SUBSURFACE SCIENCE

In addition to fostering collaborative research programs, INRA educates future environmental scientists and engineers via a multi-disciplinary subsurface science Ph.D. program offered at its campuses and the INL.  This Subsurface Science Research Institute (SSRI) is developed in concert by the INRA institutions and the INL.  This is the first time that a multi-disciplinary multi-institutional doctoral-level educational program has been offered by this many research universities in five Western states.

Official SSRI Website

Contacts

Core Course & Electives

SSRI Video

Subsurface Science is the study of the processes that occur in the uppermost part of the Earth’s crust (nominally the first few hundred meters).  These processes involve the complex interplay of phenomena  such as biological activity, geochemical reactions, multiphase fluid flow, and mechanical deformation.  Advances in subsurface science are driven by social and political pressures to solve problems associated with natural resources, natural hazards, and environmental quality.  It is clear that subsurface science is a field rich in opportunities for graduate research and education across a broad spectrum of disciplines.

While performing research in this Institute, Ph.D. scientists and engineers who can provide a scientific understanding of the biogeochemical phenomena that dictate subsurface reactive transport will work together to solve one of our nation’s  pressing environmental challenges.

The SSRI uses modern distance delivery techniques for all of the courses, seminars, administration, and other meetings that it requires.

The SSRI relies heavily on Internet transport of H.323 A/V signals for real-time distance delivery, a modern Internet-based course management system for dissemination of material, and other infrastructure committed both centrally and at the individual member sites.

In so doing, a workforce will be prepared to effectively address not only our nation’s environmental challenges, but also the challenges in other nations.

Committee Accomplishments

Between April 2002 and June 2002, INRA assembled the Graduate Deans from each campus and technical experts from the INRA faculty and the INL staff to form committees on Curriculum Development and Instructional Design and Technology.  These groups have accomplished the following:

• Removed administrative barriers at all member universities, so that course credit earned at each institution can be granted to students at the other INRA universities
• Established common procedures for reporting and monitoring student performance in this program
• Designed, proposed, and selected a multi-block core course for SSRI students, which starts in the fall semester of 2002.  The course includes participation from all INRA universities and education in fields such as subsurface architecture, subsurface chemistry and microbiology, surficial processes, and flow and transport
• Designed, proposed, and selected two elective courses to be offered in the spring of 2003
• Selected common hardware and software so all campuses have common infrastructure to offer all courses in real-time
• Designed new systems for Central Switching and Operations Management and for Standard Course Management
• Allocated $1.4 million to highly-qualified Ph.D. students for multiple-year stipends ($25,000 each year, equivalent to an NSF doctoral fellowship, plus $10,000 for tuition/fees and laboratory support), beginning fall 2002

Funding

The SSRI received initial funding for $3.8 million in FY 2002 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under contract DE-FG07-02ID14277.  Funding was received from DOE in March 2002 but was delayed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for another month.