Data science ethos for all

“It seemed like a special moment to mobilize an even larger community to commit to taking proactive steps needed to create change in environmental data sciences.”

Dr. Lea Shanley and her co-authors discuss the Santa Barbara charter - a call to action for data scientists. The document, created after the NCEAS EDS Summit in 2023, is still accepting signatures of support.

Morpho momentum

“We hope this project will contribute a new, powerful example of how Indigenous and local knowledge can be respectfully incorporated into policies and management decisions that have historically been dominated by top-down, colonist perspectives”

Morpho welcomes its second round of working groups, focusing on kelp restoration, plant-insect interactions, and the role of fuel breaks in wildfire.

DEIJ Resource of the Month

Applying the ‘CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance’ to ecology and biodiversity research
Open Access Commentary
Published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, this commentary offers standardized practices for Indigenous knowledge collaborations with an emphasis on CARE principles.

SciComm Resource of the Month

COMPASS Message Box
Online Workbook
The COMPASS message box is a perfect tool for crafting and refining messages to audiences like journalists or policymakers - this workbook walks you through the process.

Data Science Resource of the Month

Just enough SASS and CSS for data scientists
Slides and tutorial by Sam Csik
NCEAS Data Science Trainer Sam Csik gave our August monthly seminar and offered tips, tricks, and a full walkthrough on using CSS and SASS to customize websites.

Scientist Spotlight:
Michelle Morris,
NCEAS Business
Officer

“I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have a front-row seat to the transformative and innovative science taking place at NCEAS. Witnessing the evolution from being solely supported by NSF to its current state, with funding from over twenty agencies, has been nothing short of amazing. As the Business Officer, my role entails a diverse set of responsibilities, providing me with the opportunity to think creatively every day.”

Synthesis Spotlight:
LTER Producers, Consumers, and Disturbance

This LTER working group is part of a new set of SPARC (Scientific Peers Advancing Research Collaborations) proposals, which visit NCEAS just once instead of 3-4 times over two years. Their group met in Santa Barbara this summer to better understand how disturbances and environmental change across timescales are altering the production and transfer of organic matter from primary producers to herbivores.

Opportunities at NCEAS

Job | LTER Inclusion and Access Coordinator at NCEAS
Apply by September 22, 2023
The Long Term Ecological Research Network office is hiring an academic coordinator to help broaden diversity, inclusion, and access across LTER sites. Expected salary: 65-80k.

Course | Fundamentals in Data Management for Qualitative and Quantitative Arctic Research
Apply by October 20, 2023
This five day, in person workshop will provide researchers an overview of ethics, steps, and methods for preserving Arctic data plus an introduction to programming in R.

RFP | Masters of Environmental Data Science Capstone Projects
Submit by October 20, 2023
The Bren School and NCEAS invites any agency, company, organization, or individual facing an environmental challenge to submit a proposal for a MEDS Capstone project.

Job | Western Wildfire Resilience Index Web Developer and Designer
Open until Filled
WWRI is hiring one staff position for an experienced and creative web designer and developer to communicate findings from the project. Expected salary: 80-90k.

Note: NCEAS is part of UC Santa Barbara, an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and veteran status.

Papers We’re Reading

If you build it, they will come: Coastal amenities facilitate human engagement in marine protected areas
People and Nature
This paper out of the NCEAS MPA Decadal Assessment working group looked at human engagement, finding that the most “charismatic” MPAs were near tourist destinations.

Long-term changes in concentration and yield of riverine dissolved silicon from the poles to the tropics
Global Biogeochemical Cycles
The LTER river Si group published their global meta-analysis, revealing drastic concentration fluctuations over decades of climatic change - especially in the arctic and alpine tundra.