This proposal requests modest support to enable a Town Hall meeting associated with the upcoming V.M. Goldschmidt 2010 meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to gather input from the Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry research community with the larger aim of identifying emerging research opportunities and broad science priorities for the coming decade. The 2010 V.M. Goldschmidt Conference provides a unique opportunity to reach a strong representation of the community because it brings together the many realms within geobiology and geochemistry. It is a primary aim of the Town Hall meeting to enable the Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry community to identify research priorities and define the big, fundamental questions that will drive the field over the coming decade. Input from both meetings will provide grist for a Workshop to be held in the fall of 2010 that will bring together community representatives to synthesize Town Hall meeting input and identify research priorities. Input from the Town Hall meetings and research opportunities and priorities identified at the subsequent Workshop are intended to inform members of the committee on New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences (NROES) recently commissioned by the National Research Council.
Broader Impacts: The aims of this small proposal are to foster community input and dialog regarding the scientific opportunities and priorities in Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry. The requested funds will be used to create a welcoming environment and an opportunity to engage individuals across the demographic spectrum in this process. All professional ranks and students will be encouraged to participate in the Town Hall meeting.
Background Given the observed and predicted rates of planetary change, the next decade may well prove crucial for documenting and understanding natural and anthropogenic environmental effects at all spatial scales from the planetary to the microscopic and observations spanning time scales from geologic to those of individual chemical reactions. The disciplines of geobiology and low temperature geochemistry are integral to the overall scientific understanding of, and ultimately prediction of, planetary processes. Given the urgency of the issues, identification and prioritization of research directions responsive to these challenges are extremely timely. Purpose To inform members of the committee on New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences (NROES) recently commissioned by the National Research Council, by collecting input from experts in the geobiology and low-temperature geochemistry disciplines that identify necessary research opportunities and priorities Execution Inputs were collected in a two-step process. First a townhall meeting was held on June 15, 2010, in Knoxville, TN in association with the 2010 V.M. Goldschmidt Conference. The conference provided a unique opportunity to reach a strong representation of the geobiology and low-temperature geochemistry communities. Following the input gathered at the townhall a "Workshop on Future Directions in Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry," was held in Washington DC, at the Geophysical Lab, Carnegie Institution of Washington campus on August 27?28, 2010. At this workshop, thirty leading scientists spanning a broad range of expertise in geobiology and geochemistry attended. Outcomes The timing of the townhall and workshop was designed to provide input to a National Research Council committee tasked to produce a document characterizing "New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences" (NROES). Both the ‘future directions’ document and the NROES report will be used to help guide NSF funding for the next decade.
