Final Design Review Completed
|
NEON has
just completed a Final Design Review (FDR) of the plan for a continental-scale
observatory, the final major planning milestone in the design and execution of
the project. The FDR is a follow-up to NEON's Preliminary Design Review (PDR)
held in June 2009.
Similar to
the PDR, NEON, Inc. teams presented detailed project scope, budgets, designs,
risks, and project management strategies for construction and operations of the
NEON project to a panel of reviewers convened by NSF. FDR sessions focused most strongly on project
management strategies and budgets for the project.
NEON's progress to this point is due to the time, hard
work and support of scientists, educators and officials who participated on
committees and review teams over the past several years. NEON used hundreds
of comments and suggestions from these individuals and groups to develop the
plans by which it is now operating.
The project now awaits formal approval from
the FDR review panel.
|
NEON Townhall at AGU
|
NEON is organizing a town-hall session at the American Geophysical Union meeting (San Francisco, Dec 14 - 18). The town hall, titled "The Role of NSF's Environmental Observatories in Ecology and Earth Systems Science" (2009/12/17, Moscone West, Room 2002, 1930 hrs) will feature opening remarks by Dr. Timothy Killeen (NSF Assistant Director for Geosciences), speakers from OOI, NCAR, CUAHSI, and NEON, and additional panelists from AON, GEON, and GLEON. An abstract of the session follows:
The nation needs a long-term, comprehensive strategy to collect and
analyze data on the impacts of large-scale environmental changes on
oceanic, atmospheric, and terrestrial systems. To facilitate decision
support at the federal, state, local, and tribal levels, these data
must be turned into credible forecasts and information products that
are easily accessible to resource managers. This town hall meeting
brings together leaders from emerging environmental observatories to
discuss how the nation's climate-change mitigation and adaptation needs
can be met through the collective efforts of federal and nonfederal
entities.
|
2010 Member's Meeting
|
The 2010 Member's Meeting has been scheduled for September 22, 2009. The meeting location is still being determined, but we are examining options to hold the meeting in the Washington, DC metro area with the aim of of including NEON, Inc.'s Federal partners in the meeting agenda.
|
NEON in the Community
|
- NEON, Inc. Chief of Science Michael Keller represented NEON at the international DIVERSITAS meeting in Cape Town, South Africa (Oct 14 - 16, 2009). There
was considerable interest in NEON. Over 80 people attended a NEON talk presented by Michael.
- NEON, Inc. Chief of External Affairs Brian Wee staffed a public outreach event at the Smithsonian Conservation and Research Center (Front Royal, VA), a candidate NEON core site. The open house was organized in conjunction with the National Zoo's Autumn Conservation Festival (Oct 3 - 4, 2009).
- NEON Domain Science and Education Coordination Committee (DSECC) meetings have been held in Domains 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 12, and 14.
|
NEON in the News
|
- NEON, Inc. Chief of Science Michael Keller was interviewed on Oct 2 by Minnesota National Public Radio. The production can be assessed here.
- The Boulder County Business Report did a profile of NEON that ran on Oct 30 that can be assessed here.
|
New Look
|
As part of our continuing effort to serve you better, we have revised the NEON website, please check it out if you have not visited us recently. We are also trying out a new format for these monthly updates, please bear with us as we work out any kinks related to the delivery and dissemination of these emails.
|
NEON, Inc. Open Positions
|
- Software Applications Engineer. NEON is looking for a Software Applications Engineer to support the
design and development of scientific software. This position is a
hands-on position combining SW modeling, implementation, and testing.
- Systems Engineer. 3 month contract position to provide temporary support for the upcoming NEON Operations Review.
- Aquatic Ecologist / Biogeochemist. The Aquatic Ecologist/ Biogeochemist will be responsible for design and
development of the freshwater biogeochemistry components of the NEON
Observatory including: procedures and protocols for data collection and
lab processing; piloting instrument installation; QA/QC; field-crew
training program; and analytical laboratory requirements.
- Soil Scientist. The Fundamental Instrument Unit (FIU) consists of an automated suite of
meteorological, atmospheric, soil and ecophysiological measurements.
The Soil Scientist will support Science project development and
management activities.
|
|
Key Dates
|
2009/12/17: NEON AGU Townhall (San Francisco, CA)
2010/01/28: Board of Directors Meeting (Boulder, CO)
2010/05/20: Board of Directors Meeting
2010/09/22: 2010 Member's Meeting
2010/09/23: Board of Directors Meeting
|
|
