NEON FAQ

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What is NEON, Inc.?
NEON, Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) corporation created to manage large-scale ecological observing systems and experiments on behalf of the scientific community. NEON, Inc. has been tasked with planning and managing the NEON project.


What is the NEON project?
National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a large facility project managed by NEON, Inc. and funded by the National Science Foundation. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a proposed continental-scale research platform for discovering and understanding the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on ecology. NEON will gather long-term data on ecological responses of the biosphere to changes in land use and climate, and on feedbacks with the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.


Where is NEON?
The NEON observatory includes 20 eco-climatic domains that cover the contiguous 48 US states, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Each domain represents a distinct region of vegetation, landforms, climate, and ecosystem performance. Domain boundaries were determined using a statistical clustering algorithm and data developed by William Hargrove and Forrest Hoffman of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. NEON is a proposed national observatory, not a collection of regional observatories.
NEON, Inc. is headquartered in Boulder, CO. The majority of NEON staff will work out of Boulder, while select staff will be located in offices based on domain site locations.


What is the schedule for construction of the NEON infrastructure?
Constructing the entire NEON network will take approximately five years. The first year and a half or so will be devoted to constructing site facilities in two domains within which NEON, Inc. has the longest standing relationships. Thereafter, NEON, Inc. will construct site facilities in six domains per year over the next three years. The order of domain construction will depend primarily on project management considerations such as weather and the ability to obtain permits. Currently, NEON, Inc. envisions building all facilities within a given domain at the same time unless project management considerations lead to a more effective option.


What is the schedule for NEON reviews prior to construction?
While the schedule is still somewhat under negotiation with the NSF, we can provide a rough outline. NEON, Inc. recently completed a successful preliminary design review by a panel convened by the NSF in June 2009. In November 2009, NEON, Inc. will present a Project Execution Plan (PEP) to a Final Design Review (FDR) panel convened by the NSF. The Project Execution Plan must be thoroughly evaluated and determined construction-ready. If found construction-ready, NEON, Inc. must prepare a construction proposal for consideration by the NSF BIO Directorate, NSF Director, and the National Science Board requesting construction funds. The BIO Directorate and NSF Director must decide whether the project is worthy of consideration for funding, then the National Science Board must give the Director the authority, at his discretion, to award the funds. A Cooperative Agreement must be signed by NEON, Inc. and NSF, and an award made for construction. NEON will then enter the Construction phase.


Why should NEON build from the ground up when there is already a huge network of ecological monitoring activities available across the United States?
NEON responds to a different set of questions than other environmental monitoring networks. NEON is being built to last for at least 30 years while other networks have a wide variety of planned lifetimes.
NEON is being built from the ground up – rather than using information from existing programs – for a number of reasons. First, NEON is a user facility designed to collect accurate, precise, and easily comparable data. While it may be possible to achieve high standards of accuracy and precision using some existing networks, the wide variety of measurement approaches and standards used by existing monitoring programs suggests that it will be more economical (especially when considering operational costs) to build a new network rather than retrofit existing networks. Second, most environmental monitoring networks focus on either environmental drivers of change (such as air pollution) or on the responses to change (such as the mountain pine beetle). NEON is designed to monitor both drivers and responses in order to provide data that will help us understand how the causes and effects of ecological change are linked. Finally, NEON data will be widely available to scientists, students, educators, and the general public in near real-time. Many existing networks have proprietary periods for data release or simply do not deliver data widely.
When it becomes necessary for NEON to incorporate outside data to provide more complete information to users, NEON will incorporate a variety of existing high quality data sources. However, NEON is not designed as a clearinghouse for environmental data.


What is the difference between NEON and the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER)? Is NEON just an expansion of the LTER program?
NEON is a centrally operated user facility that enables responses to grand challenge questions in the environmental sciences and enables ecological forecasting. In contrast, the LTER program is a collection of individual investigator projects aligned with common themes. Each individual LTER site has its own realization of those themes. NEON and LTER are separate programs that operate separately, although NEON will certainly use the experience and knowledge gained through LTER research.


How does NEON’s work relate to LTER and other research networks?
NEON seeks to maximize interaction with other research networks while maintaining the capabilities to fulfill its mission. In some parts of the network, NEON has proposed to co-locate its instruments at existing LTER sites.


Will NEON be developing new sensors and technologies for ecological observation?
NEON is not a technology development platform. NSF and other agencies have specific programs aimed at technology development. NEON incorporates existing technologies (some at the cutting edge) to achieve its science mission.


NEON is expected to endure for decades. Will the same technology be applied over the full deployment period?
All sensors and instrumentation have finite lifetimes. As part of NEON planning, routine maintenance and instrument replacements will be scheduled. Replacements offer an opportunity for upgrades to new technology within the constraints of budget and measurement requirements for precision and accuracy. Quality control procedures will be implemented when instruments are replaced to assure data continuity and comparability.


Why are sites currently referred to as candidate sites?
Until the NEON project is fully approved, the sites are considered “candidate” core sites and “candidate” relocatable sites for inclusion in the NEON Final Design and Project Execution Plan. Committees are currently reviewing the listing of candidate core and relocatable sites for infrastructure deployment. These candidate sites provide a basis for scope, costs, and schedule that must be included in the Project Execution Plan (PEP). For inclusion in the PEP, the sites must be evaluated for environmental compliance and permitting. Before the final site selection can occur, the PEP must successfully pass the Final Design Review (see question on schedule above). The designation as a candidate site does not convey any NSF official designation; it conveys only that it is a potential site to form the basis for the PEP scope, cost, and schedule.


Will there be NEON staff at each domain? Will NEON construct facilities to support them?
At most core sites in a domain there will be a Domain Director, administrative support, and approximately five technicians whose primary responsibilities will be the FIU. In addition, seasonal staff will be contracted to do the biological sampling. NEON will not construct new facilities; NEON will lease existing office and laboratory space for NEON staff members. The NSF Division of Biological Infrastructure provides funding for improvement in facilities (e.g., laboratories, dormitories, equipment) for biological field stations and presumably institutions that own land on which NEON sites will continue to be eligible for such grants.


Will NEON take over the administration of the core and relocatable sites? What happens to research and projects already underway at NEON sites?
NEON, Inc. will not be responsible for general site administration, but will operate facilities within the sites. NEON, Inc. will seek appropriate participation in site management through an MOU at each site. Current land-holders and managers will continue in their roles. Projects currently underway will continue.


Will NEON devote significant resources to education and outreach?
Education is a major focus of the NEON project with a substantial budget and a staff that is comparable in size to the Science staff. NEON is the first NSF MREFC project where education was a major component of planning from the beginning. At NEON, Inc., the Chief of Education is a member of the senior project staff and will oversee 15-20 full-time employees.


What happened to aquatic studies in NEON?
NEON aquatic studies currently focus on the terrestrial-aquatic interface represented by low order streams and small lakes and ponds. Study of larger water bodies is the province of a related planning effort in the NSF-supported WATERS Network (http://www.watersnet.org/).


How does my institution benefit from NEON?
Regardless of institutional affiliation, scientists, students, educators, and the public will have open and equal access to NEON facilities and data. Institutions that host core and relocatable NEON sites have both benefits and obligations. The main benefit is that their staff and (where applicable) students should have easy geographic access to the sites. The obligation is that often they will donate facilities and staff time in support of the NEON site.


What are the options for funding for NEON-related research?
NEON is a facility, not a funding agency. Research related to NEON may be supported through existing funding mechanisms at Federal agencies and through other funding sources. NEON, Inc. recognizes the need to jump-start NEON-related research and is using NSF research coordination networks and other mechanisms to do that.


If I want to do a research project at a NEON site, what will I need to do to obtain permission?
Permission requirements will vary from site to site according to the requirements of the local land-owners and land-managers. Most research projects ought to be compatible with the NEON deployment. For low-impact studies (e.g. little or no manipulation or destructive sampling), contact with site managers and the relevant NEON Domain Director and approval of a simple application ought to be sufficient. Requests for modification or use of NEON infrastructure will also require approval from NEON, Inc. For high impact studies (e.g large-scale ecosystem manipulations) all relevant permits from appropriate authorities and permission from the NEON Program Advisory Committtee (PAC) must be sought. Please check with NEON, Inc. for more information and specific guidelines.


What is the advantage to doing research at a NEON site as opposed to other research sites?
NEON sites will offer a wealth of information in support of environmental research. Over 2000 measurements will be made at a variety of frequencies in any given domain and the information generated will be available to researchers in near real-time.


If I initiate a research project at a NEON site, who owns the data?
Data generated by NEON will be freely available to all. NEON, Inc. will endeavor to archive and distribute data generated by individual investigators at NEON sites, provided that data and meta-data are produced in accordance with NEON formats. Data collected based on funding from public agencies (including data using NEON facilities) will follow agency/NEON policies for public release. We anticipate priority periods for investigators, depending upon agency policies.


How do I get my students involved in NEON-related research?
NEON facilities will be open to students and researchers at all levels. While NEON, Inc. does not provide specific funds for student research, there may be opportunities for students to be involved in the operation of the Fundamental Sentinel Unit (FSU) at individual core and relocatable sites. The deployment of the FSU for each domain will be designed by the Domain Director in conjunction with NEON, Inc. to be consistent with standard NEON protocols. The implementation and staff will vary according to domain needs and funding constraints.


Are there mechanisms for local organizations to maintain relocatable sites after they are scheduled to move in order to maintain a long-term data record?
In general, relocatable sites must be moved after their deployment period expires. NEON, Inc. recognizes that local organizations may wish to maintain long-term data collection at relocatable sites and, as such, NEON, Inc. will attempt to facilitate arrangements that will make such long-term deployments as economical as possible. NEON, Inc. will supply limited technical support to establish and possibly to maintain such sites contingent upon resource availability or additional support provided by NEON partners.


How will I obtain access for the use of NEON infrastructure such as a mobile systems or the airborne observation package?
Requests for the use of NEON infrastructure will be directed to the NEON Program Advisory Committee (PAC). Requests will be evaluated based on scientific merit and their contribution to overall NEON goals.


Will it be possible to use more than one mobile system for a project?
Currently, NEON plans to deploy 18 mobile systems with some inter-changeable special-purpose components. Nominally, this deployment allocates one system per domain with the pairs of domains headquartered in Colorado and Alaska receiving only one mobile system each. The use of these systems will be determined by requests to the NEON PAC. The PAC may allocate multiple mobile systems to exceptionally meritorious projects even if that requires moving mobile systems across domain boundaries.


How can one learn about job opportunities at NEON?
Information about job opportunities is posted on our careers page. NEON has opportunities for permanent and term employment as well as visiting scientist opportunities for short term, focused tasks.


What is a Visiting Scientist?
Visiting scientists will be contracted through their home organizations to take on specific tasks for NEON for a total of two to four months’ time. The work time may be allocated over longer periods. These tasks currently include development of specific scientific and technical requirements for the Observatory. Visiting scientists may be resident in Boulder, but in most cases will stay at their home institutions.


NEON has been in planning mode for nearly a decade. Why should I believe that NEON will now become a reality?
The Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and representatives of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) have completed two Cooperative Support Agreements to fund design and development of the project as it prepares for its final NSF review. $20.7 million is being used for organizational and project management support to complete the NEON construction-ready design and execution plan. A separate agreement for $3.8 million supports completion of the NEON Cyber Infrastructure construction-ready design. This is the largest planning grant yet recommended for NEON and it is enabling NEON, Inc. to make detailed plans suitable for preliminary and final design reviews. NEON has reached the most advanced stage of planning in the history of project. NEON, Inc. now has more than 55 employees and full-time contractors working on the project and is continuing to hire additional staff.