Projects and Grants per year
Grants and Contracts Details
Description
Request for REU Supplement: Award 2131940
Mid-scale RI-1 (M1:IP) EduceLab - Infrastructure for Next-Generation Heritage Science
Summary of Proposed Work
We request funds for eight undergraduate students to engage in field and laboratory
work that will help prepare EduceLab for its ultimate commissioning as a Heritage
Science user facility. Heritage Science is the application of high-tech tools and
techniques of science, along with its systematic rigor, to the study and analysis of
cultural heritage. The EduceLab design consists of four operational clusters – BENCH,
MOBILE, FLEX, and CYBER – each of which will provide unique scientific and technical
capabilities for studies in Heritage Science. EduceLab will serve both as a platform for
discovery and exploration of cultural and heritage objects as well as an incubator of new
approaches and tools for Heritage Science. Students will participate in activities
designed to test the usage, integration, and synergy of the four clusters under
development that make up the EduceLab mid-scale infrastructure.
MOBILE+CYBER
The EduceLab commission plan includes a number of prototype projects to be
developed as equipment becomes ready for testing and integration into the overall
operational cluster. As part of this process, a summer archaeological excavation will
serve as an unprecedented and first test case for EduceLab within the context of
recovering and analyzing the material record of a unique historical site on location.
Students will participate in the analysis and interpretation of newly and formerly
recovered cultural heritage items from the Historic Spring Site in Newport, Rhode Island.
Research conducted will include the application of site-wide optical 3D scanning and
photogrammetry through MOBILE instrumentation. They will test and experiment with
capabilities for data integration and data sharing between the MOBILE and CYBER
clusters.
BENCH+FLEX+CYBER
In addition to the on-site curation of field-retrieved materials in Rhode Island, students
will select a sample of artifacts for further in-lab analysis using BENCH instrumentation
(via CYBER) during the academic year. They will use BENCH image processing
software with algorithms and parameters to maximize site renderings for metrical
analysis.
Students will also engage in the development of capabilities that leverage BENCH
instrumentation. Particular attention will be focused on the complementarity of available
techniques within the BENCH cluster. For example, similar samples will be studied using
a variety of techniques, such as image acquisition and processing at multiple length
scales, primarily using optical and electron microscopy; 3D scanning of objects with light
and X-ray based instrumentation to be combined with information gained from 2D
imaging techniques; and imaging processing software and scripting for combining multi-
scale datasets into visually effective presentations. Other students will focus on
compositional analysis of materials using techniques such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF)
spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging, and compare outcomes from
both instruments.
Finally, students will work to correlate and synthesize the wide variety of data acquired
into unified datasets and figures. In developing the instrumental capability of EduceLab,
students will survey a wide variety of materials to build a broad dataset within EduceLab.
This will include a range of samples relevant to various heritage contexts, such as
cultural artifacts and curated collections, biological remains, and human-impacted
environments. Datasets will include inorganic materials, (minerals, pottery, shells, etc.) in
addition to organic materials (paper, fabric, wood, etc.). Such datasets will serve for
future reference in the study of unknown artifacts. Finally, students working in the FLEX
environment will access these and other datasets via CYBER and use the CYBER
infrastructure to conduct AI and machine learning experiments as they participate in the
development of innovative heritage science tools.
BENCH+MOBILE+FLEX
A significant component of successful heritage science work involves both preparing
materials for study and understanding the unique conservation and handling
requirements of the highly varied objects. To ensure adequate comprehension and
consideration of appropriate curatorial and collection-handling standards, students will
work with the William S. Webb Museum for Anthropology to prepare its heritage
materials for scientific and technology intensive investigations in association with
EduceLab. The Webb Museum, which will be collocated with EduceLab, is an approved
curatorial facility for federally- and state-owned archaeological/anthropological
collections. Students will assist the museum in the organization, inventory, and
upgrading of archaeological/anthropological collections to meet current museum
standards and to make them more accessible for research and educational use.
Status | Active |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 5/16/22 → 9/30/26 |
Funding
- National Science Foundation
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Projects
- 1 Active
-
Mid-scale RI-1 (M1:IP) EduceLab - Infrastructure for Next-Generation Heritage Science
Seales, W. (PI), Bailey, S. (CoI), Balk, J. (CoI), Crothers, G. (CoI), Griffioen, J. (CoI), Reyes-Centeno, H. (CoI), Sama, M. (CoI), Sesma, E. (CoI), Baker, C. (Former CoI) & Smith, S. (Former CoI)
10/1/21 → 9/30/26
Project: Research project