4D Workshop, June 2018

Robert Hazen and colleague Yana Bromberg (Technical University of Munich / Rutgers University) are co-chairing the Organizing Committee for an upcoming workshop on data-driven discovery in the Earth sciences. The 4D Workshop: Deep-time Data Driven Discovery and the Evolution of Earth will be convened June 4-6, 2018 in Washington DC thanks to generous support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, NASA, the Keck Foundation, the Earth Life Science Institute (Japan), the Carnegie Institution for Science, the Templeton Foundation, and others.

Workshop organizers aim to explore ways to advance our understanding of Earth’s complex co-evolving geosphere and biosphere through the collection, analysis, and visualization of large and growing data resources. Thanks to years of intensive efforts in developing the Keck- and Sloan-supported Deep-Time Data Infrastructure (http://dtdi.carnegiescience.edu), which analyzes, quantifies, and visualizes Earth history as a system of patterned co-evolving networks, researchers are poised to make transformational advances in understanding the planet’s evolution.

The 4D Workshop for Deep-Time Data Driven Discovery will be convened as prelude to a potential long-term program to invent, modify, and apply emerging methods of data analysis and visualization to elucidate the planet’s past, present, and future. Earth’s evolution has been an intertwined succession of increasingly complex physical, chemical, and biological events. Keys to discovery lie in the continued integration, development, and exploitation of data, facilities, and expertise. The 4D Workshop will gather bio-, geo-, and data experts from around the world to explore pathways to a deeper understanding of the origins and evolution of our home and ourselves.

For more information about the workshop, visit www.4d-workshop.net