index.html

---
layout: default
---

<div class="container">
	<div class="box">
            <h2>Cyber Infrastructure Research & Development Lab for the Earth Sciences</h2>

		<p><strong>CIRDLES</strong> is an undergraduate computer science software engineering initiative at the <a href="http://www.cofc.edu" target="_blank">
			The College of Charleston </a>, Charleston, SC.  We specialize in the collaborative development of free open source software to support science domains.
			This work is supported by the National Science Foundation 
			and other institutions as detailed in <a href="/about/funding/">funding</a>.</p>
		<hr>
		<p><strong>CIRDLES</strong> is creating free open source cyber infrastructure for geochronology in an interdisciplinary collaboration among our
			software engineers and undergraduate research assistants and geochemists and their student researchers, including those from two NSF-supported initiatives,
			<a href="http://www.earthtimetestsite.com/" target="_blank">EARTHTIME</a> and <a href="http://www.earthchem.org//" target="_blank">EarthChem</a>.
			The <a href="http://www.earthtimetestsite.com/" target="_blank">EARTHTIME</a> initiative is a community-supported network of geologists and
			geochemists focused on providing the tools necessary for high-precision sequencing of earth history using an integration of radioisotopic
			dating and stratigraphy. The <a href="http://www.earthchem.org//" target="_blank">EarthChem</a> project is designing data repositories for
			 all geochemical data, including radioisotopic geochronological data.</p>

<hr>
<blockquote><p><strong>CIRDLES</strong> members are designing and building a novel and exemplar end-to-end system for 
	geochronological data processing workflows that links data production to data archiving. The principal software 
	component is <a href="/projects/et_redux/">ET_Redux</a> and supports uranium-lead geochronology and uranium-series geochronology. 
	<a href="/projects/et_redux/">ET_Redux</a> serves as the template for future efforts to process all 
	geochronological data such as other radioisotopic systems involving 40Ar/39Ar, U-Th-He, and Lu-Hf. 
	As part of the end-to-end workflow architecture implemented with <a href="/projects/et_redux/">ET_Redux</a>,
	we also are developing a new version of <a href="/projects/newTripoli/">Tripoli</a> to replace
	<a href="/projects/Tripoli/">the 20-year old "OG Tripoli"</a>.
	 One novel and important aspect of our work is to integrate 
	pedagogical and learning aids into the software products we develop. For example,
	the data reduction algorithms and the equations for the propagation of 
	uncertainty include interactive graphical interfaces to provide
	transparency and to enhance understanding.</p></blockquote>
<hr>
	<p><strong>CIRDLES</strong> is also supporting the earth sciences community by leading the development of free open source a replacement for
		Ken Ludwig's ISOPLOT with the <a href="/projects/topsoil/">Topsoil</a> project.  Additionally, we are hosting a <a href="/projects/commons/">Commons</a>
		where we will provide specific implementation and services for the community.</p>

	<p><strong>CIRDLES</strong> hosts all of its software projects on GitHub at <a href="https://github.com/Cirdles">CIRDLES</a>.</p>
<hr>
		<h3>Here at CIRDLES, we are dedicated to attaining these goals:</h3>
		<ul>
			<li>Learn the foundational aspects of domain-specific software engineering from our work with geochemists;</li>
			<li>Develop software to serve as cyber infrastructure for geochronology - providing services from data analysis to data archiving and compilation;</li>
			<li>Work to benefit both computer science and the earth sciences;</li>
			<li>Provide research opportunities for undergraduate students; and </li>
			<li>Support the teaching efforts of both software engineers and geochemists by producing tangible, open-source artifacts with and for students.</li>
		</ul>
		<h3>Our affiliated organizations:</h3>
		<ul>
			<li><a href="http://www.cs.cofc.edu" target="_blank"> Computer Science Department at The College of Charleston </a></li>
			<li><a href="https://ssme.cofc.edu/additional-programs/ls-alliance-minority-participation/index.php" target="_blank"> Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Formerly SCAMP)	</a></li>
			<li><a href="http://www.nsf.gov" target="_blank">The National Science Foundation</a></li>
			<li><a href="http://www.earthtimetestsite.com" target="_blank">EARTHTIME</a></li>
			<li><a href="http://www.earthchem.org" target="_blank">EarthChem</a></li>
			<li><a href="http://www.geochronportal.org/" target="_blank">Geochron Geological Database Portal</a></li>
			<li><a href="http://earthcube.org/" target="_blank">EarthCube</a></li>
		</ul>

	</div>

</div>