The project will provide funds to partially cover participant costs for the 13th Symposium on Study of Earth?s Deep Interior (SEDI). The meeting will be held in Leeds, United Kingdom from July 1-6, 2012. SEDI is an international scientific organization dedicated to the Study of the Earth's Deep Interior. The ultimate goal of SEDI is an enhanced understanding of the past evolution and current thermal, chemical and dynamical state of the Earth's deep interior and of the effect of that the interior has on structures and processes observed at the surface of the Earth. The 'deep interior' is generally considered to be the core and lower mantle, but interest often extends to the surface, for example, in the study of mantle plumes or dynamics of descending lithospheric slabs. The scientific questions and problems of interest to SEDI include the geomagnetic dynamo and secular variation, paleomagnetism and the evolution of the Earth's deep interior, material properties at extreme conditions, structure and dynamics of the core and mantle, core-mantle interactions, and the nature and location of deep geochemical reservoirs, etc.
This proposal will contribute to interdisciplinary education of US graduate students and young researchers by fostering dialog with researchers at all levels at a relatively small workshop-style meeting. The international format complements efforts by US national groups such as CIDER and will be useful to those funded under or seeking funding from the NSF CSEDI program. The structure of SEDI is intrinsically interdisciplinary, providing many opportunities for intra- and international collaborations on a broad range of topics that contribute to our understanding of the deep earth and other planetary interiors.
Funds from this project were used to partially cover participant costs for the 13th Symposium on Study of Earth's Deep Interior (SEDI). The meeting was held in Leeds, UK from July 1 to 6, 2012. A broad range of sessions were convened by internationally renown researchers. The meeting was organized to emphasize interdisciplinary research with the goal of advancing our understanding of deep Earth processes. About 160 researchers from around the world attended the meeting. There was particularly strong representation from Europe, Japan, and North America. The informal format of the meeting provided an excellent opportunity for younger researchers to interact with senior people in the field and gain a detailed appreciation of the problems and topics of interest. Priority in funding participants was given to graduate students and young researchers who would not have other sources of support to attend the meeting. A total of 10 young researchers from US institutions were supported through this program. They participated in lively debate of current research topics with international experts. They also developed contacts and collaborations with international researchers, which will foster their growth as scientists. The majority of the participants have subsequently obtained postdoctoral or permanent positions at US institutions.
