Collaborative Research: Conference: GEM Workshop

The Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) Workshops provide a uniquely valuable platform for community-driven collaborative research that complements traditional scientific conferences. The structure of GEM permits the identification of shared goals, the formulation of a path to address these goals, and the opportunity to make sustained and measurable progress towards them. This project will offer travel funds and mentoring programs to support scientists in the earliest stages of their career to successfully attend GEM, helping to ensure access for participants from all institutions, and the opportunity for participants to form invaluable connections to the community, develop the skills to succeed as a scientist, and form collaborations and connections with researchers from academia, national labs, and government agencies. Furthermore, GEM science contributes to the understanding and prediction of extreme space weather events, which is crucial for safeguarding humans and hardware in space, aircraft and passengers operating on polar routes, communication networks, and power infrastructure. By supporting scientific advances in space weather, the GEM Workshop serves the public interest and contributes to national resilience, economic security, and technological competitiveness. This project supports organizing the annual GEM workshop for a three-year term from 2026 through 2028. There are 5 Research Areas that make up the GEM Workshop, each focusing on particular aspects of the geospace environment: 1) Solar Wind - Magnetosphere Interaction (SWMI); 2) Magnetotail and Plasma Sheet (MPS); 3) Inner MAGnetosphere (IMAG); 4) Magnetosphere – Ionosphere Coupling (MIC); and 5) Global System Modeling (GSM). By collaboratively addressing the complex and coupled solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere-ground coupled system, the GEM Workshop supports NSF's goals for addressing grand scientific challenges through integrative approaches. The GEM Workshop plays a vital role in cultivating an open and collaborative scientific community and expanding opportunities for participation in science and engineering for all Americans. 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.