Marine Geological Samples Laboratory: Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island (support of marine sample curation)

The Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island hosts the Marine Geological Samples Laboratory (MGSL). This is an open-access community facility that preserves and archives seafloor geological samples. The mission of the MGSL is to make these samples available for research, outreach, and education. The MGSL has been in operation since 1976, and houses a global collection of ~2,000 marine sediment cores and ~4,000 rocks collected from the seafloor. These materials were collected from the seafloor at a significant expense. The long-term archiving of these materials delivers continuous returns on the original investment as the existing samples are used for new research. The MGSL samples are used by researchers and educators globally to expand knowledge of the Earth. Research topics span plate tectonics, submarine volcanism, the history of the ocean and climate, and marine mineral resources. This project will support ongoing activities to take in new materials, preserve existing collections, and fill requests. It will also enable support for growing the digital presence and improving the quality and accessibility of the data. Finally, the project will support continued outreach, education, and training activities at the MGSL. This project supports the Marine Geological Samples Laboratory (MGSL) at the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island (GSO/URI), which conducts description, curation, and distribution of marine geological samples collected by researchers at GSO/URI and elsewhere. This project will provide support for curatorial and organizational activities of the facility that will be carried out by one part-time assistant curator and two graduate student assistants under the direction of the PIs. Specific activities include 1) describing and storing new NSF-funded core and rock samples following best practices, 2) fulfilling sample requests from the broader scientific community, 3) maintaining and improving open-access collections metadata (IMLGS and SESAR) and actively promoting the collections to the scientific community, 4) conducting outreach and education activities that utilize the facility and its collections, including providing materials and space for hands-on education for URI classes, workforce training using facility equipment and samples, and K-12 outreach both within the facility and off-site, and 5) expanding current storage capacity and transitioning to the expanded facility. The MGSL enables new scientific advances on the collections by eliminating the expense of new sample collection and by preserving and making available materials for which valuable data sets already exist. Additionally, the MGSL facility provides a key venue for public education and outreach by engaging ~3,000 visitors annually, for on-site tours with school groups and the general public and for off-site outreach at local and regional events, providing educational experiences and materials focusing on Earth science, methods of seafloor observation and sampling, and the samples themselves. 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.