| Scientists in Washington, DC for Climate Science Day on Capitol Hill 2013 |
Four individuals from our member institutions received travel awards for Climate Science Day (CSD) on Capitol Hill 2013. 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 April Melvin (University of Florida), Aaron Pina (Colorado State University), Ted Schuur (University of Florida), and Jesse Walker (Utah State University). They will be joined by NEON, Inc. scientists Keli Goodman, Tom Kampe, David Tazik, and Andrea Thorpe.
In addition to the 1.5 day event, participants have the option of attending: (1) a meeting at the US Global Change Research Program discussing ways to engage the community on the National Climate Assessment, (2) a LTER mini-symposium at NSF. |
| Journal Articles on NEON Observations |
A paper describing NEON terrestrial field observations was recently published in ESA's Ecosphere. The paper is titled "NEON terrestrial field observations: designing continental-scale, standardized sampling" (Kao, R. H., C. M. Gibson, R. E. Gallery, C. L. Meier, D. T. Barnett, K. M. Docherty, K. K. Blevins, P. D. Travers, E. Azuaje, Y. P. Springer, K. M. Thibault, V. J. McKenzie, M. Keller, L. F. Alves, E.-L. S. Hinckley, J. Parnell, and D. Schimel. 2012. NEON terrestrial field observations: designing continental-scale, standardized sampling. Ecosphere 3(12):115.http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES12-00196.1). Kao et. al. describe the rationale for terrestrial biological observations, provides an overview for how samples are collected and processed, and highlights questions that can be addressed using NEON data.
The other paper is titled "Automated quality control methods for sensor data: a novel observatory approach" (Taylor, J. R. and Loescher, H. L.: Automated quality control methods for sensor data: a novel observatory approach, Biogeosciences Discuss., 9, 18175-18210, doi:10.5194/bgd-9-18175-2012, 2012). Taylor and Loescher descibes six different types of plausibility tests, how test thresholds are determined using a data-driven approach, and show an example of those six tests conducted on temperature data from a NEON prototype site. |
| LTER Research Mini-Symposium at NSF |
The 2013 Long Term Ecological Research Mini-Symposium will be held on Thursday, 28 February 2013, from 8:30 am - 12:00 noon at the NSF Building (Room 110) in Arlington, VA. The event is open to all. The focus of this year's Mini-Symposium is "LTER Research Beyond US Borders: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the International LTER Network (ILTER). The following talks will be presented:
- International LTER (ILTER): Past, Present, and Future
- Establishing the International Mountain LTER Network
- Expanding Dimensions in Landscape Agroecological Research: an ILTER Cross-site Collaboration
- A Joint Schoolyard ILTER Project for Students in Israel and the US
- The McMurdo Dry Valleys Terrestrial Observation Network
- ILTER information management collaborations
- A Focus on Tropical Systems: ILTER research Highlights from the Florida Coastal Everglades
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| Opportunities |
- Free Training Workshop on Statistics with Large-Scale Data Sets. The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is currently accepting applications to attend the Faculty Institute for the Teaching of Statistics with Large-Scale Data Sets, with a deadline of Thursday, February 21, 2013. The Institute will be held June 10-13, 2013. Those selected for participation will receive support covering the Institute's fees, transportation, housing, and meals for the dates of the Institute.
- Sensor and Model Data Interoperability Workshop. This free workshop provides a unique opportunity to learn how the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) as a platform makes all sorts of sensor and model data available in an interoperable manner. This multi-day workshop, to be held 2013-03-26 to 2013-03-28 at Silver Spring, MD, will feature invited speakers and contributed positions; breakout sessions to exchange views and provide proposed approaches; with summaries posted on the web.
- California Science and Technology Policy Fellowships. The California Council on Science and Technology seeks PhD scientists and engineers to serve as Fellows to provide the California State Legislature with critical, unbiased scientific and technical advice. Fellowships are one year in duration. Applications for the 2013-2014 program end February 28, 2013.
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| Changes in NSF Procedures |
- Project Reporting. Beginning on March 18, 2013, PIs will be required to submit their annual, final and interim project reports in Research.gov, NSF's modernization of FastLane. In order to prepare for the migration to Research.gov, NSF is requesting that PIs stop submitting new project reports through FastLane on February 1, 2013.
- Grant Proposals. Starting 2013-01-14, the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) has listed a number of changes. Project Summaries on FastLane have been restructured into three distinct sections - Overview, Intellectual Merit, and Broader Impacts - that must be entered separately in their respective textboxes, while observing a limitation on total length. "Publications" in biographical sketches has been renamed "Products" that my include, but are not limited to, publications, data sets, software, patents, and copyright. See the NSF GPG for details.
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| 2013 National Climate Assessment Released |
On 2013-01-11, the National Climate Assessment Development and Advisory Committee (NCADAC), the federal advisory committee for the National Climate Assessment, approved their draft of the Third National Climate Assessment Report for release for public comment. The draft report is available for download - both as a single document and by chapter.
The public comment period for the report will run January 14 - April 12, 2013. All comments must be submitted via the online comment tool that will be available from http://ncadac.globalchange.gov beginning on January 14. The draft will be undergoing review by the National Research Council at the same time.
The draft report is a product of the NCADAC and is not a product of the federal government. The authors of the report will use the comments received during the public comment period to revise the report before submitting it to the government for consideration. |
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.  Hydrologic Sciences - Excerpt: The context for the Hydrologic Sciences Program is based on the National Academy of Sciences (2012) report entitled "Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences" as well as many other documents including "Basic Research Opportunites in Earth Science" (NAS, 2001); "New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences" (2012) and "Geovision Report (NSF, 2009). These documents identify multiple questions whose answers are central to the understanding the temporal and spatial variability of the water cycle across Earth's landscapes. Additionally, the context in which these questions are presented, emphasizes the key role of hydrology for understanding the function of environmental systems and the complex interactions of nature, climate and anthropogenic processes.
- Critical Dates: 2013-06-03
- NASA ROSES - A36 - Earth Science Applications: Ecological Forecasting Applications Feasibility Projects.
- Excerpt: This solicitation seeks feasibility proposals for Ecological Forecasting projects that improve conservation and/or natural resource management in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Proposals should propose concepts that will enhance the performance of existing decision-making activities through the use and integration of products from Earth observations, biological observations, and ecological models. Proposals should also address the development of new capabilities for decision-making applications through the use and integration of Earth observations, biological observations, and ecological models.
- Critical Dates: Notice-of-intent 2013-02-14; Proposal due date 2013-04-18
- Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation - SSE & SSI (SI2 - SSE&SSI)
- Excerpt: Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2) is a bold and long-term investment focused on realizing the Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) vision and catalyzing new thinking, paradigms and practices in science and engineering. Biological Sciences (BIO) is primarily interested in Scientific Software Integration (SSI) proposals. SSI awards target larger, interdisciplinary teams organized around the development and application of common software infrastructure aimed at solving common research problems.
- Critical Dates: 2013-03-19
- Research Coordination Networks (RCN)
- Excerpt: The National Science Foundation announces plans to continue its support of research coordination networks designed to foster communication and promote new collaboration among scientists, engineers and educators with diverse expertise and who share a common interest in a new or developing area of science or engineering. By encouraging the formation of new groups and networks, the RCN program will advance fields and create novel directions and opportunities for research and science education.
- Critical Dates: See NSF website
- Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) Instrument Acquisition or Development
- Excerpt: The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in our Nation's institutions of higher education, and not-for-profit museums, science centers and scientific/engineering research organizations. To accomplish the program's goals, the MRI program assists with the acquisition or development of a shared research instrument that is, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs. The instrument is expected to be operational for regular research use by the end of the award period.
- Critical Dates: See NSF website
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Key Dates in 2013
| Feb 7 - Feb 8: NEON, Inc. Board Meeting
Feb 26 - Feb 27: Climate Science Day on Capitol Hill 2013
May 30 - May 31: NEON, Inc. Board Meeting
Jun 4 - Jun 7: ESA Scaling UP Workshops
Aug 4 - Aug 9: ESA Annual Meeting
Dec 9 - Dec 13: AGU Fall Meeting |
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