Mrs. Anusree Ramachandran Menon1, Dr Anusuriya Devaraju1
1CSIRO, Australia
Biography:
Anusree is a Data Engineer working with CSIRO Mineral Resources Business unit since April 2024. She has an experience of 7 years as an ETL Developer providing Data Warehousing and Data Management services for Insurance industry. She also holds a Master of Data Science degree from Edith Cowan University in Western Australia.
During her tenure in CSIRO, she was mainly involved in the development of a digit sample curation and management system that provides a central system for scientists and researchers to store metadata related to their geoscience samples thereby promoting data accessibility and reusability.
Abstract:
Geosciences rely heavily on physical samples for research and identifying new exploration targets for industry. Over the years, CSIRO Mineral Resources (CMR) scientists have collected a variety of samples, including rock, soil, water and vegetation samples for their exploration projects. Sample preparation and analysis involve expensive procedures and many of these legacy samples are irreplaceable which makes them crucial for future research opportunities. However, due to the lack of a digital sample management solution, metadata for many of these samples were often maintained locally and inconsistently by the researchers on their hard drives, computers or even handwritten notes in some cases. A centralised digital solution was therefore necessary to avoid data loss and ensure that the samples are accessible and can be reused efficiently.
This poster introduces CMR Specify, a central sample management system that enables researchers in CSIRO Mineral Resources Discovery Program to catalogue, curate and manage their samples. It also allows others to discover samples that were previously otherwise unknown or inaccessible. This system is built on Specify, which is an open-source collection management platform for biological collections. The data model of the platform was fine-tuned after consultations with geoscientists and research technicians to ensure relevant metadata is recorded in the system for various types of geological samples. This poster summarizes the design and development of the system, highlights its key functionalities, and the share insights from building it to meet geoscience samples management requirements.