SBIR Phase I: Creating an Online Interactive Earth Science Environmental Simulator

This Small Business Innovative Research Program Phase I project will develop a unique interactive online earth science educational tool that will meet current shortfalls in teaching earth sciences and related engineering technologies. This innovation will allow a learner to conduct realistic simulated experiments concerning hydrological and atmospheric processes and their interactions with underlying surface characteristics of the earth. The system will be called the Earth Science Environmental Simulator (ESES) and will provide a substantial benefit for teaching a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills and concepts in an interdisciplinary approach. Applications will include renewable energy, agricultural management, building/sensor design, climate change impact and emergency management. This technology overcomes the significant problem related to a lack of realistic applications for teaching the processes important to the earth sciences. These processes are extremely intricate, complex and powerful affect every person on our planet. The research objectives are to 1) create a cost effective online educational prototype tool, 2) investigate and create intuitive interface and visualization tools and 3) do a limited educational evaluation in order to determine the ESES educational and commercial potential. The software innovation at the core of this system is a series of physics based earth science and application models. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is brought on by the fact that the educational process in the earth sciences has been hampered because the earth-atmospheric system cannot be brought into the classroom to study and manipulate. The proposed project has the capability to greatly improve this situation by bringing true earth-scientific experimentation to learners. The anticipated far-reaching benefits of this research are that all learners will further develop: (1) problem-solving and decision making capabilities essential to every citizen in a modern society that are fundamentally governed by processes that obey the laws of physics to include the knowledge of the earth science and their application such as meteorology, hydrology, oceanography, geology, energy production and management, regional and global climate change, forensic meteorology (insurance and legal claims), agriculture, and even other planets just to name a few; (2) cognizance of strengths and limitations of science capabilities, especially related to earth science; and (3) awareness of relevance of short term environmental forecasts, e.g. severe weather, flooding, forest fires movement, toxic material dispersion, to personal safety.