RAPID: Collaborative Proposal: Development of Digital Models of Minerals and Rocks for Online Geoscience Classes

由于新冠肺炎危机而突然转向远程在线教学，对实验室课程的影响尤为明显。岩石学家和矿物学家已经创建了岩石和矿物标本的三维模型，可以在网上获得。托管这些内容的商业网站不包括可搜索的数据库。该项目将创建一个可搜索的数据库，并将模型复制到大学托管的服务器。将增加更多的标本。图像处理已经成为常规处理，这使得在视觉上和拓扑上准确地表示地质样品成为现实。教师们一直在制作这些图片，并将它们放在一个商业网站上，供更广泛的社区使用。问题是，这个由数百个虚拟标本组成的集合是无法搜索的。PIS将创建一个可搜索的数据库，其中包含对科学教师有用的特定元数据。此外，虚拟标本还将被复制到大学托管的服务器上，这将确保多年的访问。更多的标本将被成像。这一虚拟收藏在新冠肺炎时代变得至关重要，并转向广泛的在线教学。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The sudden shift to remote online teaching due to the COVID-19 crisis has especially impacted laboratory classes. Petrologists and mineralogists have created three-dimensional models of rock and mineral specimens, which are available online. The commercial site that hosts these does not include a searchable database. This project will create a searchable database and copy the models to a university-hosted server. Additional specimens will be added. Image-processing has become routine, which has made it practical to create visually and topologically accurate representation of geologic specimens. Teachers have been creating these images and putting them on a commercial website for the use of the wider community. The problem is that this collection of hundreds of virtual specimens is not searchable. The PIs will create a searchable database with the specific metadata that will be useful to science teachers. Moreover, the virtual specimens will also be copied to a university-hosted server, which will assure access for years. Additional specimens will be imaged. This virtual collection has become vital in the time of COVID-19 and a shift to widespread online instruction.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.