SDSC to Host Summer Institute for Geosciences August 6-10

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Due to unavoidable circumstance, the Cyberinfrastructure Summer Institute for Geoscientists has been canceled. Please check the CSIG’12 website (http://www.geongrid.org/index.php/education/summer_institute) for further information. Questions regarding CSIG’12 may be sent to summerinstitute@geongrid.org.

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, will host its ninth annual Cyberinfrastructure Summer Institute for Geoscientists (CSIG’12) August 6-10. Since 2004, CSIG has been funded each year by a grant from the Earth Science Division (EAR) of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The theme for CSIG’12 is “Geoinformatics Education and Training for the 21st Century Geoscience Workforce,” reflecting the emphasis on preparing geoscientists for cyber-enabled research and education initiatives.

As in prior years, CSIG’12 will cover a broad cross-section of information technology areas and their impact on science and education, while also providing in-depth presentations on selected technical topics. While the program is still being finalized, coverage of technical topics will include data discovery, access, and mining; data and system interoperability; service-oriented architectures; high-performance computing; and cloud computing.

One example of a geoscience cyberinfrastructure project to be presented at CSIG’12 is OpenTopography, a cyber-enabled earth science facility. This year, CSIG will emphasize key cyberinfrastructure concepts being discussed as part of NSF’s new EarthCube initiative, whose goal is to “transform the conduct of research by supporting the development of community-guided cyberinfrastructure to integrate data and information for knowledge management across the Geosciences.”  CSIG’12 organizers plan to invite some of the individuals engaged in the design of EarthCube as CSIG instructors.

“This is the ninth year we are organizing CSIG,” said Chaitan Baru, a distinguished scientist at SDSC and principal investigator for CSIG. “Overall, the program has received high ratings from attendees. In addition to the course material, participants have particularly enjoyed their interactions with fellow attendees, some of which have led to follow-on successful collaborations.”

Graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and professionals in geoscience and related disciplines are invited to attend CSIG’12 by completing the application form found on the GEON website. Applications submitted prior to June 15 have priority for scholarships and notification of acceptance will be provided by June 22. Applications submitted after June 15 will be reviewed and accepted based on availability. Space is limited to 40 attendees.  Accepted applicants will be expected to present a five-minute “lightning talk” on their work related to a geoinformatics area. Participants are also welcome to bring a poster to share during an informal session on the first afternoon of the workshop, (Monday, August 6).

CSIG’12 is being held during the same week as the SDSC Summer Institute.