ESIP News

Job Opportunity with ESIP: Executive Director
As announced in the FY19 Annual Report and at the 2020 Winter Meeting, Erin Robinson will be stepping down as Executive Director at the end of her 2nd term in October 2020 after 10 years as ESIP staff and over 15 years as part of the ESIP community. Learn more about the opportunity and access the full position description here.

2020 ESIP Summer Meeting: Call for Sessions OPEN NOW through 4/17
The session proposal portal for the 2020 ESIP Summer Meeting (July 14th-17th, 2020 in Burlington, Vermont) is open now through 4/17. For over 20 years, ESIP meetings have brought together the most innovative thinkers and leaders around Earth observation data, thus forming a community dedicated to making Earth observations more discoverable, accessible and useful to researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and the public. For this meeting, we especially welcome session proposals related to ESIP's 2020 theme: Putting Data to Work: Building Public-Private Partnerships to Increase Resilience & Enhance the Socioeconomic Value of Data. Sessions that discuss technical examples of how data can be put to work to address science use cases are strongly encouraged. Sessions are generally 1.5 hour blocks and can follow a number of different formats. Learn more and submit a proposal by 4/17 here. Questions? Send them to staff@esipfed.org.

Mark Your Calendars for the ESIP Collaboration Area Highlights Webinar (4/22 at 3 pm ET)
ESIP is home to 30+ vibrant and diverse community-driven collaboration areas focused on Earth science data challenges and opportunities. Join us on Wednesday 4/22 at 3 pm ET to see many of ESIP's clusters and committees give fast-paced lightning presentations about their recent activities and how to get involved. This webinar aims to broaden awareness of ESIP collaboration area activities, increase communication and collaboration between existing collaboration areas, and invite new participants to join. The 2019 Collaboration Area Highlights Webinar drew a large crowd and helped to forge many new connections. More details on the upcoming event will be made available here.

ESIP Lab Newly Funded Projects
After a record number of excellent submissions to the Fall 2019 RFP, a new group of ESIP Lab incubator projects has been selected:

• 2020 Science-On-Schema.Org Validator (Vieglais | Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas)
• Cloud-based Analytics for TerraFusion Data (Readey | HDF Group)
• Sensors and Microclimate in Snowy Alpine Environments (Apple | Montana Technological University)
• Developing an Open-Source Workflow and Toolset for Quantifying Lacustrine Sedimentation using Publicly Available Data (Gearon | University of Texas, Austin)
• Developing Earth Science Data Tools for Educators: A Guidebook (Cramer | Associated Universities, Inc.)
• Open-source Data Harmonization: Beyond Data Entry (Todd-Brown | University of Florida)
• Developing Tutorials for Satellite Imagery Analysis using AWS Open Data and Cloud-Native Workflows (Tan | University of Washington)

More News

Making Innovative Use of NASA Satellite Data to Address Environmental, Economic, and/or Societal Impacts of COVID-19
NASA's Earth Science Division would like to call the attention of the Earth Science research, applications, and data systems communities to Program Element A.28 "Rapid Response and Novel Research in Earth Science" (RRNES) of Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2020 as an opportunity to propose investigations making innovative use of NASA satellite data to address regional-to-global environmental, economic, and/or societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Potential proposals may address R&A-related topics more fundamental in underlying physical and/or biological sciences (including possible connections to socioeconomic activities) and/or ASP-related topics characterizing impacts of decisions or efforts to inform decision makers on regional-to-global levels in their responses to mitigate the impacts of the disease. While proposed studies must use NASA satellite data and information products as a primary source of information and research tools, they may also utilize remote sensing data and products from government agencies, international, or commercial sources.  Studies utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques including Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) are encouraged. For any questions about this opportunity, please contact Dr. Laura Lorenzoni of ESD at(202) 358-0917 or by Email at laura.lorenzoni@nasa.gov.

Gateways 2020 Call for Participation (Tutorials due Apr. 28; other formats due May 11)
Call for Participation: Gateways 2020 (October 19–21, Bethesda, Maryland) is now accepting submissions of short papers, demos, panels, tutorials, and workshops on the topic of gateways for science, engineering, or other disciplines. Popular topics include:
Gateway design, use, impact, development processes, sustainability, or best practices
Educational topics (tutorials, demos) directed toward the next generation of gateway creators as well as gateways used for education; Any other aspect interesting to fellow gateway creators or users, such as emerging capabilities, approaches or technologies; and Learning Labs (impromptu group discussions and gatherings) will also be welcoming early submissions as well as on-site proposed topics. See more details including submission deadlines here.

Research Data Alliance (RDA) Virtual Plenary 15 Continues through 4/10
With the recent cancellation of RDA Plenary 15 in Melbourne, Australia, the local organizing committee, RDA Technical Advisory Board and RDA Secretariat announced RDA Virtual Plenary 15 (VP 15), which began on 18 March and will continue through 10 April 2020. VP 15 will offer remote access to many of the sessions that were planned to take place in Melbourne. Learn more and view the schedule here.

CODATA Webinar on Smart and Resilient Cities (3/31 at 11:00 UTC/7:00 am ET)
The horrific bushfires experienced recently in Australia have laid bare both ecological and urban vulnerabilities. The impact on Australia’s unique flora and fauna is profound. For the communities affected by these fires, the long road to recovery is physical, economic and emotional. While metropolitan Sydney was spared from the most cataclysmic of the firestorms, the fallout of smoke, haze, and ash shrouded the city and surrounding communities for weeks on end, leading to this region having some of the worst air quality on the planet during that period. And as the summer heat persisted, water catchments already strained by years of drought were stretched further by the fire crisis and communities found themselves facing severe water restrictions. In the aftermath of the fires, drought and economic impact, the resilience of both the community and the land is already apparent. But there is no denying that the impacts of these ecological disasters of recent times have accelerated calls for fresh thinking about ways to prepare for and stave off similar crises in the future. Calls for community co-design initiatives and sustainable practices have also gained greater traction as Sydney-siders used to blue skies and cool ocean breezes during the balmy summer months, unexpectedly found themselves on the front line of a climate crisis. Has this most recent disaster introduced greater urgency for active community engagement in urban planning? Is there a greater climate of readiness to deliberately and collectively pursue sustainable development goals? Learn more and register to attend the webinar here.

NCEAS Training on Reproducible Research Techniques for Synthesis
Registration is open for a new intensive, five-day immersion course “Reproducible Research Techniques for Synthesis” (8/17-8/21 in Santa Barbara, CA). The course, which will happen quarterly, will enable environmental researchers across career stages and sectors to gain fundamental data science skills in support of open, reproducible research techniques. Major course foci will include managing data to enable better reuse, building reproducible workflows using R and git, and communicating results within the framework of synthesis science. This is an opportunity for students, researchers, data managers, and others to reinforce or expand their learning and become familiar with current best practices and tools in data science and open science. These skills will enable you to maximize your productivity, share your data effectively, and accelerate the scientific community’s ability to work together on solving important questions about the natural environment and our interactions with it. Learn more and apply by 7/20 here.

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 4/24 here. For questions, contact training@arcticdata.io.

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 April 13th)
• Nov. 30-Dec. 4, San Diego Supercomputer Center, La Jolla, CA (apply by Sept. 25th)

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!