Strategic Plan

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Taylor’s trip to the Solomon Islands exemplified an area of research targeted by the Jackson School’s new strategic plan, the development of a strong rapid response research capability.

As the plan notes, Earth’s natural history is punctuated by important events such as major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and floods, which have tremendous environmental and societal impact and often leave a profound mark on the geological record. Such events may be more important to the evolution of Earth’s systems than the slow and steady background processes. As a community, however, geoscientists are hamstrung in their ability to make critical, time-sensitive observations regarding such major transient events. The research is expensive, and generally geoscientists must write proposals to obtain funding for field work after an event has taken place. As a result, notes the plan, “a new paradigm is required to enable rapid collection of data when the urgency is greatest.”

The JSG can develop the capability to respond rapidly to important transient events to document their effects, install instrumentation, and conduct geophysical surveys to examine their causes and development over time. The school is focusing on building rapid-response teams for the following three types of events:

1. Earthquakes/tsunamis/volcanoes, landslides and mudflows
2. Glacial surges/retreats/ice-shelf collapses
3. Hurricanes/flooding/ground water events

For more information see the plan online or contact the school to request a copy, 512-472-6048, communications@jsg.utexas.edu.

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by Marc Airhart

For more information about the Jackson School contact J.B. Bird at jbird@jsg.utexas.edu, 512-232-9623.