REU Site: Undergraduate Studies in Earthquake Information Technology (SCEC/UseIT)

地震信息技术本科研究（UseIT）是由南加州地震中心（SCEC）在其领导机构南加州大学（USC）管理的一个有指导的夏季研究项目。UseIT的目标是通过在令人兴奋的地震信息技术领域进行团队研究，激励具有不同教育背景的本科生从事STEM职业。UseIT使本科生能够参与由高性能计算（HPC）、可视化软件和其他IT工具支持的跨学科研究，以解决地震系统科学中的重大挑战。目标是通过交叉训练学生对这些学科不同的理解模式来缩小计算机科学和地球科学之间的差距。该项目特别寻求通过提高女性、代表性不足的少数民族、第一代大学生和研究机会有限的机构（特别是社区学院）的本科生的研究技能和自信心，提高STEM劳动力的能力和多样性。UseIT旨在增强SCEC所需的计算科学专业知识，以实现预测强地面运动和了解地震可预测性的实际目标，从而与NSF促进科学和促进国家福利的使命保持一致。USC地震信息技术本科研究（UseIT）已经成熟为一个拥有经验丰富的员工和设备齐全的本科生地震研究实验室的项目。UseIT的目标是通过支持地震信息技术领域的团队研究来激励不同的本科生从事STEM职业，通过高性能计算（HPC），可视化软件和其他IT工具实现高度跨学科研究，UseIT参与者通过这些工具解决地震系统科学中的重大挑战。SCEC在2004年获得了第一个REU-site资助，随后在2007年、2009年和2012年获得了资助。UseIT实习生开发了SCEC-VDO，这是一个强大的地震信息四维显示可视化平台，已被广泛应用，例如加州地震概率工作组。近年来，UseIT工具包已经扩展到包括地理信息系统（GIS）、OpenSHA危害分析平台、HAZUS风险评估平台和基于物理的RSQSim破裂模拟器。利用明确的高性能计算组件对重大挑战进行基于团队的研究，可以向学生展示如何通过使用高性能计算设施作为精确的科学仪器来解决系统级问题。下一阶段的UseIT结合了hpc支持的研究、概率预测和基于物理的地震破裂模拟器的可视化辅助数据分析的新元素，以提供概率地震预测。UseIT在蓝水超级计算机上获得了19,500个节点小时的分配，学生们用它来运行长达数十万年的模拟地震目录，并从中产生与时间相关的地震预测，该项目旨在继续这种合作关系。UseIT增强了SCEC在地震系统科学方面取得根本性进展所需的STEM劳动力。

Undergraduate Studies in Earthquake Information Technology (UseIT) is a mentored summer research program administered by the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) at its lead institution, the University of Southern California (USC). The goal of UseIT is to motivate undergraduates with diverse educational backgrounds towards STEM careers through team-based research in the exciting field of earthquake information technology. UseIT enables undergraduates to participate in interdisciplinary research enabled by high-performance computing (HPC), visualization software, and other IT tools to address grand challenges in earthquake system science. An objective is to close the gap between computer science and geoscience by cross-training students in the modes of understanding distinct to these disciplines. The project particularly seeks to enhance the competency and diversity of the STEM workforce by increasing the research skills and self-confidence of women, under-represented minorities, first-generation college students, and undergraduates from institutions with limited research opportunities, particularly community colleges. UseIT aims to enhance the computational science expertise that SCEC needs to achieve the practical objectives of predicting strong ground motions and understanding earthquake predictability, thus aligning with the NSF's mission of promoting science and advancing nations welfare.Undergraduate Studies in Earthquake Information Technology (UseIT) has matured into a program with an experienced staff and a well-equipped Undergraduate Earthquake Research Laboratory at USC. UseIT's goal of motivating a diverse cadre of undergraduates towards STEM careers is approached by supporting team-based research in the field of earthquake information technology, highly interdisciplinary research enabled by high-performance computing (HPC), visualization software, and other IT tools through which UseIT participants address grand challenges in earthquake system science. SCEC was awarded its first REU-site grant in 2004 and subsequent grants in 2007, 2009 and 2012. The UseIT interns have developed SCEC-VDO, a powerful visualization platform for the 4D display of earthquake information that has seen wide application, e.g., by the Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities. The UseIT toolkit has expanded in recent years to include geographic information systems (GIS), the OpenSHA hazard-analysis platform, the HAZUS risk-estimation platform, and the physics-based RSQSim rupture simulator. Team-based research on grand challenges with explicit HPC components can demonstrate to students how difficult system-level problems can be solved by using the HPC facilities as precise scientific instruments. This next phase of UseIT incorporates new elements of HPC-enabled research, probabilistic forecasting, and visualization-assisted data analysis of physics-based earthquake rupture simulators to provide probabilistic earthquake forecasts. UseIT received 19,500 node-hours of allocation on the Blue Waters supercomputer, which the students used to run simulated earthquake catalogs hundreds of thousands of years in length, from which they produced time-dependent earthquake forecasts, and the project aims to continue this partnership. UseIT enhances the STEM workforce that SCEC will require to make fundamental progress in earthquake system science.