MARS: Middleware for Assisting the Registration of Samples

Student: Aerin Parker and Julius Walton

Major: Computer Science

Mentors: Dr. Jim Bowring

Department: Computer Science

MARS: Middleware for Assisting the Registration of Samples

SESAR (the System for Earth Sample Registration) is an international effort to provide unique identifiers, IGSNs (International Geo Sample Number), to geological samples and store the metadata in a public repository. MARS (Middleware for Assisting the Registration of Samples) is software of the College of Charleston's Cyber Infrastructure Research and Development Lab for the Earth Sciences (CIRDLES.org) that automates the process of assigning IGSNs and registering samples to SESAR. However, geologists’ original data and SESAR often have vastly different naming. Mapping files are essential to MARS and contain data and logic of how the sample data fields are mapped to SESAR's fields. MARS Map Maker is browser based software that solves this problem by allowing users to create and edit mapping files. The MARS suite fills the lab manager's need for a robust option of handling the bulk registration and IGSN acquiring of vast number of legacy samples.