ESIP News
Peer Recognition Takes Center Stage at ESIP Winter Meeting
An important aspect of the ESIP community is recognizing the outstanding accomplishments, achievements and service of our community members and individual participants. At the 2020 ESIP Winter Meeting, we recognized the efforts of three phenomenal individuals: Michael Goodman (Martha Maiden Award), Danie Kinkade (President's Award), and Yuhan Rao (Catalyst Award), as well as the Partner of the Year (StormCenter Communications, Inc). Check out this recent blog post to read more about the awardees.

2020 Raskin Scholarship Call for Applications
The Raskin Scholarship seeks to promote collaboration, research support, and exposure for talented students and early career researchers in the Earth or computer sciences. The Scholarship, which is awarded annually, provides a $5000 award and travel support to the ESIP Summer Meeting, where the recipient will have an invited talk covering their field of interest. The award is named in honor of long-time ESIP participant, Rob Raskin, who was an Earth science information partner extraordinaire and a mentor to many aspiring Earth science data professionals. For more details on eligibility and how to apply, please visit our website.

Data FAIR at 2020 Ocean Sciences Meeting
EarthCube, ESIP, and AGU along with their partners will be hosting a Data FAIR at the 2020 Ocean Sciences Meeting in San Diego, CA (2/16-2/21). The program, which was just held at the AGU Fall Meeting, provides researchers with opportunities to engage with informatics experts familiar with their scientific domain and learn skills and techniques that will help further their research and make their data and software open and FAIR. The Data FAIR will include Town Halls, Workshops, and the Data Help Desk staffed with experts from the Earth and space science informatics community and demos at Exhibit Hall Booth #322.

ESIP Joins Research Data Alliance as Organizational Member
ESIP joined RDA as an organizational member earlier this month. ESIP and RDA share many common community members and interests. ESIP views participation in RDA as a critical link between Earth science data professionals and the broader research data community. The Earth science domain has led the way on a number of issues including data citation, showing why this link and close interaction are both very important.

More News

Arctic Data Center Data Science Training
The Arctic Data Center will host a 5-day data science training workshop October 19 - 23, 2020 at NCEAS in Santa Barbara, California. This 5-day workshop will provide researchers with an overview of data management practices, data science tools, and concrete steps and methods for more easily documenting and uploading their data to the Arctic Data Center. Both early career and established researchers from the Arctic research community are encouraged to apply. Participants will be selected on the basis of their current research or work activities; their previous experience with open science practices, data management techniques, and analysis methods; and their current or former opportunities to access training in these areas. We will prioritize applications from individuals currently funded through the NSF Polar Programs. Participants will receive support to cover the cost of airfare and accommodations for the duration of the course. See more info and apply by April 24, 2020 here. For questions, contact training@arcticdata.io.

New from the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) managed by CIESIN:
NASA SEDAC Gridded Population of the World data, via the Population Estimation Service, was used in this map feature on the spread of the coronavirus: Maps Show Where Coronavirus Started and Why Officials are So Worried

Global Pesticide Grids (PEST-CHEMGRIDS): This data set was developed by Federico Maggi of the University of Sydney and colleagues, to assess human and ecosystem exposure to potential and recognized toxic chemicals, for the purposes of environmental modelling and assessment of agricultural chemical contamination and risk. PEST-CHEMGRIDS includes comprehensive data on the 20 most-used pesticide active ingredients, on six dominant crops and four aggregated crop classes, at 5 arc-minute resolution (about 10 kilometers at the equator), estimated for the year 2015 and projected to 2020 and 2025. The data set includes 200 data quality maps for each active ingredient on each crop. The data set is described in detail in a recent open access paper by Maggi et al. published in the journal Scientific Data. 

Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and Google Earth Engine Announce Call to Action for Projects to Monitor the Pulse of our Planet
Shared data means everything to Earth observation researchers. If we hope to solve global problems such as climate change, open data is at the heart of finding answers. Sharing is at the heart of GEO’s latest call to action. In partnership with Google, GEO will select 25 project proposals to receive licenses for Google Earth Engine, to be used to tackle significant societal challenges and improve understanding of our planet.

Google is providing these licenses, valued at US$3 million, to broaden the use of Earth observation data. In keeping with GEO's goal of promoting openly shared data, we require that the chosen projects offer the results of their work to the open science community, including code, algorithms, datasets and results. See more details and apply by March 15, 2020 here.

Share Your Feedback on Competencies of Data Specialists
Please consider taking this survey, which is part of an effort to capture community feedback on potential competencies for data advisors (e.g. data curators - individuals that provide guidance to researchers in the selection, management, sharing, and preservation of their research data), and data service providers (e.g. data librarians - individuals that provide training, infrastructure support, preservation services, and other services to researchers related to their data management needs). The information provided by your response will be integrated into a "Data Advisor" and "Data Services Provider" Career Compass for the American Geosciences Institute, and as input into the process of developing learning assessment capabilities for a future version of ESIP's Data Management Training Clearinghouse.

2020 Gateway Focus Week Applications are Now Open!
The Science Gateways Community Institute offers two Focus Weeks per year. The 2020 sessions are: 

• June 1-5, Columbia University, New York, NY (apply by March 27)
• Nov. 30-Dec. 4, San Diego Supercomputer Center, La Jolla, CA (apply by Sept. 25)

Gateway Focus Week is a five-day intensive workshop that has been carefully designed to benefit teams who want to ensure the sustainability of their gateway projects. Teams engage in hands-on activities that help them articulate the value of their work to key stakeholders. Participating teams produce a strong development, operations, and sustainability plan with a corresponding pitch deck that includes actionable goals. By working closely across teams, participants have the opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and challenges. Teams also learn how to access consultations, engagement opportunities, and other resources from the SGCI. Apply now!