Program NewsOcean Drilling ProgramOrganizational and Personnel NewsIn addition to moving to the new Marine Geosciences Section along with the Marine Geology & Geophysics Program, ODP is also experiencing some staff changes. Jamie Allan departed to become the department chair at Appalachian State University. He will be missed, and we wish him well in his new position. We want to welcome Brad Clement from Florida International University who arrived at the beginning of May to fill this vacated position. We are also searching to fill a second visiting scientist/engineer position recently identified for the ODP Program. It is expected that this position will concentrate on IODP planning - specifically with respect to the acquisition of the non-riser drill ship. The position was announced in the November 16 issue of EOS and is described in the vacancy section of this newsletter. ODP plans for our FY 2001 budget include increases in U.S. ODP scientific research, including incremental support for drilling-related research under the MARGINS initiative. ODP Field ProgramsFocused funding at NSF in support of ODP science is divided between the US Science Support Program (USSSP) administered by JOI ($6.4M in FY 2000) and a separate unsolicited proposal/grant activity administered by NSF ($9M in FY 2000). As most of you probably know, you can keep abreast of USSSP news by going to http://www.joi-odp.org/ USSSP/. At NSF, ODP field programs supported for calendar year 2001 include: (1) an MCS and OBS study of rifting processes in the Gulf of Aden under the direction of Neil Driscoll (WHOI), John Diebold (LDEO) and Brian Taylor (University of Hawaii); (2) an MCS study of megamullions on the Mid Atlantic Ridge by Brian Tucholke (WHOI); (3) a heat flow study of the eastern Cocos plate under the direction of Andy Fisher (UCSC); (4) an MCS study of the Gulf of Corinth led by Brian Taylor (University of Hawaii); (6) construction and installation of instrumentation in the corks to be deployed at Nankai under the direction of Keir Becker (RSMAS); and (7) installation of fly-in corks in eastern Pacific ODP holes. Additional proposals for field programs are under review. To view what is being funded through the NSF/ODP unsolicited proposal/grant activity you can go to: https://www.nsf.gov/home/ grants/grants_awards.htm/. Emphasis for field programs in 2002 will shift to planning for IODP drilling -more on this soon in a future article. Integrated Ocean Drilling ProgramThe International Working Group (IWG) for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) post-2003 continues to make solid progress toward developing the principles and framework for a new drilling program to be in place by October 1, 2003. The major events at the IWG meeting in January included the following three discussions:
To catch-up further on planning activities for future scientific ocean drilling we recommend that you watch the IODP web site: http://www.iodp.org. EXCOM/SCICOM Leadership ChangesBefore closing we would like to take this opportunity to issue a warm welcome to Drs. Chris Harrison and Keir Becker, as the new chairs of EXCOM and SCICOM respectively, with the move of the JOIDES office from the GEOMAR ResearchCenter, University of Kiel, Germany to the University of Miamis Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. We wish them well with their new responsibilities in this evolving and challenging period for scientific ocean drilling. At the same time, we would like to express a sincere debt of gratitude to the outgoing EXCOM and SCICOM chairs Drs. Helmut Beiersdorf (Bundesanstalt für Geowissennschafteen und Rohstoffe, Germany) and Bill Hay for their efforts on behalf of JOIDES during the past two years. Bruce Malfait (bmalfait@nsf.gov)
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