The Board and Staff of NEON, Inc. would like to wish our institutional member subscribers Happy Holidays! |
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Looking Back on 2011 and Ahead to 2012
| | A letter from the NEON, Inc. Board of Directors and the staff of NEON, Inc. was recently sent to your institutional member representatives. In it, we recounted how a number of you have helped define community capabilities that would advance large-scale ecological sciences, described how a number of our early career scientists have been active in the science-policy interface, and provided a perspective on the challenges in the upcoming years. Read the full letter here. |
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News@NEON Winter '11 Issue Available
| | The Winter Issue of News@NEON is now available. If you have not seen it, check out the story on our first two field operations managers. Don't forget that the NEON Science Strategy document, highlighted in the Winter update, is always available via the right-hand tool bar under "NEON Informational Toolbox". |
| Travel Awards for Climate Science Day on Capitol Hill 2012 |
Four applicants have been chosen to receive travel awards for Climate Science Day on Capitol Hill 2012. The purpose of these visits is to provide Members of Congress the best possible access to scientific information on climate science when making policy decisions. The award recipients are:
- Jasmine Crumsey, University of Michigan
- Christopher Gambino, Washington State University
- Zhao Ma, Utah State University
- Samantha Wisely, University of Florida
Congratulations! Our thanks to these individuals for helping to raise awareness of the impacts of rapidly unfolding environmental challenges and the role of our community in understanding those changes.
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Opportunity: PalEON Summer Course
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PalEON (the PaleoEcological Observatory Network: awarded under the Macrosystems Biology program) is offering a summer course: Assimilating Long-Term Data into Ecosystem Models (August 12-18, 2012). The course will provide 20 graduate students and postdocs with intensive training in the emerging tools used to estimate the signal and uncertainty in historical and paleoecological data, and assimilate both signal and uncertainty into the current suite of terrestrial ecosystem models.
NEON, Inc. will be provide up to two travel awards (airfare only: no other costs are covered) to individuals from member institutions in good standing. Early career scientists are encouraged to apply. Click here for details on how to apply.
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| LTER: A Report of the 30 Year Review Committee |
NSF convened a small group of experts to evaluate the strategic plan for the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. The findings of the committee were recently released in the report "Long-Term Ecological Research Program: A Report of the 30 Year Review Committee".
The report includes an outline of the synergistic opportunities between LTER and NEON. These include activities based on the NEON Airborne Observation Platform (see also blog entry on the delivery of the first NEON spectrometer) and the extension of LTER generated social science data to larger geographical areas. The authors also encourage LTER scientists and students to bring their skills and techniques pioneered in the LTER network to NEON sites, and to capitalize on the intensive suite of measurements made at those sites.
The key points on LTER-NEON synergies highlighted in the LTER report are congruent with the recent NEON news item titled "NEON and LTER: Two complementary networks for ecological research". For a perspective on how synergies between environmental observatories can be enabled, see the next article below. |
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Environmental Observatory Interoperability
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Software engineers are familiar with the concept of a "software stack", where successive "layers" of software are overlaid on base infrastructural layers. The "higher" layers in turn become services to other software components, enabling developers to successively focus on creative, value-added components as the stack is incrementally built. NEON and its environmental observatory partners are a possible example of an "infrastructure stack", where carefully designed interface points enable our partners to build on the base NEON capabilities. This is possible only through careful coordination of field protocols, statistical sampling designs, and the adoption of standards for data, information, and instrument calibration.
As highlighted in the October 2011 update, the leadership teams of NEON and the USDA ARS Long-Term Agro-Ecosystem Network (LTAR) have engaged in a number of discussions about shared measurements and complementary activities. The Smithsonian Global Earth Observatory (SIGEO: also mentioned in the NSF LTER report highlighted above, but referred to as the entity "Smithsonian Center for Tropical Forest Research"), like the LTAR, have sites that are co-located with NEON. Synergies are facilitated by, but does require, site co-location. Achieving greater interoperability between observatories to enable such synergies is not trivial, and will require ongoing sustained efforts. We as scientists and educators can facilitate this by being mindful that our work products will have an extended legacy beyond the project's duration (see article below on Public Access and Digital Data RFIs).
The environmental observatory infrastructure stack, with each partner focusing on their unique strengths, research priorities, and mission areas, is one way to visualize the implementation of NSF Director Dr. Subra Suresh's vision of the "Era of Observations" and the "Era of Data and Information". See the year-end letter to member representatives for more on this and parallels between the software industry and capabilities enabled by environmental observatories.
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| Ecosystems and Earth Surface Processes |
The National Academies' Board on Earth Sciences and Resources recently released a report titled "New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences". The authors were charged by NSF to advise NSF's Division of Earth Sciences (EAR, Directorate for Geosciences) on identifying high-priority new and emerging research opportunities and the facilities required to support these opportunities.
In the report, the authors state that "a quantitative, process-based understanding of the linkages among climate, hydrology, geomorphological processes, ecosystems, and landscape evolution is a primary goal of research on Earth surface." The report highlighted exemplar studies such as: interactions between geomorphology, soil formation, and ecology (Roering et al. 2010), the complex interactions between soil moisture, microbial communities, and vegetation (D'Odorico et al. 2010), and Rockstrom et al's (2009) radar-plot for a "safe operating space".
The report further states that the NSF EAR is "poised to play a leadership role in comprehensive, uniquely integrated studies of the terrestrial environment in the face of human activity and climate change". To achieve this, the authors call for coordination with NEON. The NSF Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) network also plays a major role in delivering capabilities key to enabling a number of needs spelled out in other areas of the report. (See also: November 2011 update on Major Research Instrumentation, and "Environmental Observatory Interoperability" above.) |
| OSTP Issues Public Access and Digital Data RFIs | |
The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 calls upon OSTP to coordinate with agencies to develop policies that assure widespread public access to and long-term stewardship of the results of federally funded unclassified research. Towards that goal, OSTP released two Requests for Information (RFI) soliciting public input on approaches for ensuring long-term stewardship and broad public access to:
The deadline for comments has been extended to January 12, 2012.
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Solicitations of Potential Interest to the NEON Community
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Please click the respective links to check the original source of information. The abbreviated text below may not reflect amendments to the original announcements, and may not reflect the original intent of the solicitation. The "New" icons indicate recent new announcements (includes announcements for regular solicitations), and not necessarily new programs. These are primarily, though not limited to, NSF solicitations. Not all new announcements are included in the list below.  Preproposals for Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility - Excerpt: This call is primarily for usage of the second mobile facility (AMF2) in fiscal year 2014, which can be as early as December 2013. The G-1 operated by the ARM Aerial Facility is available for a domestic deployment between June and October 2013. The deployment could be short-term or up to 6 months of routine flying above an ARM fixed site or mobile facility. Due to the short lead planning time, any G-1 payload proposed for 2013 should not require substantial new engineering.
- Critical Dates: February 1, 2012
- Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER)
- Excerpt: This solicitation formalizes the basic requirements and expectations of all Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) proposals. At the current time, the LTER program is accepting only renewal proposals from existing projects. Should funds become available to support new sites, a Dear Colleague Letter or a revised solicitation will be released specifying the criteria for an open competition.
- Critical Dates: March 21, 2012
- Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction using Earth System Models (EaSM)
- Excerpt: This is the second in a series of EaSM solicitations (see NSF Program Solicitation 10-554 for the first EaSM solicitation). It remains focused on the prediction of future climates and their consequences for human systems on time scales of several decades and shorter and global to regional and finer spatial scales. A time span of several decades is chosen because within this timeframe modeled climate change responses appear to be insensitive to CO2 forcing scenarios. Moreover, adaptation planning and implementation is carried out on roughly these time scales. This solicitation will not consider research involving varying CO2 forcing scenarios beyond the next several decades. The long-term EaSM Program goals (see the Synopsis and Program Description Section) remain essentially the same; however, some of the specific areas of interest related to those goals have changed.
- Critical Dates: April 20, 2012
- Dear Colleague Letter - EarthCube: The Next Steps
- Excerpt: At this point in the process, NSF will accept EAGER proposals or supplemental funding requests that are consistent with the guidance provided by the EarthCube Charrette. Proposals must fall into one of the following three categories: (1) Advance the study of, and planning for, a Strategic Organizational Framework for EarthCube, (2) Develop one or more New Capabilities that leverage existing technologies and practices and would significantly improve the productivity and capabilities of researchers and educators across all of the geosciences and that can be directly connected to the EarthCube vision, (3) Make significant progress on achieving one or more Critical Milestones related to the identified needed capabilities for the EarthCube vision. Milestones are defined as collaborative activities that will advance a science goal that has broad applicability to the geosciences.
- Critical Dates: See NSF website.
- Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) Program, Phase II (CCEP-II)
- Excerpt: The Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) program seeks to establish a coordinated national network of regionally- or thematically-based partnerships devoted to increasing the adoption of effective, high quality educational programs and resources related to the science of climate change and its impacts. Each CCEP is required to include substantial involvement of representatives from each of the following communities: climate scientists; experts in the learning sciences; and, practitioners from within formal or informal education venues. This combined expertise is intended to foster innovative, trans-disciplinary advances in climate change education and insure that educational programs and resources developed by each CCEP reflect current understanding about climate science, the best theoretical approaches for teaching and learning such a complex topic, and the practical means necessary to reach the intended learner audience(s).
- Critical Dates: Letter of intent: January 24, 2012. Full proposal: March 21, 2012. But see NSF website.
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP)
- Excerpt: HBCU-UP provides awards to develop, implement, and study innovative models and approaches for making dramatic improvements in the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may participate successfully in STEM graduate programs and/or careers in STEM disciplines. Support is available for Targeted Infusion Projects, Broadening Participation Research Projects, Research Initiation Awards, Implementation Projects and Achieving Competitive Excellence Implementation Projects, as well as other funding opportunities.
- Critical Dates: Letter of intent: January 20, 2012. Full proposal: March 12, 2012. But see NSF website.
- Improvements in Facilities, Communications, and Equipment at Biological Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (FSML)
- Excerpt: Biological Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (FSMLs) are off-campus facilities for research and education pertaining to physical and biological phenomena and organisms in the natural habitats of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. In recognition of the continuing need for modern facilities and equipment at FSMLs, the NSF invites proposals that address the general goal of FSML improvement. Requests must fall exclusively into one of two classes: Improvement or Planning. Improvement proposals should focus on well-defined projects of major equipment acquisition, data management and communication systems modernization, or physical plant improvement. Planning proposals are for strategic institutional planning for the long term research and education goals of the station.
- Critical Dates: January 17, 2012; December 14, 2012
- Long Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB)
- Excerpt: Through the LTREB program, the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) and the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) encourage the submission of proposals that generate extended time series of biological and environmental data to address ecological and evolutionary processes and resolve important issues in organismal and environmental biology. Researchers must have collected at least six years of previous data to qualify for funding, and these data must motivate the proposed research. The proposal also must present a cohesive conceptual rationale or framework for ten years of research. Questions or hypotheses outlined in this conceptual framework must guide an initial 5-year proposal as well as a subsequent, abbreviated renewal.
- Critical Dates: January 10, 2012
- Sustainability Research Networks Competition (SRN)
- Excerpt: The goal of the Sustainability Research Networks (SRN) competition is to support the development and coalescence of entities to advance collaborative research that addresses questions and challenges in sustainability science, engineering, and education. SRNs will link scientists, engineers, and educators, at existing institutions, centers, networks, and also develop new research efforts and collaborations. The Sustainability Research Networks competition outlined here is one part of the growing NSF investment in its Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) portfolio (www.nsf.gov/sees/). Challenges associated with broadly based SEES goals will be met by supporting fundamental science and engineering research and education needed to understand and overcome the barriers to sustainable human well being and to forge reasoned pathways to a sustainable future.
- Critical Dates: Preliminary proposal due: December 01, 2011. Full proposal du: April 1, 2012.
- Geoinformatics (GI)
- Excerpt: The Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) will consider proposals for the development of cyberinfrastructure for the geosciences (Geoinformatics). EAR seeks the development and implementation of enabling information technology with impacts that extend beyond an individual investigator or small group of investigators and that facilitates the next generation of geosciences research. Proposals to this solicitation may seek support for community-driven development and implementation of databases; tools for data integration, interoperability, and visualization; software development and code hardening; and data-intensive/new computing methodologies that support the enhancement of geosciences research and education activities.
- Critical Dates: January 13, 2012
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Key Dates in 2012
| 1/31 - 2/1: Climate Science Day on Capitol Hill (Washington, DC)
2/9 - 2/10: Board Meeting (Boulder, CO)
5/10 - 5/11: Board Meeting (Boulder, CO)
8/5- 8/10: ESA Annual Meeting (Portland, OR)
12/6 - 12/10: AGU Annual Meeting (San Francisco, CA) |
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