ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION www.sloan.org | proposal guidelines
PROPOSAL COVER SHEET Project Information Principal Investigator Kerstin Lehnert, PhD
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Columbia University
61 Route 9W
Palisades, NY, 10976 USA
845-365-8506, [email protected]
Grantee Organization: Columbia University
Amount Requested: $40,000
Requested Start Date: December 1, 2012
Requested End Date: November 30, 2013
DiamondDB: Community Data Infrastructure for Diamond Research within the Deep
Carbon Observatory
Project Goal The goal of this project is to create a community data infrastructure for diamond samples and the data generated by
their study as part of the development of the Deep Carbon Virtual Observatory. DiamondDB will be a critical part of
the international infrastructure for diamond research that the ‘Diamonds and Mantle Geodynamics of Carbon’
(DMGC) initiative aims to establish to advance studies of natural diamonds and experiments on diamond-forming
fluids/melts for the understanding of carbon mobility in Earth’s mantle and to ensure lasting knowledge transfer.
Objectives Our objective is to generate high-quality information resources that will facilitate the sharing of diamond samples
and data and that are essential for the research not only within the Diamonds and Mantle Geodynamics of Carbon
(DMGC) initiative, but across all DCO Directorates. Working closely with the DCO Data Science and DCO
Engagement teams, we will contribute to and strengthen the overall information resources for DCO research,
education, and public outreach and expand their impact. We will do so by leveraging geochemical data systems and
standards, expertise, and robust infrastructure of the EarthChem group (www.earthchem.org), which is part of the
Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA) data facility (www.iedadata.org).
Proposed Activities We propose to develop shared information resources for diamond samples and data that will support the goals and
activities of the DMGC consortium - fostering scientific interaction and research among DMGC investigators. With
the funds requested in this proposal, we will build an online catalog of the internationally accessible diamond
reference collection that the DMGC will establish. We will provide tools and protocols for sample owners and
encourage them to contribute information about samples via the System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR,
www.geosamples.org). We will compile an initial diamond data synthesis, gathering data acquired on diamonds and
diamond inclusions and published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. The compiled data will be accessible
online via the PetDB database, which is a web-based scientific database that has for over a decade developed and
maintained a synthesis of geochemical and petrological data of rocks, minerals, and inclusions. PetDB has
successfully demonstrated the impact of advanced data management on scientific discovery with now over 400
citations in the scientific literature. We envision a similar impact of the DiamondDB.
Expected Products The chief products of the proposal will be (a) an online catalog of the DMGC diamond reference collection that will
provide information about samples such as type of diamond, collection location and date, and their availability; and
(b) a diamond database compiled from the literature and accessible through the PetDB data system. A third product
will be a web site for the DiamondDB that will provide information about status of DiamondDB, guidelines for
sample registration and data contribution, and links to the online data collections and search tools.
Expected Outcomes The expected outcomes will be a new, highly improved level of diamond sample and data sharing through online
catalogs and synthesis databases that will support data and sample discovery, access, and analysis, and that will
further the goals and activities of the DMGC consortium - advancing the frontiers of deep carbon research.
1
DIAMONDDB: COMMUNITY DATA INFRASTRUCTURE FOR DIAMOND
RESEARCH WITHIN THE DEEP CARBON OBSERVATORY
Dr. Kerstin A. Lehnert, Principal Investigator
Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory
Columbia University
Palisades NY 10964, USA, [email protected]
Project Participants
Dr. Yue Cai, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
Dr. Erik Hauri, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Dr. Steven Shirey, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Dr. Peter Fox, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
1. SCIENTIFIC JUSITIFICATION
Question: What is the main issue, problem, or subject and why is it important?
The central goal of this proposal is to create shared data resources that support the
scientific goals of the Diamonds and Mantle Geodynamics of Carbon (DMGC) research
consortium of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO), while contributing to the overall
advancement of DCO Data Science and the decadal goals of the Deep Carbon Observatory. The
main scientific goal of the DMGC is to use diamonds for novel studies that specifically address
carbon cycling, answering not only some of the main questions of the DCO Reservoirs and
Fluxes Directorate, but also fundamental questions of the other DCO Deep Life and Extreme
Physics and Chemistry Directorates. Sharing of diamond samples, procurement of new samples,
creating a catalogue of samples available for study, and easy access to a comprehensive and
expertly maintained synthesis of the data that have been generated over the past decades by the
study of diamonds were identified as critical components of the DMGC’s activities. The
proposed activities will develop digital data infrastructure to support these goals.
Diamond, one of the two commonly found native carbon minerals on Earth (the other
2
being graphite), is a rare mineral, occurring at the part-per-billion level even within the most
diamondiferous volcanic host rock. Diamonds can crystallize throughout the entire mantle deeper
than about 150 km and are usually the chief minerals left from their depth of formation, because
intact diamondiferous mantle xenoliths are rare. Due to the durability of diamond and often its
ancient age, the carbon it retains and mineral inclusions it hosts remain the deepest, oldest
samples of the mantle ever found on Earth. Thus, diamond study has a unique position to reveal
the deep workings of Earth’s igneous carbon cycle both now and in the ancient past - a central
goal of the DCO.
The study of naturally occurring diamond over the last 40 years has provided a vast
amount of extraordinary new knowledge about the origin, evolution, and state of the Earth’s
interior, published in more than 10,000 journal articles in the scientific literature. Highlights have
been described in more detail by S. Shirey et al. in the DMGC proposal to the Sloan Foundation.
This scientific knowledge is ultimately derived from data that were acquired by often expensive
and irreproducible analytical measurements performed on the diamonds, on inclusions found
within them, and on the rocks that contained the diamonds. These data represent a highly
valuable resource for future studies, especially if they can become accessible in the form of an
expert synthesis, similar to the highly successful petrological databases PetDB and GEOROC
(see below).
Diamonds, with all they have to reveal about the deep Earth, are nearly completely absent
from extant petrological data collections despite the large number of journal articles devoted to
natural diamond. Investigators who want to use diamond data in their research are still required
to manually compile data from data tables in digital or non-digital publications into spreadsheets,
and/or contact their colleagues for unpublished data or data compilations. This is a tedious,
3
labor-intensive, and inefficient effort.
Another situation that impedes progress in diamond research is the lack of a central
catalog of specimens. Identifying and procuring diamond samples for new studies from existing
collections is a challenge. Students or investigators, who are looking for specimens from
particular mines, specimens with specific properties or types of inclusions, or previously studied
samples, and who are not familiar with the field, might not know whom to contact, or receive no
answers to requests.
With funds requested in this proposal, we will create a community data infrastructure for
diamond samples and data from diamond studies that will provide new and novel ways to access
and share these data and samples and contribute to the development of resources for the Deep
Carbon Virtual Observatory, which is described by P. Fox in the DCO Data Science proposal to
the Sloan Foundation, and to the long-lasting legacy of the Deep Carbon Observatory.
2. SAMPLE-BASED DATA IMPLEMENTATIONS
Questions: (1) What is the major related work in this field? (2) Why is the proposer(s)
qualified to address the issue or subject, for which funds are being sought?
The majority of data generated in the Earth sciences are time-series observations acquired
by sensors and satellites. A second, more complex and very rich dataset is acquired through the
study of samples that are collected in the field for analysis in the lab. Among these sample-based
data are the results of petrological and geochemical measurements performed on rocks and
minerals, including mantle xenoliths, diamonds, and inclusions within these diamonds. Principal
investigator K. Lehnert has been leading the development of sample-based databases, including
the PetDB database (Lehnert et al. 2000), the EarthChem data portal (Lehnert et al. 2003), and
the SESAR registry for globally unique sample identifiers, the International Geo Sample Number
4
IGSN (Lehnert et al. 2005).
Petrological synthesis databases such as PetDB (www.earthchem.org/petdb) and
GEOROC (georoc.mpch-mainz.gwdg.de/georoc/) were conceived in the mid 1990s by visionary
scientists like A.W. Hofmann, C. H. Langmuir, and W.F. Ryan, who recognized the potential of
rapidly evolving information and communication technologies to provide easy access to large
compilations of scientific data that could be readily re-used and mined for new studies. These
databases have revolutionized data access for the igneous geochemistry community, providing
unprecedented opportunities for analysis and interpretation of geochemical data that were not
possible before and that have lead to a wide range of new discoveries (Lehnert and Langmuir,
2008). PetDB alone now has been cited over 400 times in the scientific literature
(www.earthchem.org/citations/petdb). Further geochemical databases such as SedDB (marine
sediment geochemistry, Lehnert et al. 2007), the Deep Lithosphere Dataset (mantle xenolith
petrology, Block et al. 2007), NAVDAT (North American Volcanic & Intrusive Rock Database,
Walker et al. 2006), MetPetDB (metamorphic petrology, Spear et al. 2009), LEPR (Library of
Experimental Phase Relations, Hirschmann et al. 2008), and CZchemDB (soil geochemistry, Niu
et al., 2011) have been developed over the past decade using a similiar data model and system
concept.
The common concept of these databases is to compile data and a wide range of relevant
metadata that describe each analyzed sample (origin, type, collection process) and each
analytical data point (analytical technique, lab, data quality) into a relational database. Metadata
are harmonized through use of controlled vocabularies for material classification, geographical
and geological names, analytical techniques, etc. A web-based user interface allows users search
for data at a fine granularity (individual data points), and compile data of their choice into new
5
customized datasets. Such datasets can contain values from potentially hundreds of scientific
articles and would have taken weeks or months to compile manually.
Throughout the development of these databases, the lack of unique sample identification
presented a major challenge. Many sample names in the literature are duplicated, or samples
have been renamed over the course of their analytical history, preventing unambiguous
referencing of samples to data and integration of data acquired on the same sample in different
labs and published in separate articles. In consequence, Lehnert developed the International Geo
Sample Number (IGSN, www.igsn.org) and the System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR,
www.geosamples.org) to implement globally unique identification of specimens. The IGSN is
now recognized as the primary solution of sample registration and identification. In December
2011, an international group of geoscience institutions and agencies founded the IGSN e.V. as
the international governing body of the IGSN. Publisher Elsevier has added the IGSN to
guidelines for authors, and linking between online articles and sample metadata profiles in
SESAR via the IGSN is under development.
3. DIAMONDDB
Question: What is the output from the project?
We will develop DiamondDB as a set of integrated data resources consisting of (1) an
initial synthesis of analytical data generated by the study of diamonds, their inclusions, and their
compositions, and (2) a catalogue of diamond samples to provide a ‘Virtual Diamond Reference
Collection’. The data synthesis will contain geochemical and petrological data acquired on
diamonds and inclusions within these diamonds, with a wide range of metadata about the
diamond and inclusion samples and the analytical data quality and procedure. The specimen
catalog will hold information about individual diamond samples such as origin, type, size,
6
images, links to publications, and the name of the person, lab, or collection that keep the
specimen.
We will build and operate DiamondDB in the most cost-effective and sustainable way,
leveraging the principal investigator’s long-term experience and leadership in the development
of sample-based data implementations, and the well established and professionally managed
infrastructure of the Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA) facility (www.iedadata.org) that
fulfills the requirements of the Cooperative Agreement with the US National Science
Foundation. We will use existing system components of IEDA’s EarthChem program
(www.earthchem.org), namely the PetDB synthesis database (www.earthchem.org/petdb) and
the System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR, www.geosamples.org), to build
DiamondDB. Both data systems will need only minor modifications to accommodate the
diamond data. Data compilation and sample registration can start immediately.
3.1. DATA INFRASTRUCTURE FOR DIAMOND SAMPLES
We will establish an online catalog of diamond samples that are available for research in
laboratories and collections all over the world, taking advantage of the SESAR system. SESAR
consists of a sample metadata catalogue, a web-based catalogue search interface, and a web
application for users to register and manage their samples in a secure (authenticated) work space
(MySESAR). Users can submit sample metadata either for individual samples in a web form or
by uploading template spreadsheets with metadata for groups of samples. We will encourage
owners of diamond samples to register their samples as soon as we have produced the necessary
guidelines for describing the diamond samples in a coherent and useful way. We will design a
diamond data template customized for the unique characteristics of diamonds (e.g. morphology,
type, N aggregation, etc) that we will disseminate to sample owners. We will start assembling the
7
catalogue with the specimens that are in possession of the project leaders.
3.2. DATA INFRASTRUCTURE FOR DIAMOND PETROLOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY
We will accession existing diamond data from the literature, a large component of which
has been produced by DMGC Project Leaders and Project partners, into the PetDB database of
EarthChem (www.earthchem.org). This unified collection of analytical data that have been
generated by the study of diamonds over decades will be a lasting contribution of DMGC to the
study of deep carbon and mantle geodynamics.
As a first step, we will assemble a comprehensive database of publications with relevant
diamond datasets and prioritize these in collaboration with DMGC Project partners. Using
existing PetDB data entry routines and tools, we will compile data and metadata into data entry
templates that will be ingested into the database by EarthChem technical staff. One of
EarthChem’s main achievements has been the community-driven development of metadata
standards for geochemical data through workshops, the Editors Roundtable
(http://www.earthchem.org/editors), and collaboration with other geochemical data systems.
These standards have been approved and adopted by the major journals publishing geochemical
data. As part of the data compilation, we will ensure that data included in DiamondDB will be
properly documented following these standards. This will require communication with authors to
gather critical metadata that often have not been included in the publications. For example, our
experience is that many geochemical samples are lacking geospatial coordinates that are essential
for geospatial (map-based) searches. We will work with the DMGC consortium to ensure that
additional unique metadata that are necessary to categorize and classify diamonds will be
incorporated to the database. Following EarthChem procedures, we will alert authors to perform
a quality check of the data after a dataset is included in the database.
8
Once data are included in the PetDB database, they will not only be searchable via the
PetDB search interface, but will also become available via web services in the standardized data
exchange format EarthChemXML. These services will allow client applications to harvest the
data and ensure their integration with the data infrastructure of the Deep Carbon Virtual
Observatory.
We expect that within the 7 months of the Postdoc’s effort, datasets from a maximum of
ca. 80 publications can be compiled and ingested. This number is based on long-term experience
with data entry for the PetDB database and reflects the effort required to gather and organize the
wide range and complexity of the data and metadata that need to be gathered and the rigorous
quality control routines.
3.3. DIAMONDDB WEB SITE
We will establish a web site for the DiamondDB project within the EarthChem domain to
inform the community about the project and its progress, to encourage contributions to the
sample catalog and data compilation and provide guidelines for sample registration and data
submission. The web page will link to the SESAR catalog search and the PetDB search
application.
4. BUDGET JUSTIFICATION, LEVERAGING
Questions: What is the justification for the amount of money requested? What other sources of
support does the proposer have in hand or has he/she applied for to support the project?
Support from the Sloan Foundation in the amount of $40K is requested to fund the initial
development of the DiamondDB. The funds requested will be used to support Postdoctoral
Research Scientist Yue Cai to perform the following tasks: 1. Work with project partners S.
Shirey, E. Hauri, and the DMGC steering committees to (a) evaluate and modify current
9
EarthChem and SESAR sample metadata profiles to ensure that all relevant information about
diamond samples and diamond data is captured in the databases, (b) compile a comprehensive
bibliography of diamond studies from DMGC investigators that will be made available on the
DiamondDB web site, and (c) prioritize datasets to be included in the first version of
DiamondDB; 2. Enter data from published articles into EarthChem data entry templates, and
communicate with authors to ensure completeness and correctness of metadata; perform QA/QC
procedures for the data, working with EarthChem data managers; 3. Assist DMGC project
leaders, project partners and other prominent diamond researchers with registration of diamond
samples in the System for Earth Sample Registration.
The requested funding only includes salary support of the postdoctoral research scientist.
This investment will be substantially leveraged by the existing infrastructure of the IEDA data
facility that will provide hardware, software, and an expert team of system engineers and
administrators, application developers, and data managers who operate and maintain the
geochemical data systems and the sample registry SESAR. A significant amount of contributed
value is also leveraged from the host institution in the form of salary support for the project
leader Lehnert, who will supervise the development of DiamondDB, and who will coordinate the
developments with the DMGC leadership and DCO Data Science partners.
The institution also provides the facilities to conduct the work, including climate-controlled
space for the IEDA server infrastructure, network support, and office space.
10
5. CURRICULA VITAE
KERSTIN A. LEHNERT
LAMONT-DOHERTY EARTH OBSERVATORY OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
PALISADES, NY 10964
Phone: 845-365-8506 Fax: 845-365-8162
Email: [email protected]
Professional Preparation:
·
Diplom, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
·
Ph.D., Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i. Breisgau, Germany
Thesis title: "Petrology of Carbonatite Dikes in the Kaiserstuhl"
Appointments:
Since 2009 Senior Research Scientist (Project),
Director, Integrated Earth Data Applications
2006-2009 Director, Geoinformatics for Geochemistry Program
2005-2009 Administrative Director for Research, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
2003-2005 Coordinator for Research Administration, Office of the Director, Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory
1996-2003 Sr. Staff Associate, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
project manager RIDGE PetDB; lab manager (DCP, EMP, ICP-MS), research
associate
1985-1996 Staff associate, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Department of Geochemistry,
Mainz, Germany
Lab manager (XRF, HPLC); system administrator; executive assistant of the
Director of the Geochemistry department; safety engineer.
1980-1982 Research Assistant, Institut für Mineralogie und Petrologie,
Universität Freiburg i. Breisgau, Germany
RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS TO THE PROPOSED WORK
Niu, X., Lehnert, K. A., Williams, J., Brantley, S. L., “CZChemDB and EarthChem: Advancing
management and access of critical zone geochemical data”, Applied Geochemistry, Vol. 26,
Suppl. 1, S108-S111, 2011
Lehnert, K. A., Goldstein, S. L., Johansson, A., Murray, R. W., Pisias, N. G., Vinayagamoorthy,
S., Djapic, B., “SedDB – A New Information System to Facilitate Use of Marine Sediment
Geochemistry in Science and Education”, MARGINS Newsletter, Vol. 18: 9-11, 2007.
Cervato, C., Goldstein, S. L., Grossman, E. L., Lehnert, K., McArthur, J. M., “Joint Discussion of
Sedimentary Geochemistry Data Management Systems That Cross the Waterline”, EOS Trans.
AGU, 85, 44, 2004
Lehnert, K.A., Su, Y., Langmuir, C.H., Sarbas, B., Nohl, U., "A global geochemical database
structure for rocks", G3, Volume 1, 2000.
1
Staudigel, H., Helly, J., Koppers, A.A.P., Shaw, H., McDonough, W., Hofmann, A., Langmuir,
C.H., Lehnert, K., Sarbas, B., Derry, L., Zindler, A., “Electronic Data Publication in
Geochemistry”. G3, Volume 4, 2003.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Goldstein, S. L., Soffer, G., Langmuir, C.H., Lehnert, K. A., Graham, D. W., Michael, P. J.,
“Origin of a ‘Southern Hemisphere’ geochemical signature in the Arctic upper mantle”, Nature,
453, 89-93, 2008.
Carbotte, S.M., Arko, R. Chayes, D., Haxby, W., Lehnert, K., O’Hara, S., Ryan, W.B.F., Weissel,
R.A., Shipley, T., Gahagan, L., Johnson, K., Shanks, T., “New Integrated Data Management
System for Ridge2000 and MARGINS Research.” EOS Trans AGU, 85, 51, 553, 2004
Michael, P.J., Langmuir, C.H., , Dick, H. J. B. , Snow, J. E., Goldstein, S. L., Graham, D. W.,
Lehnert, K., Kurras, G., Jokat, W., Mühe, R., Edmonds, H. N., “Magmatic and amagmatic
seafloor generation at the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge, Arctic Ocean”, Nature, 423, 956961, 2003
Hubberten, H.-W., Katz-Lehnert, K.A., Keller, J., "Carbon and oxygen isotope investigations in
carbonatites and related rocks from the Kaiserstuhl, Germany",
Chem. Geol., 70, 257-274, 1988.
Arndt, N.T., Lehnert, K.A., Vasil'ev, Y., "Meimechites: highly magnesian alkaline magmas from
the subcontinental lithosphere?", Lithos 34, 41-59, 1995.
SYNERGISTIC ACTIVITIES
• Member of the NSF Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure
• Member of the Policy Committee of UCAR’s Unidata facility
• Vice-chair of the Geoinformatics Division of the Geological Society of America (starting
term as chair in November 2012)
• President-elect of the Earth & Space Science Informatics Focus Group of the American
Geophysical Union (starting January 2013)
• Organization of numerous short courses & workshops
§ “EarthChem Community Workshop”, Montreal, Canada, June 2012
§ “Using Online Igneous Geochemical Databases for Research and Teaching”.
Washington State University, March 2008.
§ “Data Resources for the Geosciences” (Joint short course of GfG and MGDS at GSA
2007); Denver CO, October 2007.
• Mentoring of Postdoctoral Research Scientists Dr. K. Block, Dr. Leslie Hsu
2
Yue (Merry) Cai LAMONT-‐‑DOHERTY EARTH OBSERVATORY OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PALISADES, NY 10964, U.S.A. Phone: 845-‐‑365-‐‑8668, Fax: 845-‐‑365-‐‑8155 Email: [email protected] Professional Preparation: Peking University, China Geochemistry and Petrology B.A. -‐‑ 1997 Columbia University Isotope Geology PhD -‐‑ 2009 Appointments: 2008-‐‑present: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Lamont-‐‑Doherty Earth Obs. 09/08-‐‑07/12: Lecturer in Discipline, Columbia Science Fellow, Columbia University, U.S.A. 05/06-‐‑01/04: Teaching Assistant, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, U.S.A. 2001-‐‑2008: Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, U.S.A. Publications: Straub S.M., Gomez-‐‑Tuena A., Zellmer G.F., Espinasa-‐‑Perena, R., Stuart F.M., Cai, Y., Martin-‐‑
Del Pozzo, A. L., Mesko, G., The process of melt differentiation in arc volcanic rock: insights from OIB-‐‑type magmas in the central Mexican Volcanic Belt, in press, Journal of Petrology Straub S.M., Gomez-‐‑Tuena A., Stuart F.M., Zellmer G.F., Cai, Y., Espinasa-‐‑Perena, R., Formation of hybrid arc andesites beneath thick continental crust. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 303, 337-‐‑347, 2011, DOI:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.01.013, 2011 Zhang, H.F., Goldstein, S.L., Zhou, X.H., Sun, M., Cai, Y., Comprehensive refertilization of lithospheric mantle beneath the North China Craton: further Os-‐‑Sr-‐‑Nd isotopic constraints. Journal of the Geological Society, 166: 249-‐‑259, 2009 Zhang, H-‐‑F., Goldstein, S.L., Zhou, X-‐‑H., Sun, M., Zheng, J-‐‑P, Cai, Y., Evolution of subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath eastern China: Re–Os isotopic evidence from mantle xenoliths in Paleozoic kimberlites and Mesozoic basalts, Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 155, Number 3, March, 2008 Mori, L., Gómez-‐‑Tuena, A., Cai, Y., Goldstein, S.L., Effects of prolonged flat subduction on the Miocene magmatic record of the central Trans-‐‑Mexican Volcanic Belt. Chemical Geology 244 (3-‐‑4): p. 452-‐‑473, 2007 Goldstein S.L., Soffer G., Langmuir C.H., Lehenert K., Cai Y. and P.J. Michael, “Isotope geochemistry of Gakkel Ridge basalts and origin of a “DUPAL” signature”, Ofioliti 31 : 234, 2006 3
Synergistic Activities: Education and Outreach: since 2005, Cai has trained and supervised a number of high school and undergraduate interns in performing analytical chemistry. She has taught as an assistant at Columbia University from 2004 to 2006, responsibilities including curriculum development for lab and field trips. She gave a keynote speech for Earth Day at Hunter College Elementary in 2011. She donated a geologic field trip to Central Park for fund raising at Hunter College Elementary and raised over 500 dollars for the school. Teaching: since August 2008, Cai has devoted most of her time into teaching and designing course curriculum for a new undergraduate science course at Columbia University called Frontiers of Science. This course is a new addition to the core curriculum of Columbia University. The content of the course include active research topics of a number of scientific field, including earth science, astronomy, chemistry and biology. Aside from curriculum development, she has lectured weekly for 2 classes of roughly 40 students and met with students individually to help them work on scientific research projects. Collaborators and Other Affiliations: Nicholas Christie-‐‑Blick (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory), Anna Cipriani (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory and University of Modena, Italy), Cornelia Class (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory), Arturo Gomez-‐‑Tuena (UNAM Juriquilla, Mexico), Sidney R. Hemming (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia University), Alexandra LaGatta (Jorgensen Associates, U.S.A), Charles H. Langmuir (Harvard University), Ivan Savov (University of Leeds, U.K.), Susanne M. Straub (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory). Ph.D. Advisors: Steven L. Goldstein, LDEO and Columbia University Charles H. Langmuir, Harvard University Postdoctoral Advisor: Steven L. Goldstein, LDEO and Columbia University 4
6. REFERENCES
Block, Karin A., K. A. Lehnert, A. Johansson, S. Drymala, A. Fishman, W. F. McDonough, C.T. A. Lee, M. Ducea, R. L. Rudnick, and J. D. Walker. "EarthChem & GeoFRAME:
Supporting New Science With Advanced Access to Petrological Data of the Deep
Lithosphere." In Geological Society of America Annual Meeting abstracts, 2006.
Chan, Sze-Ling., K. A. Lehnert, and R. J. Coleman. "System for Earth Sample Registration
SESAR: Services for IGSN Registration and Sample Metadata Management." In AGU Fall
Meeting Abstracts, vol. 1, p. 1332. 2011.
Hirschmann, Mark. M., Ghiorso, M. S., Davis, F. A., Gordon, S. M., Mukherjee, S., Grove, T.
L., Krawczynski, M., Medard, E., Till, C. B. “Library of Experimental Phase Relations
(LEPR): A database and Web portal for experimental magmatic phase equilibria data.” In
Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 9, issue 3 (2008).
Lehnert, Kerstin. A., Su, Y., Langmuir, C.H., Sarbas, B., Nohl, U. "A global geochemical
database structure for rocks", Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 1 (2000).
Lehnert, Kerstin A., R. Carlson, A. W. Hofmann, C. H. Langmuir, W. C. Lenhardt, B. Sarbas, J.
D. Walker, A. Glazner, and L. Farmer. "EarthChem.org: Integrating Data Management for
Igneous Geochemistry." In Geological Society of America Annual Meeting abstracts, 2003.
Lehnert, K. A., S. L. Goldstein, S. Vinayagamoorthy, and W. C. Lenhardt. "Global Unique
Identification of Geoscience Samples: The International Geo Sample Number (IGSN) and
the System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR)." In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, vol.
1, p. 05. 2005.
Lehnert, Kerstin. A., S. Goldstein, A. Johansson, R. W. Murray, N. Pisais, S. Vinayagamoorthy,
and B. Djapic. "SedDB—A new information system to facilitate use of marine sediment
geochemistry in science and education." MARGINS Newsletter 18 (2007): 9-11.
Lehnert, K A, Walker, D, Vinay, S, Djapic, B, Ash, J, Falk, B: “Community-Based Development
of Standards for Geochemical and Geochronological Data”. Eos Trans. AGU, 88(52), Fall
Meet. Suppl., Abstract IN52A-09, 2007.
Niu, Xianzeng, K. A. Lehnert, J. Williams, and S. L. Brantley. "CZChemDB and EarthChem:
Advancing management and access of critical zone geochemical data." Applied
Geochemistry 26 (2011): S108-S111.
Spear, Frank S., B. Hallett, J. M. Pyle, S. Adalı, B. K. Szymanski, A. Waters, Z. Linder et al.
"MetPetDB: A database for metamorphic geochemistry." Geochemistry Geophysics
Geosystems 10, no. 12 (2009).
Walker, J. Douglas, Todd D. Bowers, Ross A. Black, Allen F. Glazner, G. Lang Farmer, and
Richard W. Carlson. "A geochemical database for western North American volcanic and
intrusive rocks (NAVDAT)." Special Papers-Geological Society of America 397 (2006):
61.
5