December 29, 2010

Dear NEON, Inc. Institutional Member Representatives and Constituents,

The Board of Directors and staff of NEON, Inc. would like to thank you for your continued support through another challenging year.  The Observatory has come far since the inception of the planning process in late 2004 with a number of notable achievements in 2010.  The successful passage of the project through a demanding NSF Final Design Review resulted in the approval of NEON by the National Science Board.  This paved the way for the project's inclusion in the President's budget request to Congress to initiate Observatory construction in FY2011.  To prepare for construction, the Observatory initiated prototyping activities to further help inform protocol development in specific focal areas like organismal sampling and
airborne observations.  In parallel with these activities, construction permits for sites were secured, engineering blueprints for sites were refined, and we completed civil construction of our first production-grade prototype site located near Sterling, CO.  Observatory staff are currently designing a strategy to release prototyping activity data for community use while we await funds to construct the Observatory's cyberinfrastructure.

These accomplishments put us on a course towards Observatory construction with unambiguous support from the US Congress, the Administration, and NSF.  Despite indications of possible headwinds in the upcoming years, we remain committed to champion for you, the community, and are actively engaged in national dialogs to integrate environment observations into initiatives designed to better manage natural resources and cope with large-scale environmental challenges.  As part of charting the course forward, some of you participated in the development of the strategic corporate Roadmap together with the Board and the NEON, Inc. staff.  To cultivate the next generation of scientists engaged in the type of transformational science the Observatory is designed to enable, we have started supporting travel grants for early career scientists to attend the annual NEON, Inc. Membership Meeting.  We are also working with our scientific society partners to offer communications training on interacting with the US Congress in early 2011, and are looking into developing other engagement opportunities based on your feedback. 

These activities, designed to champion the needs of our community, cannot be accomplished without the collaborative efforts of you and our staff.  NEON, Inc. brings to bear a motivated staff of close to one hundred professionals (and growing), all soon to be located under one roof in a 80,000 sq ft building in Boulder, CO.  As NEON is being constructed, this facility will house the Observatory's office space, data center, warehouse, and laboratories (specimen preparation, instrument repair and calibration, engineering, and others).  A number of Technical Working Groups have also been initiated to obtain expert input from the community to help inform Observatory design.  The Science, Technology, and Education Advisory Committee (STEAC) are similarly engaged with the staff in sounding sessions as we calibrate our offerings to the needs of the community.

The NEON, Inc. Board and staff have been charged with a bold mission to create a world-class observation infrastructure to enable the vision of collaborative, interdisciplinary enterprises working on large-scale environmental challenges for the betterment of society.  This is a challenging, long-term task, with the anticipated construction of the Observatory only constituting the first step of an extended journey.  We would like to thank you again for your confidence and support, and we will do our best to continue engaging with you.

All the best for a wonderful 2011!

Sincerely,

Jim MacMahon
Chair of the NEON, Inc. Board of Directors

David Schimel
CEO, NEON, Inc.