IRES Track I: Mapping and Assessing the Seismic Hazard of the Guanacaste Tectonic Sliver, Costa Rica

这项国际学生研究经验（IRES）有助于培养下一代研究人才，从而提高美国在研究方面的领导地位，增强经济竞争力。它的重点是绘制和量化哥斯达黎加瓜纳卡斯特火山弧附近农村社区的地震危险。在三年多的时间里，来自传统黑人学院和大学以及佐治亚州少数族裔服务机构的15名未被充分代表的美国少数族裔本科生和研究生将参加为期四周的研究体验，并通过与哥斯达黎加大学、国家紧急情况委员会和Sismológico y Vulcanológico阿雷纳-米拉瓦莱斯天文台的合作，丰富了研究体验。该项目与这些哥斯达黎加组织建立了独特的联系，这些组织协助培训、教育和专业发展参与的学生。学生的研究成果将影响当地社区和组织，为他们提供宣传数据，为地震准备提供资源。参加IRES的学生创造的知识产品将为社会带来重要的利益，引起政府机构和地方组织的关注。这种经历将为学生群体提供知识、动力和灵感，以追求以国际为重点的科学事业，以解决美国国家和全球挑战。更重要的是，这个IRES项目是有意为地球科学的多样化、公平和包容性学科做出贡献，并为STEM研究和教育的后续学生培养未来的领导者和导师。这个IRES站点项目旨在让学生处理干涉合成孔径雷达数据（InSAR），并收集哥斯达黎加瓜纳卡斯特火山弧附近的高分辨率全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）数据。通过对数据的处理，参与的学生将定义活跃孕震边界及其速度矢量的边界。利用这些结果，学生们将(1)确定主要的变形带，(2)识别潜在的发震带，(3)对地震危险性进行评估。我们的高分辨率方法可以为其他潜在的地震带提供快速识别方法。如果成功，我们的发现将推广到包括美国西部在内的活跃构造带的重点研究。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 International Research Experience for Students (IRES) contributes to the formation of the next generation of research talent, thereby enhancing U.S. leadership in research and strengthening economic competitiveness. It focuses on mapping and quantifying the seismic hazard in rural communities in Costa Rica in the vicinity of the Guanacaste Volcanic Arc. Over three years, fifteen U.S. underrepresented minority undergraduate and graduate students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and minority-serving institutions in the state of Georgia will participate in a four-week research experience that is enriched by partnering with the University of Costa Rica, the Comision Nacional de Emergencias, and Observatorio Sismológico y Vulcanológico Arenal-Miravalles. The project creates unique linkages to these Costa Rican organizations that assist in training, educating, and professionally developing the participating students. Students' research findings will impact local communities and organizations by providing them with data for advocacy to garner resources for earthquake readiness. Intellectual products created by IRES participating students will provide essential benefits to society, bringing the attention of government agencies and local organizations. This experience will offer student cohorts the knowledge, motivation, and inspiration to pursue internationally-focused science careers to solve US-national and global challenges. More importantly, this IRES program is built intentionally to deliberately contribute to making the geosciences a diverse, equitable, and inclusive discipline and produce future leaders and mentors for subsequent students in STEM research and education.This IRES site project aims to have students process Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar data (InSAR) and collect high-resolution Global Navigational Satellite Systems (GNSS) data in the vicinity of the Guanacaste Volcanic Arc in Costa Rica. By processing the data, participating students will define the boundaries of the active seismogenic boundary and its velocity vector. Using these results, students will (1) determine the main zones of deformation, (2) identify potential seismogenic zones, and (3) produce an assessment of seismic hazards. Our high-resolution approach could offer a rapid identification method for other potential seismic zones. If successful, our findings will be generalizable for focused research in active tectonic zones, including the Western United States.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.