Transcript a Transdisciplinary Theme in Research & Education

Fluids in the Earth, from Surface to Core: a Transdisciplinary Theme in Research & Education
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
Overview
Donna L. Whitney
[email protected]
This theme encompasses a summer internship
program (NSF-REU site), a graduate fellowship
program (Dept. of Education GAANN), and a research
program that ties together faculty, students, and
researchers within and beyond the Department of
Geology & Geophysics; e.g., interactions between the
Department and the National Center for Earth-surface
Dynamics (NCED). The thread of the theme also runs
through
undergraduate
courses
required
for
geoscience majors (Geodynamics I, II; field courses).
This programmatic theme is designed to foster links
between courses and research units at many different
levels in and beyond the department, and to serve as
a basis for teaching quantitative skills across
geoscience sub-disciplines.
Martin O. Saar
[email protected]
Philosophy of this ‘theme’
The theme of fluids encompasses all 'spheres' of the Earth,
from the atmosphere to the core. Integrated research and
teaching on fluids promotes linkages within and beyond the
UMN geosciences department. Both of these aspects of the
fluids program (broadly defined) are critical elements in
geoscience research and education of the present and future.
Goals
The various elements of the fluids
research theme bring together as
many faculty, students, and research
groups in the department as possible,
while helping students to see the
commonalities among geoscience subdisciplines. An additional goal relates
to teaching quantitative skills to
undergraduate and graduate students
in the context of Earth processes from
the surface to the deep interior.
UMN Hydrogeology Field Camp
NSF-REU summer internship program
The University of Minnesota - Twin Cities has been running a
summer internship program since 1998, and since 2000, the
program has been supported by NSF-REU site grants. The
program involves most UMN geoscience faculty as advisors.
Undergraduates carry out 10-week research projects on topics
ranging from groundwater analysis to modeling mantle
convection, and there are various program activities that promote
interactions among the interns (e.g., field trips, weekly lunch-time
talks by faculty, poster session).
Caves & Karst
both from: Chernicoff
and Whitney, 2007
Streams
Image: stream flow measurement
Groundwater-lake interactions
Well installation
Geofluids Research
Lakes
Mantle Convection
Year
Melts & fluids in the crust
# eligible
applicants
Women
applicants
# of offers
# of acceptances
Average
GPA*
2000*
32
75 %
19
16 (10 F)
3.53
2001
33
55 %
24
16 (8 F)
3.66
2002
45
58 %
30
14 (7 F)
3.63
2003
40
50%
17
14
3.54
2004
92
61%
20
13
3.68
2005
51
51%
16
10 (5 F)
3.58
2006
105
51%
16
11 (6 F)
3.64
2007
113
64
20
15
3.46
* Internship program started in1998, but data are included only for years
in which it has been supported by an NSF-REU site grant.
Austin Hot Spring (Oregon Cascades)
discharging meteoric water and
magmatic volatiles such as water,
CO2 and helium-3
Pahoehoe lava flow
(Big Island, Hawaii)
Maria Davis (graduate student)
in Iceland where a solidified fluid
(columnar joint basalt) meets
actively-flowing surface water.
Geodynamic modeling of the flow of partially
molten crust during orogenic collapse (feedbacks
between extension and flow of ductile crust)
April 25-27, 2007