Python for Geodynamics

By Damien Irving.

Professor Louis Moresi and his team have spent several years developing a computer model called Underworld, which simulates the movement of continents (i.e. plate tectonics). The model is currently used by a small group of experts and is producing some very high profile publications, however Prof. Moresi knows that in order to achieve widespread usage of Underworld in the geodynamics community, the accessibility of the model needs to be greatly improved.

To assist new users in learning and running the model, the Underworld development team has recently produced a user-friendly IPython Notebook interface. This has greatly reduced the amount of technical knowledge required to get started, to the point where Prof. Moresi felt it might be possible to offer a one-week Underworld crash-course for Masters and PhD students through the VIEPS program. 

The catch, of course, is that most grad students in geology have never done any computer programming. This could have been a major stumbling block for Prof. Moresi, however it turns out that I play soccer every Wednesday with one of his PhD students. When Dan told me about Underworld and their need teach the basics of Python programming to geologists, I was more than happy to help out. In fact, as the Research Community Coordinator for the Physical Sciences, that is exactly my role. My day job is as a PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences, so I’m the person “on the inside” for the ITS Research Services department. As well as delivering a half-day intro to Python course, I was also able to hook the Underworld development team up with with our cloud computing team. The model will be up and running in the cloud very soon, which will make outreach and training even easier.



Research can be ‘bazaar’, we’re here to help! Don’t understand how? Read our mission statement. Flick us a tweet, watch a video, check out our page and follow our blog posts - both formal and fun. Even better than the virtual, meet like minded researchers at one of our events. Come engage with the Melbourne research community!

Get started by contacting your discipline’s 'Research Community Coordinator’, who can help you learn new tools and have fun collaborating with fellow researchers. Here’s the full list.  

2 Notes/ Hide

  1. resbaz posted this