2015 DeSSC New Users Program Announced

Sep 8, 2015
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UNOLS is pleased to announce the 2015 DeSSC New Users Program! Please see below for more details:

Opportunity: Participate in a workshop tailored to engage new users of deep submergence science facilities, including students, early-career scientists, engineers and scientists with little or no previous experience in deep-sea research. The workshop is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, December 12-13, 2015 in San Francisco, CA (before the AGU Fall meeting). Applications for travel and lodging support are being accepted through Wednesday, September 30, 2015.

Background: The National Deep Submergence Facility (or NDSF) manages and operates the U.S. submersible Alvin, the remotely operated vehicle Jason/Medea, and the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry. These deep submergence vehicles are renowned for facilitating and advancing deep-sea research, e.g. the discovery of hydrothermal vents, studying the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, etc.

The UNOLS Deep Submergence Science Committee (DeSSC) is a committee of scientists who provide recommendations and advice to the operator and supporting funding agencies of the NDSF. The DeSSC fall meeting, held annually on the Sunday before the start of the AGU fall meeting, is an open forum for scientists and engineers to learn about scientific discoveries and technical advances, as well as to express their opinions about NDSF activities.

DeSSC New-Users Program:  DeSSC is committed to increasing the involvement of students and postdoctoral/early-career scientists. To that end, we have developed the new-users program to: 1) expose students, early-career scientists and other new-users to DeSSC and the NDSF, 2) engage participants in DeSSC advisory activities, 3) offer participants training and mentoring in the process of developing research programs that use NDSF vehicles, and 4) enable participants to network with scientists actively involved in NDSF-supported research. These goals will be achieved through a workshop (prior to the DeSSC meeting) in which more experienced deep-sea scientists and NDSF operators provide instruction on deep-sea research, grant-writing, technology, and data management, and by directly involving participants in the DeSSC fall meeting.

The DeSSC New-Users Program will be held on Saturday, December 12 and is tentatively scheduled from 11:45 am to 5:00 pm, followed by a dinner (6:30 pm to 9:00 pm) featuring a guest speaker. The DeSSC fall meeting will occur on Sunday, December 13 from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm (the day before the start of the 2015 AGU Fall meeting) in San Francisco, CA. The new-users program will provide topics of interest to both first-time participants as well as participants who have attended the program in previous years.  The organizing committee for the DeSSC New-Users Program includes Peter Girguis (DeSSC Chair/Harvard University), Vicki Ferrini (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory), and Karyn Rogers (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).

Application:  Students, early-career scientists, and engineers can apply for financial support to offset the cost of travel and lodging for the program. Participants must attend the entire program, dinner, and DeSSC meeting.  To apply for the DeSSC New-Users Program, please complete the on-line application form.  The deadline for application is Wednesday, September 30, 2015.