This proposal seeks ~$75K funding to purchase upgraded computing equipment for data storage, data analysis, networking and computational science. Equipment will be utilized in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern. The equipment will be used to update the computing backbone utilized by researchers, post-docs, and students and will be incorporated into course offerings and outreach activities. The Department currently has a heterogeneous mix of individual systems and servers. The requested upgrade would unify the computing and storage systems with modern capable equipment. The requested computing equipment will be incorporated into disciplines ranging from seismology, tectonics, tomography, planetary science and Earth interior geophysics. Specific projects are outlined by the PIs and include thermal perturbation geophysical effects and phase relations in subduction zones, stress field and buoyancy force analyses, planetary interior structure analyses, extra-terrestrial planetary tectonics and magmetic analyses, seismic-tsunami coupling and dislocation modeling, plate boundary deformation modeling and analysis, seismic hazard assessments, plate movement studies using GPS and earthquake data, seismic data bank analysis for modeling and visualization, and developing and validating tomographic models. The upgraded computer network will not only allow greater research capabilities, but will support undergraduate and graduate research and through web site and service hosting, will help serve the community. The upgraded systems will support societally-relevant research in earthquake and tsunami prediction.
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