Facility: Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics

This award supports continued operations of the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics (CIG) facility. CIG develops and disseminates widely used, open-source software for research and education. Computation is important to geosciences, providing an essential link between observations and quantitative models. CIG models allow researchers to describe the evolution and connections between the Earth's interior and surface. In addition, these models improve understanding of the relationships between Earth processes and atmospheric changes. CIG models also have applications for geohazards, natural resources, and national security. CIG enables frontier research in geodynamics by supporting sustainable software development, cyberinfrastructure, and human resource development. Guided by collaborative community governance, CIG focuses on 4 cornerstones: 1) Modeling software: Providing powerful software to solve computational models, motivated by important science questions, and built on best practices in open source software and scientific computing; (2) Computational workflows: Facilitating the initiation, execution, analysis, and exchange of complex computational models; (3) Training: Enabling a well-trained workforce that can effectively use and extend computational models for reproducible discovery and reuse, and that can fully exploit high-performance computing resources; and (4) Community: Building and sustaining a sustainable community of disciplinary and interdisciplinary researchers working together on challenging geoscience and software problems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.