Page 52 - GSA Today December 2022

AGeS : Micro-Funding an Inclusive
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Community Grassroots Effort to

Better Understand the Earth System

R.M. Flowers, Dept of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; J.R. Arrowsmith, School
of Earth & Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA

MOTIVATION MICRO-FUNDING US$10k awards) will support high-impact
Geochronology data provide the tempo- The AGeS project will make ~160 strate- collaborative science projects between
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ral information required for earth science gic micro-awards of US$8–US$15k each graduate students, labs, and home institu-
from the mantle through the critical zone, through a trio of competitive, proposal- tion mentors. These awards provide funds
yet National Academy reports have repeat- driven, peer-reviewed, micro-funding pro- for graduate students to visit geochronol-
edly highlighted challenges for geochronol- grams (Fig. 1). This initiative will ulti- ogy labs for a week or more to acquire
ogy data access, training, and technical mately engage hundreds across the earth data and be mentored by geochronologists
innovation. The 2020 National Academies sciences in collaborative science, training, on projects of joint interest. AGeS antici-
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report “A Vision for Earth Sciences, 2020– review, and governance activities over its pates making ~110 Grad awards over five
2030: Earth in Time” recommends that the five-year duration. It has been suggested proposal cycles.
National Science Foundation’s (NSF) that micro-funding (Rappert, 2017) can • The prototype AGeS-DiG (Diversity in
Division of Earth Sciences “should fund a have a transformative impact on the sci- Geochronology) subprogram (up to
National Consortium for Geochronology.” ences, as micro-loans have done for the US$15k awards) will fund pilot initiatives
This recommendation builds on previous well-being of many populations around the to increase access to geochronology for
National Research Council (NRC) reports world. The small and flexible AGeS grants those underrepresented in the earth sci-
that emphasize the importance of geochro- can have a cascading effect in the earth sci- ences. Priority will be given to projects
nology data for addressing first order ques- ences, catalyzing cross-disciplinary collab- that emphasize authentic research experi-
tions in earth-system science related to orations, attracting students with diverse ences, that mentor multiple students, and
climate change, biologic and landscape cultural and scientific backgrounds, and that foster a cohort experience for partici-
change, earthquake cyclicity and hazards, enabling important scientific advances that pants. AGeS will make ~30 DiG awards
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and solid Earth evolution. may not happen within the bubble of more over three proposal cycles.
The Advancing Geochronology Science, standard grants. • The new AGeS-TRaCE (Training and
Spaces, and Systems (AGeS or AGeS- The three AGeS subprograms are: Community Engagement) subprogram
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cubed) initiative is an NSF-funded project to • The mature AGeS-Grad (Graduate (up to US$10k awards) will support com-
increase access to geochronology data and Student Research) subprogram (up to munity-led efforts to address other self-
expertise, to support and grow the geochro-
nology community, and to promote inclusive
and collaborative science (Fig. 1). Current
coordination efforts envision founding the GeS 3
National Geochronology Consortium with
an infrastructure trio: Human Infrastructure, Advancing Geochronology
Technical Instrument-based Infrastructure, Science Spaces Systems
and Cyberinfrastructure (as defined in the
2020 Earth in Time report). AGeS is focused
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on growing the Human Infrastructure pillar AGeS-Grad AGeS-DiG AGeS-TRaCE
(TRaining and
in sync with other efforts. To accomplish (Graduate Student Research) (Diversity in Geochronology) Community Engagement)
30 Awards total
110 Awards total
this, AGeS builds on the success and coop- $8500 Average $13,500 Average 20 Awards total
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erative spirit of the NSF-funded AGeS1 and 5 proposal cycles 3 proposal cycles $10,000 Average
AGeS2 programs (Fig. 2; Flowers et al., Years: 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027 Years: 2023, 2025, 2027 2 proposal cycles
2019) through the launch of analogous micro- Years: 2024, 2026
grant opportunities to crowd-source solu-
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tions for community-identified geochronol- Figure 1. Structure of the AGeS initiative that combines the mature AGeS-Grad, the prototype AGeS-
DiG, and the new AGeS-TRaCE micro-award programs to advance inclusive science and training in
ogy needs. geochronology.

GSA Today, v. 32, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG549GW.1. CC-BY-NC.

52 GSA TODAY | December 2022