Donald Fisher, Ph.D. - US grants

The great majority of studies of visual search have suggested that behavior is either one of two types. In some cases, it appears that capacity is unlimited, stimuli are processed in parallel and attention is spread out over the entire visual field. In other cases, it appears that capacity is limited, stimuli are processed in series, and attention is narrowly focused on a single stimulus. Dual process theories have been used to explain why the type of stimulus materials, the level of practice and the consistency of the mapping of stimuli to responses determines which of the two types of behavior will be observed. Recently, it has been argued that the dual process theories are too extreme. The overall goal of the proposed research is to develop an alternative single process theory that can better explain the changes in behavior in visual search tasks that occur with changes in stimuli, practice and mapping. First, tests will be made of a model of central processing which assumes that the number of comparison channels varies in predictable ways with the type of task (an extension of Fisher's limited channel model). Second, tests will be made of changes in the size of the effective visual field which occur with changes in the type of task using a Stanford Research Institute Eye Tracker. These results will help determine whether the comparison channels are spatially arrayed over the visual field. Finally, tests will be made of the effect on performance of variations in the number of critical features to which attention must be paid. These results will suggest whether the actual function of the comparison channels is changing with changes in stimuli, practice and mapping. When fully articulated, the single process theory should provide a complete account of how the number of channels, the focus of attention, and the activity on each channel varies with the nature of the task. Finally, the above research has an applied significance. In particular, it may help determine the sources of the observed information processing deficits in schizophrenics.

The project is to organize, plan and conduct a regional computing conference (WAC89) to take place in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in March 30-31, 1989. The objectives of the project are: 1. to provide an opportunity for personal contact of computing scientists and practitioners from academia and industry; 2. to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas; 3. to provide computer science graduate students with an opportunity to present results of their research; 4. to allow computer science students an opportunity to widen their horizons by meeting and listening to computer scientists other than their immediate teachers; 5. to publish papers presented at the workshop for dissemination in the form of a workshop proceedings.

Taiwan represents an active arc-continent collision, and displays a number of mesoscale-to microscale structures, incre- mental strain histories and changes in rock volume within a slate belt that marks the transitional zone between the foreland and hinterland parts of the collision. The Taiwan collision zone propagates from north to south, providing a time-space equivalence that can be used to document the evolution of specific structural events. The approach of this collaborative project with 8903992 (Byrne at Brown Univ) is to examine meso- and micro-structures, strain indicators and rock volume changes along several cross-strike transects at different positions along the strike of the mountain belt. Results of these integrated studies of the transition zone are expected to improve understanding of collisional mountain belts, particularly the transition between foreland and hinterland parts of such orogens.

Phloem is the conducting system for distribution of photosynthetic assimilates in vascular plants and also a pathway by which systemic viral infection can be spread. The movement of solutes out of phloem conducting cells is a crucial regulation point for the distribution of phloem-mobile substances in the plant. Little is known, however, about the mechanisms or controls involved. An experimental approach to understanding these mechanisms would be to introduce labelled compounds that have a range of solute sizes and chemical structures into the phloem and follow the movement of these compounds. However, this has been precluded because the phloem cells are pressurized and present means of introducing material into the phloem also produces significant artifacts. An aphid naturally removes sugars from phloem by selectively inserting a stylet into the conducting cell. The exploratory work proposed here would attempt to overcome the problem of introduced artifacts by developing a method for solute injection directly into the phloem conducting cells via severed aphid stylets, an approach suggested by earlier measurements of turgor pressure in phloem conducting cells. An injection system will be constructed that will utilize thermal expansion to generate pressure. Precise pressure control in this injection system should be possible with a precisely-regulated thermoelectric device that has a pressure transducer incorporated into the injector. Development of this system should allow injection of tracer material into phloem cells by a slight and precisely controlled over pressurization.

Geometric studies in thrust belts have given rise to a number of kinematic models for the development of specific structural geometries, but the models have remained to a large extent untested for large scale examples because of a lack of sufficient incremental strain data and diagnostic microstructures. This project is designed to provide an adequate data set from well- exposed folds and thrusts in the northern Lost River Range in Idaho in order to constrain models for the development of those structures. The work involves construction of detailed 3-D structural geometries and cross-sections and the determination of strain histories using syntectonic fibers from samples collected from appropriate parts of these structures. Results are expected to allow a vigorous test of several hypotheses concerning how such folds and thrusts develop. The outcome will be utility in understanding the kinematics of deformation in other fold and thrust belts.

Plant growth depends on the production of organic materials, mostly sugars and amino acids, by photosynthesis. At first consideration, it seems reasonable to suppose that the rate of plant growth should depend directly on the concentration of these substrates: the higher their concentration, the faster the rate of growth. However, this supposition is not supported by available evidence. Young seeds, especially, seem to maintain preset growth rates that show little relation to sugar and amino acid concentrations. Instead, growth rates appear to be controlled by the transport of these substances from conducting cells into the growing embryo, a distance of less than a millimeter. Developing wheat grains offer advantages for studying this transport, since the pathway is well- defined and growth rates and concentrations can be measured at key points along the path. These investigations will develop a better understanding of transport along this pathway and, consequently, of how the growth rate of seeds might be controlled.//

The island of Taiwan is undergoing active deformation and uplift as a result of subduction of the Philippine Sea plate under the Eurasian plate, and provides a natural laboratory to study the kinematics of collision. This project will focus on the kinematic history of the hinterland region of central Taiwan, taking advantage of the southward propagation of the arc-continent collision to proxy sequential development of deformation features. A variety of strain and kinematic indicators will be studied and the results will be applied to several major hypotheses of collision tectonics including whether the hinterland is shortening with a consistent transport direction or involves two oppositely verging transport directions and the relative importance of tectonic denudation and erosion during unroofing of the hinterland.

The nature of deformation hear the base of accretionary wedges likely involves extensive transport by fluids of silica and other components, brittle crack-seal veining and rock fabrics such as cleavage. However, estimates of the magnitude of fluid interactions and the scale over which they are operative is highly controversial. This project will examine the distribution, orientation, geometry, texture and geochemistry of quartz veins in a well-exposed and well-understood forearc complex on Afognak Island, Alaska. Coupled with measurements of volume change in wall rocks and oxygen isotopic analyses the plumbing system in rocks buried to depths of 8-12km will be reconstructed and used to infer the mechanisms of silica transport and the extent and nature of fluid flow near the base on an accretionary wedge. Results will be relevant to the study of accretionary, wedge development and to the study of the origins of rock deformation fabrics.

Plate tectonics provides a conceptual framework for placing a number of structural features in rather specific tectonic settings, however the effects of second-order variations are not well constrained. This project will examine the possible effects of aseismic ridge subduction on an active system of faults in Panama. Presently, two hypotheses are viable- the deformation is due to "escape tectonics" resulting in Cocos Ridge penetration or the deformation is due simply to the west end of the Panama microplate, unrelated to the Cocos Ridge. These models will be tested by measuring displacements of Quaternary terraces and volcanic flows, structural studies of faults, and analysis of focal plane earthquake mechanisms. Each model predicts different spatial distributions of faults, different timing and styles of deformation. Results will help understand microplate boundaries and interactions in the western Caribbean/Central America area and are expected to apply to microplate tectonics in other areas.

Fisher With support from the National Science Foundation and industrial collaborators, Dr. Donald Fisher and his research team will develop a state-of-the-art video based eye tracker, a research level driving simulator and a virtual acoustic environment which are fully integrated with one another. The system consists of an advanced eye tracker to be developed by Applied Sciences Laboratory, a driving simulator developed by Illusion Technologies Incorporated and an acoustic environment which mimics or simulates the reverberant characteristics of an automobile. The planned system would supersede a current instrument which makes use of a "moving window" paradigm, and which permits a wide range of research in psycholinguistics, reading comprehension, visual scanning and scene comprehension. The research and research training that will be undertaken with the level driving simulator and sound equipment will nicely complement and extend the ongoing laboratory activities. It would, for the first time, allow the study of the basic cognitive processes in complex, dynamic displays using window and boundary paradigms that have been successfully employed in more simple situations. The range of potential behaviors to be examined will also expand. Researchers and psychology and communications disorders can use the eye and head tracking equipment to study sound localization and detection. Exercise scientists can use detailed information on driving responses to study the slowing of motor processes with advancing age. Increased understanding of visual scanning of complex dynamic displays and dynamic decision making in realistic, highly stressful conditions will also be possible. On a more practical level, the basis research proposed will provide a first step in the development of in-vehicle collision avoidance devices.

9526955 Fisher Subduction of oceanic plates under continental margin commonly involves uplift of forearc regions, and recently it has been shown that subduction of large features such as seismic ridges causes differential uplift in the margin above the down-going buoyant material. This project will test the idea that along sediment starved convergent margins forearc deformation is characterized by differential uplift in the upper plate controlled by the roughness of the incoming seafloor bathymetry. This work involves integration of structural, bathymetric seismic and geodetic information in the middle America trench off Costa Rica to determine the linkage between down-going topography and the resulting differential uplift topography of the upper plate, and the operative kinematics, stress orientation and seismicity associated with the phenomena. Results will be useful in understanding uplift in active forearc regions and is subduction zone dynamic generally.

Despite the central role of sinks in determining photosynthetic assimilate partitioning in plant growth, very little is known about the control of assimilate import into a sink tissue. The overal goal of this research is to understand how import by a sink is controlled. Because the developing wheat grain offers significant experimental advantages, Dr. Fisher's work has focused on that system. However, findings from this research have important implications for all sinks in which unloading of the sieve element/companion cell complex follows a symplastic pathway. All of the transport steps, from within the sieve tubes to the endosperm cavity, are passive, reversible and relatively nonspecific. Assimilate movement out of the grain phloem into surrounding parenchyma cells is accompanied by the largest turgor and concentration differences over any step of the source-to-sink pathway. Because solute movement out of the sieve tubes occurs via pressure-driven flow, while grain growth rate is constant, flow rate must be inversely related to the pressure and concentration gradients across this part of the pathway. This, and the high resistance involved, implicate this step as an important control point for assimilate import into the grain. This research will focus more closely on this step of assimilate import. Important questions remain to be addressed in developing wheat grains, and they will continue to be the main object of the work. However, to test whether import might be controlled at this step in other sinks, some work with growing root tips will also be initiated. The main questions to be addressed in growing roots are whether sieve tube unloadiong is reversible, the pressure and concentraiton gradients involved, and their relationship to root growth rate.

Abstract EEC-9527519-University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Dr. John Collura, Principal Investigator This award provides funding to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst for the support of a Combined Research-Curriculum Development (CRCD) Program entitled, Research and Curriculum Development in Intelligent Transportation Systems. The CRCD program emphasizes the need to incorporate exciting research advances in important technology areas into the upper level undergraduate and graduate engineering curricula and stimulates faculty researchers to place renewed, equal value on quality education and curriculum development. The primary objective of this proposal is to integrate past and ongoing research results in the area of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) into upper level undergraduate and graduate level engineering curricula at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. This will better prepare students at the undergraduate degree level to help plan design, operate, and evaluate ITS systems while also teaching students at the graduate level to participate in system development and ITS research.

9706269 Burbank Folds are fundamental structures of contractional orogens, but because timing and increments of folding are parameters that commonly are not possible to determine unambiguously, the kinematic history of fold development in a orogen is difficult to establish. This information is needed to make reliable reconstructions of how orogens develop. This project will attack this problem by using a set of folds in NE Spain where deposition caused strata to be deposited during fold amplification, such that each growth strata recorded different amounts of folding. By step-wise unfolding keyed to the growth strata, and obtaining age control by various means. The sequential development of these folds can be constructed, successful results should help understand the role of folds in developing orogens.

Cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) of the hand and wrist are an ever increasing problem for today's workforce. The long-term objective of this work is to decrease the proliferation of cumulative trauma disorders in the workplace. The specific aim of the proposed research is to demonstrate and evaluate an innovative method for dealing with CTDs in the workplace. The proposed effort is focused on the demonstration of a tendon adaptation model that is sensitive to repetition, force, posture and worker anthropometry. In addition, the model performance will be evaluated and sensitivity analysis performed on the model parameters. The proposed model has enormous potential in both preventing injuries and helping to design better products. With further validation the model can be used to establish a quantitative relationship between CTDs and work conditions. The ultimate result will be the ability to: identify high risk work conditions, quantify the problems providing a rational means of altering these conditions, and verify that the changes will indeed reduce the risks. Thus, rather than waiting until CTDs are reaching a debilitating state, this model will provide early detection and prevention.

Visualization and spatial reasoning are integral components of intelligent systems. They form the basis for understanding a wide variety of topics across science, mathematics and engineering, including molecular structures, topologies, motion and forces, and manufacturing processes. Historically, many students, especially female students, have had difficulty acquiring visualization and spatial reasoning skills, creating potential barriers to advancement in science, mathematics and engineering. Within engineering, faculty have found it both challenging and time consuming to teach topics that require strong visualization and spatial reasoning skills, topics such as product design, manufacturing, and engineering modeling and analysis. Similarly, engineering students have found these topics unmotivating and difficult to comprehend. With the advent of sophisticated computer graphics and animation, one might expect that the need for human visualization skills has been eliminated. But this is not the case. Computers cannot replace the need for these skills in science and engineering just as calculators have not replaced the need for quantitative skills. Thus this project has three goals: l) to advance our understanding of human visualization and spatial reasoning; 2) to use this knowledge to develop computer-based visualization instruction; and 3) to incorporate this instruction into intelligent multimedia tutors in ways that maximize their effectiveness for a broad mix of students while minimizing the development time and cost for the faculty involved. The achievement of such goals has required that we put together a team of researchers with backgrounds in psychology, education, engineering and computer science.

Although visualization and spatial reasoning are fundamental cognitive skills, the cognitive processes that govern them are poorly understood. Thus, as our first goal, we will undertake during year l a series of experiments in our Eye Movement Laboratories designed to test alternative theories of how individuals represent mentally and reason spatially about 3-D objects and their transformations. We will use the detailed eye movement data as a window on the underlying cognitive processes. We have made similar use of such data in reading, visual search and scene perception (Rayner, l992, l998; Rayner & Pollatsek, l992). We expect these data to reveal large, stable differences among individuals, not only between low and high spatial ability participants, but also within groups of participants of similar spatial abilities.

Visualization and spatial reasoning skills are critical to the understanding of many concepts within science and engineering. Yet, we have little understanding of how we can best teach these skills. Thus, as our second goal, we will develop during year 2 computer-based visualization skills instruction modules based on what we have learned during the first year about the problems that individuals have and the strategies that work successfully, modules that will take advantage of current advances in instructional theories and technologies. Having developed the modules, we will then conduct a series of experiments in the second year designed to test theoretically motivated methods for delivering visualization instruction that improve the content of the instruction delivered to high and low spatial ability learners, optimize the mix of part- and whole-task training, and maximize the number of individuals that develop expertise.

9909575 Willett
9909638 Wiltschko
9909464 Fisher

Arc-continent collisions commonly involve additions of material by tectonic accretion and subtractions of material by tectonic and surficial erosion. A number of models have been proposed for this system, and this project will attempt to test them by using the active Taiwan arc-continent collision. One of the fundamental questions in these models is whether erosion and tectonic accretion reach a steady-state, and if so, how long does it take. The work involves structural mapping, geochronology and GPS geodesy. Results are expected to provide a test for the steady state eroding wedge model for arc-continent collisions which will address several important issues relating to constructive and
steady-state mountain belts generally.

0001347
Gao
The objective of this project is to develop a new design course sequence in the broad area of Assistive Technology for undergraduate students in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst. A two-semester design course entitled "Senior Design Projects to Aid the Disabled" is to be developed and integrated within the established undergraduate curriculum of the Department.

Through close collaborations with the Lemelson Assistive Technology Development Center (LATDC) at Hampshire College and Adaptive Design Services (ADS) under the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation (DMR), the new design course sequence is to apply rigorous analytical and computer simulation approaches to specific design problems originated by disabled clients. The output of each design project will be a prototype of a functional mechanical and/or electromechanical device that satisfies the specific need of an individual client. The new course will strengthen the existing undergraduate curriculum by introducing mechanical and industrial engineering students to a new area of great social importance. It further enhances the Department's effort in promoting its newly identified research thrust area in assistive technology and biomedical engineering.

9909699 Fisher
9909375 Gardner

It is now widely recognized that convergent margins can experience accretion or subduction erosion with rates that depend on a variety of factors. The processes by which accretionary wedges grow are well documented, however the processes by which accretionary wedges erode are more enigmatic. This project will examine the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica and evaluate the current rates and the total shortening associated with active thrust faults in the inner fore arc of the Middle America Trench-faults that allow subduction erosion through underthrusting of the outer fore arc. Results will be used to evaluate whether there has been an arcward shift in the location of rapid shortening from the toe to the interior of the wedge for this area of rough crust and shallow subduction. This work is expected to increase knowledge about how accretaionary wedges erode.

0117242 Burbank
0003356 Fisher



Modeling of geologic features is considerably assisted by an extensive data set that quantifies an adequate number of descriptive parameters of the feature in question. Such studies on normal faults have prompted a significant step forward in understanding extensional tectonics, but no such population studies exist for thrust faults, which are common features in convergent tectonic settings. This project will generate an extensive data set quantifying geometric parameters, displacement length scaling, population statistics, displacement transfer and similar items. It is expected that this research will provide a robust statistical foundation for description of the geometric properties of thrust faults, and thus such research should under pin a significantly improved understanding of thrust faults and convergent tectonics.

Abstract

The PI will conducut a study of the timing and kinematics of deformation in the Kahiltna terrane, a Jurassic- Cretaceous flysch sequence that defines the enigmatic collision zone between the Talkeetna superterrane (the Peninsular, Alexander, and Wrangellia terranes) with the pre-Jurassic margin of North America. This study involves structural mapping of bedding, cleavages, lineations, and fold axes. Incremental strain analysis of syntectonic fibers associated with a regionally pervasive slaty cleavage will be used to constrain the kinematics associated with early folds and penetrative strain. Ultimately, he would like to characterize the spatial distribution of strain magnitudes, orientations, and histories and evaluate these results in the context of regional structural patterns. Analysis of porphyroblasts and fabrics in contact aureoles of early Tertiary plutons will be used to evaluate patterns of post-collision penetrative strain. He has successfully evaluated strain within contact aureoles around plutons in the Clearwater Mountains but would like to extend these analyses to other parts of the Alaska Range. He also plans to use laser ablation 40 Ar/39 Ar dating of muscovite and biotite grains observed in pressure shadows and in the necks of boudins that record syncleavage deformation to assess the timing of fabric-forming events. The age of deformation could be quantified by selectively dating syntectonic grains that grew below the blocking temperature of argon. Such results could be compared from area to area to determine if deformation was diachronous along the collision or if fabrics are not regionally correlative. By combining studies of penetrative strain and kinematics with dating of Mesozoic fabrics, he will address a number of longstanding questions related to Cordilleran tectonics: When did the penetrative strain occur in the Kahiltna slates? What is the kinematics associated with this deformation? What is the kinematics of post-collision deformation in the Tertiary? The PI will focus on four specific transects across the Kahiltna terrane at different positions along the southern Alaska orocline. In these areas, he has documented the ubiquitous occurrence of fibrous incremental strain markers to be used for quantification of incremental strain histories. At two localities (the Cantwell area and Peters Hills), he has observed biotite and muscovite (suitable for 40 Ar/39 Ar geochronology) in pressure shadows around pyrite clusters. All the areas where he proposes detailed mapping and sample analysis are accessible by road or charter flight.

This proposal requests funds to support the research of a Ph.D. candidate at Penn State,
Sara Bier. Support is requested for three geoscience undergraduates who will assist with fieldwork and conduct research for their own undergraduate theses. The GIS compilation of structural, lithologic, and geochronological data will provide an accessible digital database to interested scholastic institutions (high schools, colleges, and universities) and organizations (National Park Service, USGS, and the State of Alaska Geophysical and Geological Surveys). Sara Bier will give presentations and conduct workshops on aspects of this research at non-PhD.-granting institutions including Juniata College and Ferrum College.

The primary objective of this project is to develop new methods for optimizing an automated pedagogical agent to improve its teaching efficiency through customization to individual students based on information about their responses to individual problems, student individual differences such as level of cognitive development, spatial ability, memory retrieval speed, long-term retention, effectiveness of alternative teaching strategies (such as visual vs. computational solution strategies), and degree of engagement with the tutor. An emphasis will be placed on using machine learning and computational optimization methods to automate the process of developing efficient Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) for new subject domains. The approach is threefold.
First, a methodology based on hierarchical graphical models and machine learning will be developed and evaluated for automating the creation of student models with rich representations of student state based on data collected from populations of students over multiple tutoring episodes. Second, methods will be developed and evaluated for deriving pedagogical decision strategies that are effective and efficient not just over the short-term (from one math problem to the next one), but over the long-term where retention over a period of at least one month is the objective. Third, a systematic study will be conducted of the role that known and powerful latent and instructional variables can have on performance through their inclusion in student models. Research in cognitive and educational psychology clearly shows the critical role that latent variables such as short-term memory and engagement play in learning, and that instructional variables such as over-learning and review, and massed and distributed practice have on the rate at which material is learned. The investigators jointly have strengths in the areas of intelligent tutoring, machine learning and optimization, and cognitive, mathematical and educational psychology, strengths that are needed in order to make the synergistic advances that are being proposed. Our preliminary simulations and classroom experiments suggest that we can significantly reduce the time it takes students to learn new material based on improved pedagogical decisions.
For intellectual merit, he proposed research should advance fundamental knowledge of the learning and teaching of basic mathematics and more advanced algebra and geometry. It should add to the set of growing statistical and computational techniques that are available to estimate the complex hidden hierarchical structures that govern human behavior. The research should also significantly broaden the capabilities of machine learning systems by addressing learning scenarios that are grounded on the real and challenging problem of mathematics education than the abstract scenarios typically studied at present. For broader impact, this foundational educational research will lead to the broadening of participation of underrepresented groups, especially women, in a variety of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. It will advance discovery and understanding of learning and engagement as predictors of individual differences in learning and will result in intelligent tutors that are more sensitive to individual differences. It will unveil the extent to which students of different genders and cognitive abilities learn more efficiently with different forms of teaching. This research will benefit society as machine learning methods, which provide a core technology for building complex systems, will be applicable to a variety of teaching systems.

This project is directed at the processes of active mountain-building in Taiwan. As a region of young tectonic activity, Taiwan exhibits high rates of deformation, uplift and erosion. These high rates are advantageous to studies of deformation associated with the mountain-building process. This study is focused on the fold-and-thrust belt of western Taiwan where crustal material from the Asian plate is incorporated into the Taiwan orogen. The investigators are using apatite fission track dating and U-Th/He dating of apatite to determine low-temperature cooling rates of rock throughout the fold-and-thrust belt. Geologic mapping provides structural context for the dating, permitting dating of exhumation of individual thrust sheets. The cooling is related to the rates timing of fault motion and provides information on the kinematic pattern of crustal deformation. To quantify this pattern, the investigators are using structural reconstruction software combined with thermal modeling to relate cooling data, fault motion and temperature history. The use of commercial software with thermal modeling, calibrated to low temperature thermochronomety represents a new innovation in thrust belt interpretation.

This project involves analysis of the onland geology of the upper plate along an active convergent plate boundary, where the Cocos plate and associated seamounts and ridges are underthrust beneath the Central American volcanic chain. In general, convergent plate boundaries can be characterized by two end-members: accretionary margins and erosive margins. The processes that occur along accretionary margins (e.g., the Aleutian, Nankai, Barbados, and Oregon-Washington margins) are well known from studies of onland and marine geology, but there is no comparable knowledge for erosive margins (e.g.,. the Japan, Peru, Middle America margins). Consequently, the principal investigators are creating new maps and cross sections of bedrock geology and dating marine and fluvial terraces along the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica to place constraints on shortening, uplift rates, and surface erosion in such a tectonic setting. Mapping of faults and determination of fault offsets from bedrock geology provide an estimate of the amount of shortening over the last 2 million years. Surveys of marine terraces along the coast are being combined with radiocarbon and optical stimulated luminescence dating to determine rates of vertical motion and slip rates on active faults. Analysis of river terraces and fission track dating of apatite grains in both volcanics and sedimentary rocks are being used to establish the rate and total amount of erosional unroofing. Moreover, on the Osa and Nicoya Peninsulas, newly discovered deposits of Neogene and Quaternary marine terraces and shallow marine deposits provide an unprecedented record of vertical tectonism. Paleomagnetic analysis of these deposits should extend this record back into the late Neogene. Recently, new volcanic rocks have been discovered along the coast that can be dated by Ar40/Ar39 methods to better constrain the age of initiation of active thrust faulting in the coastal deformed belt. The methods that are used in this study are designed to quantify the effects of incoming seamounts and ridges on active faulting and landscape evolution of the upper plate. There is an apparent dichotomy between the offshore response to these bathymetric features (tectonic erosion, subsidence) and the onland response (crustal thickening and uplift). By collecting a dataset that constrains timing, kinematics and rates of deformation, this study is defining the fundamental attributes of erosive convergent plate boundaries and the relationship between onland and offshore regimes.

The Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP) will implement a
variety of innovative and proven strategies for the recruitment, admission, retention and preparation for faculty positions of underrepresented minority graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). For the past five years, a number of these strategies were developed and evaluated by the faculty at five Alliance (University of Massachusetts Amherst, Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey) and five Partner (Jackson State University, Lincoln University, Long Island University, Medgar Evers College and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez) Institutions. NEAGEP will be expanded and enhanced by the addition of the five other major land-grant universities in the Northeast (the Universities of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) into the Alliance. Two new Partner Institutions, Bennett College and, beginning in the second year of the new funding cycle, Trinity College, will also join NEAGEP. Together, the New England Land-Grant Universities bring to NEAGEP the
resources of 6,000 faculty members, a half-billion dollars in annual sponsored research, connections to 26 additional minority-serving (predominantly African American and Hispanic) institutions and access to the growing Native American population in northern New England. Building upon the foundation laid and the experience gained in the past five years, this expanded Alliance will more effectively coordinate efforts to match graduate students' interests and skills with a broad range of graduate programs. It will also create a critical mass of minority graduate students with
similar research interests. To address the national shortage and increase the number of underrepresented STEM minority doctoral students, NEAGEP proposes the following strategies:

Recruitment: (a) design a common supplementary NEAGEP application; (b) facilitate faculty
involvement in Diversity Teams; (c) revise practices in summer research programs; (d) continue fall recruiting weekends; (e) ensure multi-institutional presence at national meetings; (f) invite Partner faculty to research residencies at Alliance Institutions; (g) hold Partner Science Days at Partner Institutions;

Admissions: (a) initiate Rapid Response contacts; (b) involve NEAGEP graduate program directors;
(c) expand NEAGEP Research Internships; (d) offer NEAGEP first and last year research assistantships;

Retention: (a) participate in the Graduate School mentoring grant competition; (b) offer mentoring
workshops; (c) set up mentoring website; (d) rotate NEA Day among Alliance Institutions;

Future faculty preparation: (a) integrate teaching and research preparation for underrepresented minority STEM graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; and (b) offer career counseling and placement assistance.

Not all strategies will be undertaken by all institutions, but all will embark on some activities in each area and take part in cross-cutting initiatives such as: (a) implementation of a NEAGEP-wide Networking Group; (b) expansion of the NEAGEP office structure and functions; (c) execution of NEAGEP-wide sharing of admissions information; (d) establishment of joint Partner-Alliance doctoral programs; and (e) participation in an Alliance-wide comprehensive evaluation.

Intellectual Merit: The NEAGEP strategies proposed are both innovative and transferable. The
underlying principle is that they are faculty-driven and championed by the administration.
Implementation of these strategies will advance fundamental cultural change in academia and promote the success of underrepresented minority students in STEM doctoral programs. The prior success with the Alliance structure provided the impetus for the logical extension of activities to the neighboring New England Land-Grant Universities. By extending the Alliance activities to this group, hundreds more underrepresented minority STEM students and beginning faculty will benefit.

Broader Impact: The number of U.S. citizens applying for graduate study in STEM disciplines is
inadequate to meet the growing national needs in these areas. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the number of international graduate students applying to STEM graduate programs has decreased by over 30% nationwide this year. The number of U.S. STEM scientists needs to be increased if this country is to remain competitive on the world stage. The fundamental, and most important, impact of this program will be to create an environment in which minority persons can succeed in the STEM disciplines in the U.S. The proposed efforts will lead to the successful recruitment, admission and retention of a diverse group of graduate students and will encourage these students to pursue careers in the professoriate.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long term objective of the proposed research is to understand better the causes of crashes among teen drivers right after they receive their solo license and to use that understanding to design and evaluate training programs that will reduce whatever skill deficits are revealed. During the first six months of solo driving, the crash rate for newly-licensed teen drivers decreases by a factor of five (McCartt, Shabanova, and Leaf, 2003). The only drivers at greater risk of crashing are those eighty years old and older. Perhaps not surprisingly, automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for newly-licensed drivers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004). The problem is an ongoing national tragedy that has continued for far too long. Standard driver education programs, which typically involve 30 hours of classroom instruction and ten hours in the vehicle (four hours of observation and six hours behind the wheel), have, until recently, been the primary way teens learned to drive. Unfortunately, evaluations undertaken over the last forty years have shown little effect of such programs on crash rates (Mayhew and Simpson, 2002). Graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs are one response to the problem. The GDL programs clearly reduce crash rates among 16 year olds. However, newly-licensed drivers obeying the law-alone and during the day-are still over-involved in crashes, sometimes being as much as eight times more likely to be in a crash than are older drivers (Langone, 2006). There are many reasons that standard driver education programs and GDL programs may not reduce crashes as much as might be expected among drivers obeying the law during the first six months of restricted licensure. Perhaps most obvious is that these efforts do not directly remediate three behaviors that have been hypothesized to be the primary causes of crashes among novice drivers: failures to (a) anticipate hazards, (b) maintain attention, and (c) control speed appropriately. Unfortunately, little is known about whether these differences do indeed exist and, if so, the exact reasons newly-licensed and experienced drivers may differ from one another in each of these three areas. Until such is known, one cannot design training programs that remediate the deficiencies. We are proposing a four year program of theoretical and applied research to address these problems. Phase 1: In the first year, we will assess the hazard anticipation, attention maintenance and speed control skills of newly-licensed drivers (teens who have had their restricted license six months or less) on a driving simulator and compare their performance with experienced older (40-55) drivers. Eye movements, head movements, driver behaviors (e.g., foot on or off the accelerator, brake, etc.) and vehicle behaviors (e.g., velocity, brake pressure) will be monitored. We will determine the extent to which the differences in hazard anticipation, attention maintenance and speed control are due to differences in the knowledge, basic vehicle handling skills, and task management routines of the two groups of drivers. Phase 2: In the second year we will develop and evaluate on a driving simulator a PC-based training program designed to improve hazard anticipation, attention maintenance and speed control skills of newly-licensed drivers. The evaluations will take place immediately, one month, and three months after licensure. Phase 3: In the third year, we will repeat our evaluation of the PC-based training program, only this time evaluating newly-licensed drivers' hazard anticipation, attention maintenance and speed control skills on the open road immediately, one month and three months after training. Again, eye movements, head movements, and driver and vehicle behaviors will be monitored. PROJECT NARRATIVE: Automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for newly-licensed drivers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004). During the first six months of solo driving, the crash rate for newly-licensed teen drivers decreases by a factor of five (McCartt, Shabanova, and Leaf, 2003). The long term objective of the proposed research is to understand better the causes of crashes among teen drivers right after they receive their solo license and to use that understanding to design and evaluate training programs that will reduce whatever skill deficits are revealed. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

Emotion and motivation are fundamental to learning; students with high intrinsic motivation often outperform students with low motivation. Yet affect and emotion are often ignored or marginalized with respect to classroom practice. This project will help redress the emotion versus cognition imbalance. The researchers will develop Affective Learning Companions, real-time computational agents that infer emotions and leverage this knowledge to increase student performance. The goal is to determine the affective state of a student, at any point in time, and to provide appropriate support to improve student learning in the long term. Emotion recognition methods include using hardware sensors and machine learning software to identify a student's state. Five independent affective variables are targeted (frustration, motivation, self-confidence, boredom and fatigue) within a research platform consisting of four sensors (skin conductance glove, pressure mouse, face recognition camera and posture sensing devices). Emotion feedback methods include using a variety of interventions (encouraging comments, graphics of past performance) varied according to type (explanation, hints, worked examples) and timing (immediately following an answer, after some elapsed time). The interventions will be evaluated as to which best increase performance and in which contexts. Machine learning optimization algorithms search for policies that further engage individual students who are involved in different affective and cognitive states. Animated agents are enhanced with appropriate gestures and empathetic feedback in relation to student achievement level and task complexity. Approximately 500 ethnically and economically diverse students in Massachusetts and Arizona will participate.

The broader impact of this research is its potential for developing computer-based tutors that better address student diversity, including underrepresented minorities and disabled students. The solution proposed here provides alternative representations of scientific content, alternative paths through material and alternative means of interaction; thus, potentially leading to highly individualized science learning. Further, the project has the potential to advance our understanding of emotion as a predictor of individual differences in learning, unveiling the extent to which emotion, cognitive ability and gender impact different forms of learning.

0744425
Feineman


This proposal seeks funding to acquire a quadrupole ICP-MS system for rapid analysis of laser ablated material. The facility currently has a 213 nm laser ablation system coupled with high resolution magnetic sector ICP-MS. A Thermo X-Series II quadrupole ICP-MS is requested which will increase the mass scanning rate (ultimately the sensitivity) by an order of magnitude. Matching funds are provided by the PI's startup monies and from other PSU facilities. PSU will guarantee salary for a permanent analytical chemist to oversee the facility. The new ICP-MS will be used in differentiating East African Rift System lavas, in constraining central Ethiopian thermal structure and lithosphere thickness by xenogcrist and xenolith analysis, in analyzing crystal and silicate liquid trace element diffusion, in determining magma mixing and storage within the East African Rift System, and in for general experiments to better understand element partitioning between minerals and fluids, minerals and melts, and melts and fluids. Several student projects will also be supported. The instrument will occupy existing space in the Material Characterization Laboratory (MCL), Hands-on training and certification will be provided by a staff scientist. The dedicated staff will oversee the day-to-day operation and maintenance. PSU provides general support for the facility with instrument user fees supporting maintenance, supplies and repair funds. The requested instrument will be a career vehicle for a new female hire. The instrument will be incorporated into undergraduate ?Forensic Geoscience,? and ?Techniques in Environmental Geochemistry? classes. The instrument will be made available to PSU?s Women in Science and Engineering Research and Minority Undergraduate Research Experiences programs.


***

Subduction zones play an important role in the long-term mass balance of earth?s crustal materials - they can serve as either sites of continental margin growth (accretionary margins) or continental margin denudation (erosional margins). This study will quantify shortening rates, erosion rates, and surface uplift rates in the forearc of a classical erosive convergent margin in northeastern Japan. The mass balance across the forearc will be assessed and patterns of permanent strain accumulation will be compared with elastic strain inferred from seismic and geodetic data. Erosive margins often exhibit systematically opposed behavior in the inner and outer portions of the forearc, with 1) an outer forearc that is mostly submarine, showing evidence for extension, and having an extensive slope apron that records subsidence of the margin; and 2) an inner forearc with coastal mountains, uplift, and rocks that show evidence for shortening and permanent strain. The relative ubiquity of this couplet along erosive margins worldwide suggests a potential genetic relationship. This project is testing the hypothesis that outer forearc subsidence due to basal erosion, or underthrusting, is matched by inner forearc uplift driven by underplating, or overthrusting. If this hypothesis is correct, global long-term estimates of continental denudation that are based on outer forearc subsidence grossly overestimate the amount of continental margin material subducted. The research team will employ a multi-disciplinary approach that includes structural mapping and fault-related fold analysis, tephrachronology, low-temperature thermochronometry (including apatite fission track analysis and (U-Th)/He dating), analysis of marine terraces, and geodynamic (thermal and deformational) modeling.

It has become increasingly apparent over the last two decades that many, if not the majority, of the earth?s subduction zones experience basal erosion, whereby the outer forearc is removed through upward migration of the plate boundary into the existing margin wedge. What is not known is how long are basal erosion rates sustained and where does eroded material go? This study addresses these problems by examining the inner forearc of an active system. Inner forearc uplift was first noted by Charles Darwin during the Beagle expedition of 1846 when he observed sea shells atop marine terraces located a kilometer above sea level and argued for regional uplift of the western coast of South America. Modern surveys of offshore bathymetry show that the local regions of uplift described by Darwin lie inboard of areas with pronounced outer forearc erosion. Inner forearc uplift may balance forearc subsidence due to basal erosion.

This multidisciplinary study of forearc evolution examines the short term (years) and long term (thousands to millions of years) patterns of strain in the upper plate of a subduction zone that straddles the subducting Panama Fracture Zone, an active transform fault. The project goals are to test several hypotheses, including: 1) upper plate deformation is primarily a consequence of indentation tectonics related to Cocos Ridge collision; 2) the Fila Costena thrust belt is propagating laterally into Panama with the migration of the Panama Triple Junction; 3) the velocity field in the upper plate reflects Cocos Ridge collision, including shortening across the Fila Costena, shear/uplift across the onshore projection of the Panama Fracture Zone, and the elastic strain associated with the earthquake cycle. The research team is using structural analyses, Quaternary geologic mapping and dating, and geodetic GPS and modeling studies in an effort to integrate a long-term record of deformation with short-term indicators of kinematics to allow for assessment of rates and styles of deformation of the upper plate. Intersection of the leading edge of the Fila Costena thrust belt with a volcanic debris fan provides excellent timelines to constrain deformation. Radiocarbon and Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating of a superb flight of marine terraces on the Burica Peninsula yield an excellent record of late Quaternary deformation of the peninsula. Geodetic research of strain partitioning will determine the spatial and temporal patterns of short-term elastic strain.

Subduction zones are sites of the largest earthquakes on earth, with buildup of elastic strain along the plate boundary until release of this stored energy during earthquakes. By combining short-term and long-term indicators of deformation in the upper plate of the Middle America plate boundary, the elastic or recoverable strain that leads to earthquakes as well as the permanent strain that averages the effects of many earthquakes can be evaluated. This project specifically addresses the coupling attributes of the plate boundary in southern Costa Rica and southwestern Panama, with an assessment of the earthquake hazard of these regions. The project, under the direction of principal investigators from Pennsylvania State University and Trinity University, involves graduate and undergraduate students and scientific collaborations with Costa Rican and Panamanian researchers. The project is supported by the NSF Earth Sciences Division Tectonics Program and the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering.

A mix of financially needy community college transfer students and beginning graduate students including those in the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate majoring in Computer Science, Computer Systems and Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Industrial and Mechanical Engineering are receiving annual scholarships of $8,000. A total of twenty two students, approximately eighteen of whom are undergraduates receive support for two years while three or four graduate students receive one year support with the possibility of a second year. In many cases, the graduate students are those who need some additional studies beyond those taken as an undergraduate to qualify for full acceptance into a graduate program. The project builds on previous CSEMS and S-STEM awards.

The Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP) is a highly interactive group of Research I and minority-serving institutions that includes private and public, as well as large and small schools. By piloting and sharing novel strategies, the Alliance has made a large contribution to diversifying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) Ph.D. programs in the Northeast. The number of URM students earning STEM doctorates from these institutions has nearly doubled. Unfortunately, there has been neither sufficient numbers of students nor funds to meaningfully evaluate what strategies are most effective for recruiting and retaining URM STEM doctoral students. Even more relevant to the goal of the NSF AGEP program, there has been no assessment of what factors influence career choices of URM STEM Ph.D.s and what factors ensure their success in academia.
To address these issues, the PI group will work with external evaluators at TERC, a STEM education organization, to conduct a NEAGEP-wide summative evaluation. The evaluators will conduct personal interviews with current STEM doctoral students and Ph.D. graduates of NEAGEP institutions, and also solicit input from all NEAGEP coordinators to develop two on-line surveys. One survey will be administered to approximately 565 URMs who obtained STEM Ph.D. degrees during the 10 years of NEAGEP, and the other to the over 550 current URM STEM doctoral students. The results will be important for developing new programs in the next phase of NEAGEP.
Intellectual Merit: There is now a sufficiently large population of students at different points in their careers so that an external team can conduct a very informative, large-scale evaluation of NEAGEP programs. The team will objectively assess what types of activities are most effective at diversifying the STEM professoriate. The focus will be on recruitment and retention activities, but, more importantly, on what activities influence these students to pursue careers in academia. This evaluation will provide new insights important for increasing diversity in the professoriate, a goal that must be achieved in order to engage a broader portion of the U.S. citizenry in STEM.
Broader Impacts: The results will generate information that will inform the design and revision of programs to recruit URM undergraduates into STEM graduate programs. In addition, these data will also promote institutionalization of programs that increase participation of both URM and non-URM U.S. students in STEM. Finally, the evaluation findings will be published so that other institutions and alliances can conserve and/or better direct resources by learning what does and does not work in large and small, as well as public and private, universities that comprise NEAGEP.
Integration of Research with Teaching and Learning: Many of the NEAGEP strategies involve integration of research with teaching and learning. By formally evaluating the impact of these strategies, it will be determined which are most effective. The effective strategies will then be expanded to integrate research and teaching initiatives across NEAGEP and publicized through the AGEP network.

As was clearly demonstrated in the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku (Japan) earthquake and tsunami, earthquakes that occur along subduction zone plate boundaries can be both among the largest and most devastating natural events on Earth. One key to anticipating what regions of subduction zones are most vulnerable to these mega-thrust events is to estimate the magnitude and location of un-released plate motion that accumulates prior to a major earthquake. Current subduction zone models assume a relatively simple link between observed deformation on the upper plate above the subduction interface and this slip deficit on the plate interface; however it is becoming clear that the actual distribution of co-seismic slip on the plate interface and the resulting upper plate response is substantially more complex. In order to map the accumulation of unreleased seismic moment, it is necessary to better understand how to map the observations of pre-, co- and post-earthquake deformation (made on land away from the plate interface) to the actual processes of slip accumulation and release on the plate boundary fault itself. This project will utilize a very rich data set of observed crustal deformation (GPS, geologic mapping, seismicity), observed on time scales ranging from geologic (millions of years) to earthquake cycle (hundreds-to-thousands of years) to earthquake rupture (minutes-to-seconds) in the vicinity of the Tohoku event. By combining geologic time-scale and seismic cycle time-scale observations conceptual models of subduction zone strain evolution can be improved. With a better understanding of how the upper plate in a subduction zone acts as a deformational filter, using observations of upper plate deformation the research team will be able to develop substantially improved estimates of plate boundary slip deficits, post-seismic loading of active structures on the upper plate (which may becomes seismically activated in response the main earthquake), and a better sense of seismic potential of subduction boundaries.

This project is an attempt to bridge a substantial gap in current subduction science - the gap between tectonic observations on geologic time-scales and current geophysical/geodetic observations of deformation through the earthquake cycle. Outcomes from this research will move subduction science toward better informed estimates of earthquake potential, maximum magnitudes that could be expected, and improved estimates of locations of maximum energy (moment) release during major earthquakes - all key components in reducing human vulnerability to major subduction zone earthquake hazards.

This project provides funding for international travel support to approximately early-career professionals and students to attend the Penrose Conference "Deformation, Fluid Flow and Mass Transfer along Convergent Margins" that will be held in Il Ciocco, Italy, from March, 26-30, 2012. The conference will explore recent developments related to deformation, fluid flow, and mass transfer in the forearc of convergent plate boundaries and their potential relationships to earthquake phenomena and seismogenesis. The objective of the conference is to consolidate recent advances in the understanding of convergent margins and to bring together researchers of different backgrounds to develop models for forearc evolution that explains observations of geometry, structure, deformation, and fluid flow at a variety of temporal and spatial scales. Forearcs are also the regions where energy release occurs in great tsunamigenic earthquakes, yet the links between earthquake-cycle deformation and longer-term geological structure, material properties, and the fluid regime remain obscure. The main topics at the meeting will include: (1) material balances - the processes and rates of accretion and erosion and their influence on seismogenesis; (2) interactions between the subducting and overriding plates including continental slope and forearc basins; (3) wedge dynamics and links between seismic and geologic time scales; (4) fluid flow in the forearc: evidence from direct observations and inferences from rock microstructures and geochemistry; and (5) the timescales of the earthquake cycle.

This conference addresses many current research topics in tectonics and related fields. The conference affords international participants the opportunity to share recent research results and initiate new international research partnerships. The meeting provides an opportunity for integration of onshore and marine observations, experiments on mechanics and fluid flow, and results of geodynamic modeling to evaluate the relationship between these processes for plate boundary seismogenesis and hazards of the Pacific Rim - a topic of great concern for society as exemplified by the destructive event in northern Japan in March, 2011. Conveners will make efforts to broaden participation through support students and early career researchers from underrepresented groups in the earth sciences.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) Initiative for Maximizing Student Development is to significantly increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral students who complete Ph.D. degrees and postdoctoral fellowships, and become leaders in biomedical and behavioral science research. To accomplish this goal, our aims are to: 1) Enhance recruitment of well-prepared URM students for Ph.D. programs by nurturing existing partnerships with minority-serving institutions through new collaborative research initiatives. Our Partners in Research program will bring URM Partner faculty and undergraduates to laboratories at UMass for extended summer visits and our Partner Visiting Professors will bring Partner faculty back to UMass for year-long sabbaticals. In addition, UMass faculty and senior IMSD doctoral students will present seminars and workshops at Partner Institutions. Other recruiting initiatives will include an IMSD Graduate Preview Weekend at UMass and national promotion of our IMSD. 2) Enhance retention and preparation of IMSD Scholars through stage-specific funding, mentoring and professional development activities at the Transition, Achieving Candidacy and Beyond the Doctorate Stages. 3) Develop, reward and disseminate models for fostering an environment of inclusiveness. Our program will be led by five research-active faculty PIs who are well positioned to engage their colleagues in IMSD activities. In addition, our IMSD is strongly supported by the Provost who will sponsor an annual Diversity Conference to discuss progress, problems and new strategies for diversifying the biomedical and behavioral graduate student body and faculty. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The underrepresentation of U.S. minorities, a growing segment of the population in the biomedical and behavioral research workforce increases reliance on international talent and exacerbates healthcare disparities among racial and socioeconomic groups. Our IMSD will directly address this issue through novel programs that enhance recruitment, retention and preparation of underrepresented minority doctoral student to be leaders in biomedicine and behavioral science disciplines.

Autonomous systems offer transformational impacts on society as they help reduce human labor, decrease risks and costs, and improve productivity and efficiency. They have been deployed in a wide range of domains from household products to space exploration vehicles. In many areas, however, there are still considerable barriers to the deployment of fully autonomous systems. These barriers range from technological to ethical and legal issues. Examples include driving a car, robot deployment in search and rescue operations, automated farming, and robotic surgery. When full autonomy is not feasible, it is often desirable to automate parts of the entire process. This project offers a comprehensive study of planning for semi-autonomous systems -- systems that are capable of autonomous operation under some conditions, but may require manual control in order to complete the task at hand. Planning for semi-autonomous systems is challenging because it must account for the different skills of the human operator and the automated system, the communication between them required to facilitate smooth transfer of control, the uncertainty about human responsiveness, engagement level and readiness to take over control, and the possibility of human error in interpreting or following the plan.

The project takes an interdisciplinary approach that addresses the computational challenges together with the challenges that rise whenever the human is in the loop. With a focus on semi-autonomous driving as the primary domain, research activities include: designing general-purpose graphical models to represent the problem of collaborative control of semi-autonomous systems; developing effective methods to represent and earn competence models of the actors; developing efficient decision-theoretic planning algorithms that exploit heuristic search and reachability analysis to create the shared plan; developing algorithms to compute vital statistics and runtime feedback about the shared plan; developing ways to capture models of situation awareness and human errors, and factor them into the planning process; and creating a set of challenging scenarios and test problems for planning in semi-autonomous systems. Evaluation of the approach is conducted using several testbeds including two realistic driving simulators.

The last decade has seen two of the most destructive earthquakes ever recorded, with nearly 300,000 lives lost due to ground shaking and inundation of coastal areas by tsunami. In the case of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and several other large recent earthquakes, the seismic event was preceded by, and therefore potentially triggered by, a type of fault behavior known as "slow slip" -- a behavior that was unknown two decades ago. Therefore, the old paradigm that faults along plate boundaries either "creep" or experience earthquakes due to "stick-slip" behavior does not explain the full range of fault behavior along active subduction zones-- behavior that includes periodic "slow earthquakes" and microseismicity that coincides with tremor. Recognition of this diversity of slip behavior demands a new paradigm that explains the role that these various behaviors may play in triggering earthquakes. The central tenet of this study is that information about heterogeneity in plate boundary slip behavior is not only recorded by seismicity, but also in the distributions and textures of veins, or mineralized cracks, that we can observe today in exhumed ancient subduction boundaries. This project is specifically designed to investigate the roles of natural hydrofracking and local redistribution of calcium carbonate and silica for the evolution of slip instabilities associated with microseismicity, slow slip, and the buildup and release of elastic strain in earthquakes. Vein systems will be examined in ancient plate boundary fault zones in Japan that record a range of conditions that reflect the depths and temperatures at which earthquakes are generated. The principal investigator and his colleagues have developed an over-arching hypothesis that relates silica redistribution in fault zones - as exemplified in vein textures and mineralogies - to earthquake dynamics. If the hypothesis is correct, models of subduction zone behavior must consider not just the frictional behavior of the fault but also the role of footwall hydrofracturing (i.e., a predictable function of fluid sources and permeability) and silica redistribution (i.e., a thermally activated process) as an explanation for the heterogeneity in plate boundary behavior in subduction zones. In addition to the research goals of the project, this award provides support for the training of an Hispanic female graduate student at Penn State thus contributing to broadening of underrepresented groups in a Science, Technologoy, Engineering and Math (STEM) discipline, as well as providing opportunities for the participation of an undergraduate student who will complete research-heavy independent senior thesis during year two of the project. Students will be trained in the use of lower temperature models for crack sealing that have been used along passive margins with application to the oil industry while bridging these models toward application to higher temperature rocks from subduction plate boundaries. The graduate student will also be involved in an international collaboration with Japanese scientists, and this study of exposed ancient rocks will complement the ongoing NantroSEIZE offshore drilling experiment designed to evaluate in situ the processes that characterize the plate boundary at depths where earthquakes are generated. Because subduction zones have significant potential for large magnitude earthquakes, studies of fault zone behavior in these settings have potentially significant implications for the health and economic well being of society.

This study is designed to investigate the hydrofracturing and subsequent healing recorded by mineralized veins and fabrics that develop in the footwall of subduction interfaces. It is hypothesized that the range of textures observed in veins is a manifestation of the range of heterogeneous plate boundary slip behavior that is observed along convergent margins. The healing of the fractures within the underthrusting sediments adjacent to the plate interface can occur in times that overlap with earthquake recurrence intervals at the temperatures of the seismogenic zone. Open fluid-filled cracks could impact the effective stress and the strength/elastic properties of the rocks that store and release elastic strain energy, so the healing of cracks could be fundamental to the locking behavior of the seismogenic zone. Vein systems and related scaly fabrics from six regionally extensive shear zones within the Shimanto Belt in Japan that formed during subduction and contain pervasive quartz veins representing the full range of temperatures within the seismogenic zone will be studies. The principal investigators will: 1) characterize the vein systematics on the outcrop both as a function of lithology and position relative to major faults, 2) evaluate vein microstructures petrographically and with cathodoluminescence, and 3) develop elemental maps of potential silica sources adjacent to veins, including scaly fabrics. To evaluate the role of local diffusion of silica, we will map major element concentrations in areas that define potential silica sources (e.g., scaly fabrics and wall rock with cleavage adjacent to fractures). They will also determine the aperture of cracks and the degree to which fractures are sealed based on microstructures. Microstructural information will be used in conjunction with scanline surveys of vein spacings, thicknesses, and lengths to put constraints on the spacings of open fractures and the times needed to seal fractures. This study will enable us to address fundamental questions about quartz veins adjacent to the subduction interface: What are the sources of silica within veins? Can we identify silica depletion zones typical of local silica redistribution? How does crack aperture and crack spacing vary as a function of rock type and temperature? Is there a systematic variation in vein textures with increasing temperature and depth within the seismogenic zone? The Shimanto belt of Japan is ideal for this study as it exposes regional fault zones that are interpreted as paleo-decollements (active plate boundary damage zones in the underthrusting footwall) and for comparison, examples of out-of sequence splays that accommodated seismic slip and juxtaposed rocks of the existing accretionary prism.

Earth’s largest earthquakes occur along the megathrusts (the subduction plate interfaces) that separate rigid tectonic plates in subduction zones. The accumulation and release of elastic strain along these plate interfaces is predicated on the “healing” of the interface after the large earthquakes. This project will characterize the chemical and mechanical processes that control this healing during the time between earthquakes. Observations of ancient subduction interfaces, now exposed on land, will be used to inform a numerical model for slip and fluid flow. Together, these approaches will allow the investigators to determine how subduction zone processes impact the spatial and temporal patterns of earthquakes—an important step in assessing the hazards associated with active subduction zones. The study includes support for an early-career faculty member, a Ph.D. student, and nine undergraduates. Six of the undergraduates will be recruited from University of the Incarnate Word, an undergraduate body that serves a local Hispanic community.<br/><br/>This project comprises a structural and geochemical investigation of two exhumed terrains that preserve a record of the physical and chemical conditions relevant to the plate interface of the global array of active subduction zones. Combined, the Shimanto belt in Japan and the Kodiak Accretionary complex in Alaska, form a composite record spanning depths from 8 to 20 km and peak temperatures between 150 and 350˚C. Electron-microscope-based elemental mapping of samples collected during several field campaigns will enable quantification of mineral phases and their redistribution with progressive strain. Combined cathodoluminescence mapping, electron backscatter diffraction, and fluid-inclusion microthermometry will constrain paleotemperatures and finite strain, and identify deformation mechanisms. Quantitative estimates of strain rate will be derived by combining strain magnitudes with field observations of shear zone thickness and present-day estimates of plate convergence rate. These measurements and observations will be used to inform a numerical model that parameterizes the effects of seismic slip, fluid flow and interseismic restrengthening on the temporal and spatial distribution of earthquakes on the plate interface. The multidisciplinary workplan is designed to address the following fundamental questions: Q1) What are the magnitudes of volume strain and shear strain associated with interseismic deformation? Q2) Is there a balance between dissolution along the scaly fabric and precipitation of minerals within cracks in blocks? Q3) What are the relative contributions to quartz vein formation of local diffusive mass transfer of silica versus the influx of dissolved silica by an externally derived fluid? Q4) How does partitioning of deformation mechanisms vary from the updip to the downdip ends of the seismogenic zone?<br/><br/>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.