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Earth science research takes national stage

OSU receives $1.6 million from National

Nick Ngo

Issue date: 7/25/07 Section: News
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The new Earthscope national office at OSU plans to bring a new wave of information and excitement into national parks, museums and classrooms about earth science.

Earthscope is an NSF program that works hand-in-hand with the earth science community. It's a national program exploring the structure and evolution of the North American continent. Researchers are looking for how earthquakes and volcanoes shape the geographical structure of the continent. Research at OSU focuses on the western area of the continent.

As of July 1, OSU began its first day as the Earthscope national office. OSU was selected by the National Science Foundation to house the new office along with receiving $1.6 million.

Anne Trehu, a professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences and director of Earthscope's national office, said the money is funding for staff, travel, planning meetings and workshops. Working with Trehu is Bob Lillie, a professor in geosciences and the education and outreach manager for Earthscope.

"We're excited about it," Trehu said. "We think we have something new to offer and it's a great opportunity."

Trehu said OSU was chosen because of how involved researchers at OSU are with earth science.

"We have a very wide range of earth science research here," Trehu said. "There are scientists at OSU that's involved with every aspect of Earthscope research including volcanoes, the Earth's crust, and geological research."

The job of the national office is to coordinate science planning and education outreach.

Trehu said researchers will be looking to find data to answer questions such as "why are the Rocky Mountains there?" or "why do earthquakes happen?" The data collected will be given to national parks for the park rangers to inform the public about their area.

"Earthscope is like building a telescope to look into the Earth," Trehu said.

She said the data is collected from seismometers and Global Position System stations. These stations look into the inner workings of the Earth's crust by recording seismic waves and measuring the motions of the Earth's surface.
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