Engaging Early Career Scientists in Future Scientific Ocean Drilling

March 30 – April 1, 2011 – College Station, Texas
Convener: Andy Fisher, Demian Saffer, Katrina Edwards, Peter deMenocal, Susan Humphris

Overview

Scientific ocean drilling provides a unique and powerful tool to study both the critical processes of short-term changes and events, and the long-term natural variability of the Earth System. Successes have included testing of plate tectonic theory; documenting the origin of ice ages and the history of CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere and ocean; characterizing global sea level history; exploring hypotheses for lithospheric creation and evolution; and assessing the limits of life in the deep biosphere. Planning for the next scientific ocean drilling program (to begin in 2013) is underway, and with it comes the opportunity to energize a new generation of scientists interested in using this powerful tool to obtain unique insight into understanding and predicting Earth’s dynamic system and its impact. This 2.5 day workshop provided an opportunity for early career U.S. scientists to share ideas for new projects and experiments that fit within the new science plan, as well as learn about how to become an active member of the drilling community. The workshop fostered the development of contacts, collaborations, and associations among participants that will enable future interactions and implementation of new and innovative applications of ocean drilling technology to problems in earth, ocean, and life sciences.

Workshop Report (pdf)

Steering Committee

Susan Humphris, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Chair)
Peter deMenocal, Columbia University, LDEO
Katrina Edwards, University of Southern California
Andy Fisher, University of California, Santa Cruz
Demian Saffer, Pennsylvania State University