9th InternationalWorkshop on Numerical Modeling of Mantle Convection and Lithospheric Dynamics

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

This brief proposal requests modest funds to help support the participation of US-based graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the 9th International Workshop on Numerical Modeling of Mantle Convection and Lithospheric Dynamics (henceforth IWNMC2005), to be held September 8-14, 2005, in Erice, Sicily at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture. The workshop is to take place as the 25th Course of the International School of Geophysics. The IWNMC2005 is the most recent in an established and highly successful series of international meetings on mantle convection and lithospheric dynamics. Previous meetings in the series were held in 1989 (La Londe les Maures, France), 1991 (Weilburg/Lahn, Germany), 1993 (Oleron, France), 1995 (Vlieland, Netherlands), and 1997 (Naurod, Germany), 2001 (Aussois, France), and, lastly, 2003 (Hruba Skala, Czech Republic). The organizing committee for IWNMC2001 includes David Bercovici (Yale University), Thorsten Becker (University of Southern California), Cinzia Farnetani (IPG Paris), Carlo Giunchi (INGV Roma), and Giorgio Spada (University of Urbino). The program for the workshop has been completed, and information for participants can be found through the website at http://www.ingv.it/erice2005. Intellectual merit: Mantle and lithospheric dynamics is perhaps one of the most fundamental and global of the geophysical sciences since it studies the basic engine that controls the geological behavior of the Earth and terrestrial planets, not only in terms of their thermal and chemical evolution, but also with regard to ongoing tectonics and volcanism. The International Mantle ConvectionWorkshop is the longest running series of conferences on this science in existence and has for the past two decades provided an unprecedented means for scientists and students from around the world to gather in unique and intimate surroundings, to discuss the state of the art of our science, and to argue about the problems that remain to be solved. Moreover, the workshop provides students and young researchers with international exposure as well as technical training through lectures and tutorials from some of the world's experts. The benefit to US students and junior scientists will also be long-lasting as they meet new colleagues from around the world, and form new collaborations that will inspire the next important discoveries. Broader impact: The essential impact of this workshop and the requested funding is the benefit it brings to junior scientists and students by furthering their intellectual and professional growth, and by expanding their interaction with schools of thought from other countries. Moreover, the contact that we make with our over-seas colleagues facilitates our ability to recruit future excellent students and postdoctoral scholars from around the world.