Abstract

We propose the establishment of a biennial conference series, the Meeting of Young Researchers in the Earth Sciences (MYRES), for junior scientists in geochemistry, geodynamics, mineral physics, seismology, and related Solid Earth fields. Our aim is to further science by accelerating the growth of an interdisciplinary, international, open, and unbiased community of colleagues who interact regularly to informally exchange ideas, data, and tools, and formulate new collaborative research projects. The focus of each MYRES meeting will be the review and discussion of a major outstanding problem in Earth Science. By bringing together specialists to educate each other about the specific issues each discipline can address, we aim to generate a broad understanding of the nature of the constraints different disciplines can provide on the problem. From this, we will gain a broader understanding, new ideas for each specialist's own research, and new multidisciplinary research initiatives.

The proposed conferences will be aimed specifically at (but not strictly limited to) the younger members of the community (from senior graduate students to junior faculty) with the goal of creating an environment in which fundamental assumptions and paradigms are openly discussed. Keynote lectures will be given by junior faculty or senior post-docs with an eye not toward showing their own results, but rather toward giving an overview of the current state of their sub-discipline, the key assumptions inherent therein, and the degree to which constraints should be considered ``firm'' or ``soft''. Small dedicated conferences with similar format exist but often tend to be dominated in attendance and scientific agenda by senior members of the community. We think that the special environment MYRES will provide and our grass-roots approach will relax some of the limitations and obstacles to cross-departmental interaction of junior scholars that exist in places, not least by supporting conference fees and travel support for all students. Beyond the individual meetings, the MYRES web-site will provide free access to all instructional material and serve as a community resource year-round.

MYRES' goals are to establish a framework for unhindered, international scientific cooperation. We believe that such community-building efforts will not only have a substantial educational impact but will help to improve the overall effectiveness of research in the Earth Sciences. The conference series and MYRES' broader efforts will:

• educate participants about basic and cutting edge results in each discipline,

• critically evaluate common assumptions and methods,

• provide an environment for specialists to jointly work on a hard problem and formulate solution strategies,

• foster collaboration among research groups and disciplines not traditionally aligned,

• give young researchers training in communicating effectively across disciplines,

• be judged and held accountable by means of questionnaires and other forms of feedback and review during all stages of the proceedings, and

• produce openly accessible and high-quality instructional material in electronic form, to be hosted on the MYRES website which will eventually serve as a general community forum.