更好地了解其随温度和降水历史变化的空间分布；C)绘制地下可用储存空间和基线物理特征(即岩性)图，这些储油层与三个可作为碳固存和利用二氧化碳提高采收率的候选储油层有关；d)在实验室向候选储集层岩石样品中注入超临界二氧化碳，以限制预期的化学反应及其对封存工作成功的影响。该中心将坚定地致力于培养和毕业本科和硕士水平的科学家，这些科学家实际上是从已经在CSUB注册的大量少数族裔学生中招募的，这些学生已经在当地的大专和高中就读。在此过程中，该中心将利用主办部门和学校已经建立的现有的、成功的招聘计划，这些计划由国家科学基金会、教育部和当地行业(主要是美国雪佛龙)资助。最后，该中心将作为关键农业和石油资源领域的研究重点，并因此将与工业界的大量研究人员、授予博士学位的机构和政府机构合作。CSUB CREST将开发示范路径，展示CSUB等地区性综合性大学的基础研究如何直接为有关水资源规划和碳汇项目选址的重要社会决策做出贡献。所有四个项目的研究人员都是在相关学科发表的，都有在CSUB或其授予博士学位的机构进行类似项目的经验，并在让学生参与研究方面有着良好的记录。正在提出创造性的办法，这些办法很可能导致变革概念，例如将函数数据回归模型应用于对其他几个科学中的连续过程的时空测量，以及利用古湖平面和区域海面古温度记录之间的联系来对河流流量的变化作出有意义的估计，以应对预期的气候变化。拟议研究所需的仪器和实验室设施已经在装备精良的CSUB地质科学部提供，或在合作研究机构提供。更广泛的影响。来自圣华金河谷的大约100名学生将直接参与研究子项目，作为教学计划的组成部分，之后大多数学生将从CSUB毕业，有资格进入博士水平的研究生院。表现最好的学生将获得研究助学金、学费和旅费。有了这些资源，参与该奖项相关研究项目的CSUB学生的先锋将表现出高学术水平，并将按时毕业，因为他们将从上学期间长时间工作在与他们的职业抱负无关的工作中解放出来，这是CSUB服务区社会经济贫困学生普遍面临的问题。同样由于这种支持，许多聪明的学生将被该项目吸引，否则他们将选择非STEM专业，以避免实验室密集型科学和数学课程要求的额外时间投入。研究环境的改善以及由此带来的生产力的提高和成果的传播，将促进与农业和石油公司的雇员和所有者以及政府官员建立网络和伙伴关系。这将带来更多的资金机会，从而有助于中心的可持续性。将产生对社会具有重要意义的科学成果，包括对进入一个主要农业中心的融雪/径流的数量和时间的估计，以及对该地区储集岩的体积、基线岩石特征和预测的碳固存储集岩的地球化学演化的预测。

California State University at Bakersfield (CSUB) will initiate a new Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) to conduct important research related to water resources in the southern San Joaquin Valley of California as well as to study potential sites and technologies for carbon sequestration in that region. The Center activities, both research and educational, will lead to enhancements in student-involved, state of the art research and faculty productivity at a major California state university that serves student populations that are historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines. Students will be recruited from the southern San Joaquin Valley as part of their education and developing aspirations to continue into Ph.D. programs in the geosciences, mathematics, and/or engineering. The goals will be realized principally through ample student financial support, the release of faculty from a heavy teaching load, enhanced laboratory facilities/equipment, and a center organizational structure that will foster research productivity and networking of subproject faculty and students.The specific research activities will be conducted through four synergistic subprojects, that includea) runoff forecasts for the four Sierran rivers that are responsible for most of the natural water supplies of the southern San Joaquin Valley, a globally important agricultural center, b) statistical modeling of timing of Sierran snowpack accumulation and melt to better understand its spatial distribution with respect to historical changes in temperature and precipitation, c) subsurface mapping of available storage space and baseline physical characteristics (i.e., lithology) associated with three declining petroleum reservoirs that are candidates for carbon sequestration and enhanced recovery using carbon dioxide, and d) laboratory injections of supercritical carbon dioxide into samples of the candidate reservoir rocks to constrain expected chemical reactions and their effect on the success of sequestration efforts. The Center will be strongly committed to educating and graduating B.S. and M.S.-level scientists effectively recruited from a abundant pool of minority students already enrolled at CSUB, in local junior colleges and high schools. In doing so, the center will leverage existing, successful recruitment programs already set up by the host department and school that are funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, and local industry, principally Chevron, USA. Finally, the center will serve as a focus of research in a critical agricultural and petroleum resource area and, as such, will collaborate with a large population of researchers in industry, Ph.D.-granting institutions, and government agencies.Intellectual Merit. The CSUB CREST will develop model pathways of how basic research at a regional comprehensive university such as CSUB can directly contribute to important societal decisions regarding water resource planning and site selection for carbon sequestration projects. The investigators of all four projects are published in the relevant disciplines and have experience with similar projects either at CSUB or at their Ph.D.-granting institutions and have a strong track record of involving students in research. Creative approaches are being proposed that may very well lead to transformative concepts such as the application of functional data regression models to space-time measurements of continuous processes in several of the other sciences and the use of connections between paleo-lake level and regional sea surface paleo-temperature records to make meaningful estimates of changes in river discharge in response to anticipated climate change. The instruments and lab facilities required for the proposed research are already present in the well-equipped CSUB Department of Geological Sciences, or are available at cooperating research institutions. Broader Impacts. Approximately 100 students from the San Joaquin Valley will be directly involved in the research subprojects as an integral part of an instructional program, after which most will emerge from CSUB eligible for matriculation into graduate school at the Ph.D. level. The best performing students will be awarded research assistantships, tuition and travel funds. With these resources, a vanguard of CSUB students involved in the research projects associated with this award will perform at a high academic level and will graduate on time because they will be freed from working long hours at jobs unrelated to their career aspirations while going to school, a common problem for the socioeconomically disadvantaged students of the CSUB service region. Also as a result of this support many bright students will be attracted to the program, who otherwise would choose non-STEM majors to avoid the extra time commitment demanded by lab-intensive science and mathematics courses. The enhanced research environment and the resultant increases in productivity and dissemination of results will foster networks and partnerships with employees and owners of agricultural and petroleum companies and government officials. This will lead to additional funding opportunities, and hence, contribute to center sustainability. Scientific results important to society will result, including estimates of amount and timing of snowmelt/runoff into a major agricultural center and the volumetric, baseline rock characterization and predicted geochemical evolution of reservoir rocks from the region that have been proposed for carbon sequestration.