What's Next for NEON?
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Read this Summer issue of News
@NEON and find out!
NEON has been busy for the past 6-9 months with several reviews,
and in February the National Science Foundation (NSF) proposed a budget for FY2011 which includes NEON construction funds.
In May, the National Science Board authorized the NSF Director to make an award to NEON (subject to several conditions). Congress needs to approve the NSF budget
proposed in February and the NSF Director will determine when construction will
start (in part, a decision based on the NSF budget received).
From now through mid-2011, NEON is undertaking a series of
scientific and technical prototyping and field operations trials (described in this
issue's prototyping story), looking at how our planned
infrastructure and sampling processes actually perform in the field.
NEON continues to grow and expand as we move forward, and we
recently moved part of the office into a new technical facility in Boulder to support our laboratory efforts.
In July 2011 we hope (depending on the previously described
criteria) to move into construction. The schedule for construction remains in development
while we await the close of the FY2011 Congressional budget approval process.
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NEON in Prototype
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have completed the reviews, written the documents, and the last item on our
planning agenda is to await FY2011 Congressional budget approval for NSF
funding to begin construction. In
order to ensure NEON will run smoothly once the sites are built, we have to
make sure all of our equipment and processes work well. NEON staff have begun to test plans,
locations, and equipment to build the observatory and collect data, called
prototyping. Conducting
prototyping activities allows NEON to enter the construction phase with higher
confidence, reduce potential risk, and efficiently execute a robust
construction schedule.
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Visit NEON at ESA 2010
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There are lots of ways to learn about NEON and chat with NEON
staff at ESA 2010 this year. Look
for us at these events!
We will be updating our web site pending further
scheduling, so keep checking back with us. |
NEON Overview Video Now Available
|  We are very excited to release a professionally produced ~6 minute video about how input from the community, partners, and stakeholders helped transform the NEON design into a research and discovery platform for addressing the nation's large-scale environmental challenges. The video includes a rendered fly-through of a typical NEON site and highlights how NEON data may be used for science, education, and decision support. It can be viewed on YouTube. |
Macrosystems Biology Call for Proposals
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NSF invites proposals from interdisciplinary teams of scientists to
conduct innovative, integrated, systems-oriented "macrosystems biology"
research to detect, understand and forecast the consequences of climate
and land use change and invasive species on the biosphere at regional to
continental scales. Proposals should address the scales where the
ecological research challenges are the greatest and where research has
the greatest potential to transform the field of ecology by addressing
scaling issues that have long hindered development of large-scale
ecology.
The NEON facility has been designed to support these
types of
large-scale scientific questions by providing continental-scale data,
information and unique physical facilities for researchers, educators
and environmental managers. Macrosystems program funding may support
studies to develop science that might eventually use NEON infrastructure
or data, or measurements that could complement NEON programming. As
an NSF Facility, NEON will provide infrastructure to the scientific and
educational communities, including future research projects, Centers and
other activities related to the study of macrosystems.
Please send questions to macrosystems@neoninc.org.
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Final Design Review Presentations Available
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Presentations made at the NSF Final Design Review of NEON held in late November 2009 are now available. The presentations are part of the material presented to NSF reviewers as part of the mandated NSF review process. They represent the work of the entire NEON team spanning science, education, engineering, project management, and business systems. Click here to access the files. |
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The Latest From the NEON Blog | |
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And many MORE!
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