NEON Science Summit: Initiating grassroots research communities through an 'unconference'; Summer/Fall; Boulder, Colorado

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

Funding is provided to the University of Colorado - Boulder for a workshop intended to assemble users of NEON data in an effort to stimulate research collaborations across NEON data themes and initiate the building of a 'NEON User Community.' An actively engaged NEON user community will stimulate and coordinate wider community interest around the research use and wider societal benefits of the Observatory. A workshop utilizing the 'unconference' model aims to have participants identify near- and long-term collaborative opportunities to utilize NEON infrastructure and data. Both NEON infrastructure and data will provide the context for the generation of novel, exciting, collaborative research. The workshop will contribute to the building of the community of NEON users. The participant recruitment plan presented enhances the assembly of a diverse group of NEON users by targeting different career stages, research foci, and types of academic institutions, among other demographic traits. The organizers for this 'unconference' will expand participation beyond the 100 selected attendees by encouraging remote attendance. Essentially, the workshop seeks to assemble current users of NEON and provide the foundation for building the community of future users. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.