This award supports a symposium on scientific issues in the flow and fracture of ceramic and geological systems. As the issues have attracted the efforts of both the materials science and experimental and theoretical geophysics communities, this symposium will specifically emphasize topics of mutual interest and activity, seeking primarily to foster communication and continued interaction amongst the communities. Topics to be addressed at the symposium are many, but include (1) the nature of brittle fracture, including mechanisms of toughening and of slow crack growth, (2) the mechanical properties of granular (porous and non-porous) aggregates, (3) polyphase rheology, including factors affecting engineered polyphase structures (e.g., fiber composites). A group of eminent scientists in both communities will contribute to the symposium; further, the symposium itself is being organized by a small committee that additionally represents the interface between the two communities.
