C-DEBI Newsletter – August 1, 2013
C-DEBI Newsletter – August 1, 2013This newsletter is also accessible via our website.
- Some of the proposals are perhaps too focused on exploration and discovery; they would benefit from more probing hypotheses.
- Some investigators are submitting 3 or more proposals in the same cycle; this can result in quantity over quality. Investigators should perhaps be more selective in the proposals they submit.
- More and more often, post-docs are submitting proposals to the regular programs. Note that these relatively inexperienced proposal writers are competing directly against seasoned veterans. Without considerable mentoring, the post-docs are at a disadvantage.
- Expert, US-based reviewers of C-DEBI proposals are becoming more difficult to find. Potential reviewers from our own community often cite a conflict of interest when turning down review requests. The NSF suggests that you contact the program officer when you consider your conflict to be “soft” (e.g. non collaborative co-authors on a multi-author publication).
NSF: Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge
- Identify major scientific challenges for the ocean ‘omics community over the next 5-15 years;
- Identify the data and cyber-infrastructure constraints to meeting those challenges;
- Identify current community data management, analysis and modeling resources and practices;
- Identify the data and cyber-capabilities required to meet current and upcoming challenges, by matching constraints (2) w/ resources (3);
- Develop and examine three prominent use-cases with important/transformative science drivers, and identify the overlapping or unique cyber infrastructure needs.
Recent research in mineralogy and geochemistry shows that crystal nucleation and growth can occur through processes substantially different from classical, one-ion-at-a-time crystallization. Evidence for amorphous or liquid-like precursors and oriented attachment of mineral particles has challenged our understanding of energy landscapes and solution environments. These processes may alter minor/trace element partitioning and isotope fractionation, providing enormous consequences for interpreting proxy data in the fossil record. We encourage the participation of presenters and attendees interested in microbial or eukaryotic biomineral formation of any kind. Invited authors are Patricia Dove (Virginia Tech), Alexandra Navrotsky (University of California-Davis), James De Yoreo (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), and Adam Wallace (University of Delaware). We will be accepting oral and poster presentations for this session. Please share this e-mail with any colleagues or students who might be interested. Thank you! – Conveners A. Giuffre and P. Gilbert
AGU 2013: Submit an abstract to OS012: Interactions Between Mid-Ocean Ridge Hydrothermal Systems and the Ocean
The extensive multidisciplinary studies on mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems over the past two decades have lead to a growing realization of the coupling between hydrothermal systems with both geological and hydrodynamic processes. There has been substantial evidence for the perturbations in hydrothermal-vent outflow properties (i.e. flow rate, temperature, chemical concentration) due to earthquakes and tides. Additionally, ambient deep-ocean currents have significant influence on the mixing and dispersal of vent-generated products and vent-animal larva, while recent evidence extends the source of this influence to the surface ocean and atmospheric forcing. These findings have started to change our traditional view of mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal system as the remote oases located on the otherwise barren seafloor. This session would explore the linkage of mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems with geological, oceanic and atmospheric processes, the mechanisms of which are still largely poorly understood. Conveners K. Bemis and G. Xu.
Other C-DEBI Related Meeting Sessions include: B020: Deep biosphere research: presence, diversity and activity of microbes (conveners M. Lever, J. Biddle, J. Fang and M. Rappe), B073: Windows Into to the Deep Subsurface Biosphere: Coupled Geochemical and Biological Investigations of Terrestrial Hot Spring Ecosystems (conveners E. Boyd and E. Shock), B028: Geobiological Perspectives on the Energetic Limits of Life (conveners J. Marlow and S. McGlynn), and B015: Carbon Transformations in Hydrothermal Systems (conveners F. Klein, E. Reeves, F. Schubotz, W. Orsi). Abstracts are due August 6, 2013.
- Review the Abstract Submission Policies
- The person submitting the abstract will automatically be the first author.
- The first author MUST be an AGU member. Non-members are no longer able to submit abstracts with an AGU member sponsor. Join now!
- Your AGU membership fee for 2013 must be paid for you to be recognized as a member in the abstract submission system. Not sure if you’ve paid your 2013 dues? Log in as an AGU member to renew.
Employment
Review of applications to begin July 28 until the position is filled.
Desert Research Institute: Staff/Assistant Research Scientist, Geobiology Logistics/Laboratory Manager
Visit our website at http://www.jobs.dri.edu for a complete position description and to apply online. Review of applications will start August 1, 2013.
University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Marine Geochemistry, Department of Oceanography: Two Tenure-Track Faculty Positions:
For more information, see the job posting, contact Jan Amend (janamend@usc.edu) and visit astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/teams/can-6/usc/.
Don’t forget to email me with any items you’d like to share in future newsletters! You are what makes our deep biosphere community!
Exploring life beneath the seafloor and making transformative discoveries that advance science, benefit society, and inspire people of all ages and origins.