2022 SPATIAL short course
GABRIEL J BOWEN
Hi all –
We are excited to announce the 9th offering of the SPATIAL summer course, to be held in person from August 1-12, 2022, at the University of Utah. This course was designed as an outgrowth of and complement to the long-running IsoCamp course and extends on the participants’ knowledge of isotope fundamentals to help them develop 1) knowledge, 2) skills, and 3) resources useful in analyzing and interpreting isotopic data, particularly by leveraging data science, ‘big data’, and spatial analysis approaches. Throughout the course we seek to develop a strong, diverse, interdisciplinary community and build relationships that last throughout our participants’ careers.
SPATIAL consists of a 2-week series of lectures, delivered by a rotating cast of international experts, coupled with afternoon laboratory sessions and structured and unstructured social and networking opportunities. Laboratories are structured as 2, 1-week projects in which teams of students and instructors work collaboratively to design, execute, and present novel data analysis projects and develop student skills through an immersive, ‘learning-by-doing’ approach. Although sample analysis is not a primary focus of the course, participants will get limited exposure to laser-based methods for isotope ratio analysis and will work with script-based tools for processing and QA/QC of data from these instruments.
The SPATIAL course is open to all graduate students and postdocs whose work could be advanced though the class. Our students have backgrounds in a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to anthropology/archaeology, biogeochemistry, climate science, ecology/physiology, forensic science, hydrology, and geoscience. The admission process is competitive, and participants are selected by a committee of faculty based on their preparedness and potential to benefit from the course, and to ensure that each cohort represents a diversity of disciplinary interests, backgrounds, and perspectives. Faculty and other professional researchers are also welcomed to apply to the lecture portion of the course, but lab session capacity is limited and students and postdocs are prioritized for these slots.
Costs associated with the course include travel to Salt Lake City, housing, and a course fee. A limited amount of funding is available to help offset costs for students who do not have access to other sources of support.
For more information, and to apply by February 15, 2022, visit https://itce.utah.edu/spatial.html. You can also follow us on Twitter at @SPATIALisotopes to get updates and learn more about the course and those involved.
Happy New Years, everyone,
Gabe
Gabriel J. Bowen
Professor
Geology & Geophysics
University of Utah
115 S 1460 E
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
OIPC: The Online Isotopes in Precipitation Calculator