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Predicting the evolution of fractured media is challenging due to coupled thermal, hydrological, chemical and mechanical processes that occur over a broad range of spatial scales, from the microscopic pore scale to field scale. We present a software framework and scientific workflow that couples the pore scale flow and reactive transport simulator Chombo-Crunch with the field scale geomechanics solver in GEOS to simulate fracture evolution in subsurface fluid-rock systems. This new multiphysics coupling capability comprises several novel features. An HDF5 data schema for coupling fracture positions between the two codes is employed and leverages the coarse resolution of the GEOS mechanics solver which limits the size of data coupled, and is, thus, not taxed by data resulting from the high resolution pore scale Chombo-Crunch solver. The coupling framework requires tracking of both before and after coarse nodal positions in GEOS as well as the resolved embedded boundary in Chombo-Crunch. We accomplished this by developing an approach to geometry generation that tracks the fracture interface between the two different methodologies. The GEOS quadrilateral mesh is converted to triangles which are organized into bins and an accessible tree structure; the nodes are then mapped to the Chombo representation using a continuous signed distance function that determines locations inside, on and outside of the fracture boundary. The GEOS positions are retained in memory on the Chombo-Crunch side of the coupling. The time stepping cadence for coupled multiphysics processes of flow, transport, reactions and mechanics is stable and demonstrates temporal reach to experimental time scales. The approach is validated by demonstration of 9 days of simulated time of a core flood experiment with fracture aperture evolution due to invasion of carbonated brine in wellbore-cement and sandstone. We also demonstrate usage of exascale computing resources by simulating a high resolution version of the validation problem on OLCF Frontier.

High school can be stressful for any student. For resettled refugee youth, there are often the additional demands of a new language and customs, the challenge of fitting into a new community and culture, and the need to support their family emotionally, logistically, and even financially. Many of the newcomer youth arrived in Durham, North Carolina with either no formal education or significant gaps in their education. This confluence of factors created serious academic and psychosocial challenges for newcomers of high school age. The Citizenship Lab of the Kenan Institute for Ethics has addressed the twin challenges of school success and stress reduction through a research-focused, supplemental civic engagement program. This program has aimed at creating a strong sense of community for the newcomer youth that can support them both in their initial transition to life in Durham and in the longer term as they embark on adult lives of work and/or further education.

A small undergraduate liberal arts college explored a model, grounded in the literature, to develop a shared vision for its science and math general education curriculum that focuses on scientific literacy skills. This process has allowed us to produce shared general education learning goals across our eight science and math departments, conduct voluntary "best practices" workshops with a broad swath of faculty, and assess students' science and math attitudes and scientific literacy. It has also fostered interdisciplinary grant-writing teams to solicit external funding. The initial work was conducted at low cost to the institution. Our collaborative efforts positioned us to submit an NSF-IUSE grant, which was ultimately funded. Although the pace is often slower and the path more uncertain than individuals might desire, the results of this work suggest that teams of faculty and administrators can work together to align institutional priorities and produce genuine institutional change.

In this study the authors explored factors that influence the degree to which students' campus friends are of a different race or ethnicity. They focused on relationships that were more sustained and that involved greater trust than routine interactions on campus, but were less intimate than best or closest friends. Recent studies show that high school experiences are associated with having friendships that cross racial-ethnic boundaries in college, and that having a different-race roommate can provide opportunities to form interracial friendships. Using survey data from the Campus Life & Learning Project--a prospective panel study of students at a selective, private university in the Southeastern United States--they extend the existing literature by considering the experiences of White, Black, Latino, and Asian students, and by examining a broad range of college activities. Their results indicate that students' friendships become less diverse from the first to the fourth years, and that aspects of the residential environment, interactions with faculty, types of extracurricular participation, and the presence of alcohol at social events are significant predictors of having interracial campus friendships.