CSEDI: CIDER-II: Continuation and Expansion of the Cooperative Institute for Dynamic Earth Research

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Cooperative Institute for Dynamic Earth Research has been conducting 6-7 week long bi-annual summer programs since 2004 to foster synergies between individual and small groups of researchers. The goal is to help improve fundamental understanding of the Earth's evolution and present dynamics through a multi-disciplinary approach that facilitates cross-education among the disciplines involved: seismology, geochemistry, geodynamics, mineral physics and geomagnetism. CIDER facilitates cross-education of earth scientists at any level in their career. Included in the summer programs are 3-4 weeks of lectures, tutorials and working group activities that contribute to the multi-disciplinary education of graduate students and post-docs in all disciplines of solid earth sciences. The work of CIDER will ultimately impact how to better address two key natural hazards issues of societal relevance: (1) natural hazards such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and (2) the whole-Earth budget of volatile elements, especially water and carbon dioxide. Phase II of CIDER builds upon 5 years of experience with CIDER Phase I: three summer programs in 2004, 2006 and 2008, and input from a community workshop held at the Marconi Center, CA, May 2009 (which recommended continuation and expansion of CIDER programs) and an on-going 2010 summer program. These programs have all focused on 'deep Earth' science themes. Phase II of CIDER includes a 6 week long summer program to be held at UC Berkeley from June 27th to August 6th, 2011 on the theme 'The dynamics of mountain building', expanding the reach of CIDER to the multi-disciplinary community working on near-surface earth processes. In addition, it expands the activities of CIDER in two areas: 1) follow-up research started by multi-disciplinary working groups during the Summer programs held in 2010 and 2011; 2) expansion of the CIDER web capabilities, in particular, to experiment with and develop a supporting virtual organization.