Project Office News: January 2005

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Posted by arice on Friday January 28, at 12PM

NEON Leaders to Address the NCSE Conference

Three senior planners of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will provide a project update at the National Council for Science and the Environment Conference in Washington, D.C., February 3-4, 2005.

NEON co-director Bruce Hayden will address the complexities of "Designing Ecological Forecasting Systems" at a roundtable/plenary panel. Hayden will describe the process of sharpening NEON's focus as the project evolves toward its specific build-out design. Hayden will also address issues related to how observatories support the science needed to generate forecasting models, supplying data that is crucial to running the models and evaluating their effectiveness as forecasting tools.

In a second presentation, Hayden will provide NCSE conference-goers with an overview of the NEON project. Bill Michener, co-director for informatics and technology, will describe the 21-month NEON design process that will result in a detailed planning document by June 2006. Finally, NEON project manager Jeffrey Goldman will discuss the results of the first meetings of the Neon Design Consortium (NDC) in Los Angeles, January 4-6, 2005: the draft committee reports that focus on eight science challenges, technical infrastructure, education, and the formation of NEON, Inc.

The general public and members of the science community are invited to read and comment on any NEON committee reports that interest them. The first-round reports are available now; revised and expanded drafts will be posted following NDC meetings in March and June, 2005.

Other notable speakers at the NCSE 5th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment include: Arden Bement, Director of the National Science Foundation; James Gustave Speth, Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; and Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, Administrator, NOAA. For details about the NCSE conference, go to: http://www.ncseonline.org/.

Posted by djohnson on Thursday January 27, at 3PM

NEON Design Consortium Committee Reports Now Available for Comment and Review

We need you -- the very best scientists, educators, and engineers -- to assist in the design process. Please download the first drafts of the committee and subcommittee reports of interest to you, read them, and provide your confidential comments to the NEON Project Office via the web-based evaluation survey(s). You will be asked to evaluate how you think the committee/subcommittee met its stated goals (i.e., addressed each of the three or four questions they were assigned), as well as to provide constructive suggestions and ideas for consideration by the committee/subcommittee co-chairs and members. Again, your email address and identity will be kept confidential. Please bear in mind that the committee/subcommittee reports represent first-draft working documents from the first meeting of the NEON Design Consortium in Los Angeles (January 4-6, 2005). These documents will evolve over the next few months and culminate in the NEON reference design.

Whether your interest is in the science that can be enabled by NEON, the unique educational opportunities that could be supported by NEON, the cutting-edge technologies that could be part of the NEON infrastructure, or how NEON is organized and run, we invite you to contribute. To contribute your best ideas, please click on one or more of the following committee or subcommittee reports. After you download and read one or more of these reports, please take a few minutes to provide constructive review and comments using the on-line review forms linked below. Please note that the review forms will open in a new window; therefore, you may need to temporarily disable your pop-up blocking software.

• Education Committee Reports: the unique educational opportunities, including educational research, that could be supported by NEON.

  K-12: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Higher Education: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Informal Education: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form

• Science and Human Dimensions Committee Reports: the science drivers for NEON.

  Invasive Species: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Infectious Disease: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Biogeochemistry: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Climate: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Land Use Change: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Biodiversity: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Hydroecology: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Emerging Issues: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  

• Facilities and Infrastructure Committee Reports: the innovative technologies, sensors and sensor arrays, instrumentation, cyberinfrastructure and facilities that could transform the ecological sciences.

  Research Infrastructure: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  IT and Communication: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  Sensor and Sensor Networks: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  

• Consortium Development Committee: optimizing the structure and governance of NEON, Inc., the entity that builds and operates NEON.

  Consortium Development: Report(pdf) On-line Review Form
  

We thank you in advance for your thoughtful input!

We will carefully consider your ideas as we move forward in the NEON design process. Please visit http://www.neoninc.org periodically for news and updates.

Posted by jhollister on Wednesday January 19, at 4PM