Collaborative Research: Community Facility Support: Facilitating Access and Innovation through a Collaborative Organization for Rock Deformation (CORD)

该奖项将通过资助两名全职实验室技术人员的职位，建立一个研究岩石变形的社区设施，这两名技术人员将共同支持布朗大学和麻省理工学院的岩石变形实验室，作为“岩石变形合作组织”（CORD）的一部分。实验岩石变形研究提供了对塑造地球和其他行星的自然现象的基本见解，包括地震的产生和岩石和冰的粘性流动。增加对岩石性质的了解也在满足社会需求方面发挥着关键作用，例如开发自然资源和实现二氧化碳封存以减缓气候变化。由于技术的复杂性，在美国只有少数实验室有能力进行这样的工作。除了专门的实验人员运行设备之外，还有一个广泛的用户社区，他们对进行实验感兴趣，但没有资源和经验来启动自己的实验室。增加使用现有设备的关键挑战是对用户的培训以及复杂机械的维护和安全操作。专门的技术人员的存在是一种有效的方式，以方便更广泛的地球科学界使用这些复杂的设备，并提供一个强大、有效和欢迎的实验室研究环境。这两位实验室技术人员将共同支持布朗大学和麻省理工学院的岩石变形实验室，组成岩石变形合作组织（CORD）。访问科学家将能够结识麻省理工学院和布朗大学的教职员工和学生。除了大量的岩石变形设备外，访问科学家还可以使用我们大学的其他资源，包括图书馆、研讨会和技术设施。除了改善与其他大学和组织的联系外，CORD项目还将促进两个伙伴实验室之间的协调。定期举行会议、讲座和研讨会，所有感兴趣的人都可以通过网络链接参加。由于两名技术人员将在两所大学花费相同的时间，因此两组人员都将从对方的见解和最佳实践中受益。最后，专业技术人员的存在将促进新的实验能力的发展，推动实验地球物理学的边界。本提案的主要目标是鼓励和促进地球科学界更广泛的科学家参与岩石变形实验研究。技术人员的支持将提高来自其他组织的同事在两个实验室中使用设备的可用性和效率，这些同事对岩石变形感兴趣，但目前缺乏实验室设施和专业知识。第二个目标是发展新的实验能力。通过平等地分配支助人员，可以雇用两名技能互补的个人，这将增加支助的深度。每个实验室技术人员将成为两个实验室设备的专家操作员，并与调查人员密切合作，培训新用户。技术人员的主要责任是使设备处于可靠的工作状态，并使其在广泛的用户群中安全有效地运行。维护是最大限度地访问在固定时间表上工作的访客的优先事项。日常任务包括与pi合作培训新用户，更换密封件和垫圈，校准称重传感器，位移传感器等。技术人员将组织并确保实验数据的一致性存档。其他职责包括维护消耗品库存和供应商名单。协助设计和实施设备的新创新能力也是职责的重要组成部分。科学和技术的进步是相辅相成的。访客和驻地人员都希望有新的实验能力。共享技术支持还将提供实验室间校准、技术标准化和开发一致的数据管理格式。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award will establish a community facility for rock deformation by funding for two full-time laboratory technician positions, both of which will jointly support the rock deformation laboratories at both Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of forming a "Collaborative Organization for Rock Deformation" (CORD). Experimental rock deformation studies provide fundamental insights into the natural phenomena which shape our Earth and other planets, including earthquake generation and viscous flow of rocks and ices. Increasing knowledge of rock properties also plays a key role in meeting societal needs such as exploiting natural resources and enabling CO2 sequestration to mitigate climate change. Owing to technical complexity, only a handful of laboratories exist in the US with the capability to perform such work. Beyond dedicated experimentalists running the equipment, there is a broad user community with interest in performing experiments but without the resources and experience to start their own laboratories. The key challenge in increasing access to existing equipment is the training of users, and maintenance and safe operation of complex machinery. The presence of dedicated technical personnel is an effective way to facilitate access to this sophisticated equipment for a much broader section of the Earth science community and provide a robust, effective, and welcoming laboratory research environment. The two laboratory technicians will jointly support rock deformation laboratories at Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology that form the Collaborative Organization for Rock Deformation (CORD). Visiting scientists will be able to become acquainted with faculty, staff, and students at MIT and Brown. In addition to the extensive suite of rock deformation equipment, visiting scientists will have access to other resources at our universities, including libraries, seminars, and technical facilities. Besides improving outreach to other universities and organizations, the CORD project will promote coordination between the two partner laboratories. Regular meetings, lectures and workshops that can be attended by all those interested available by web-link will be held. Because each of the two technicians will spend equal time at each university, both groups will benefit from insights and best practices from the other location. Lastly, the presence of dedicated technical personnel will facilitate the development of new experimental capabilities, pushing the boundaries of experimental geophysics. The primary goal of this proposal is to encourage and facilitate participation in experimental rock deformation studies by a broader spectrum of scientists within the Earth science community. The technician support will increase the availability and efficiency of use of the equipment in the two laboratories to colleagues from other organizations, who are interested in rock deformation, but currently lack access to laboratory facilities and expertise. The secondary goal is to develop new experimental capabilities. By sharing the support staff equally, two individuals with complementary skill sets can be hired which will increase the depth of support. Each laboratory technician will become an expert operator of equipment in both laboratories and, in close collaboration with the investigators, will train new users. The primary responsibility of the technicians will be to maintain the equipment in dependable working order and enable its safe and efficient operation with a broad user base. Maintenance is a priority for maximizing access to visitors working on fixed schedules. Routine tasks include training of new users in collaboration with PIs, and replacement of seals and gaskets, calibration of load cells, displacement transducers etc. The technicians will organize and ensure consistent archiving of experimental data. Other duties include maintaining inventories of consumables and lists of suppliers. Assisting in the design and implementation of new innovative capabilities of the equipment is also an important component of the responsibilities. Scientific and technical advances go hand-in-hand. Both visitors and resident personnel will wish for new experimental capabilities. Sharing technical support will also provide inter-laboratory calibrations, standardization of techniques, and development of a consistent format for data management.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.