Collaborative Research: Sustained Resources: Enhancing, expanding, and sustaining community use of the Magnetics Information Consortium database

Rocks preserve records of Earth's magnetic field. Scientists study these records to learn how our planet's protective magnetic field changes through time and to determine where mineral deposits are located. Records of rock magnetism also uncover how tectonic plates move and how often volcanoes erupt, improving our understanding of geological hazards. The Magnetics Information Consortium is a public online database that hosts magnetic data from laboratories around the world, letting anyone find, download, and reuse these records. This project maintains and improves the database and trains students and researchers through summer schools and workshops, strengthening a shared resource that benefits science and society. This project enhances, expands, and sustains the Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC) database. It integrates laboratory-format data conversion into a web-based upload tool that fosters well-curated data contributions. It maintains and modernizes MagIC for reliability and interoperability. It develops improved search and comparison tools for discovering and compiling data. It expands support for rock magnetic data through the RockmagPy software and trains the next generation of scientists through summer schools and a community workshop. Together, these efforts advance FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) data practices and reproducible research across the Earth and planetary sciences. 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.