Since 2008, the Science and Engineering Alliance (SEA) has been assisting NEON, Inc. with inclusion of minority serving institutions in the planning of the National Ecological Observatory (NEON) science and education. The SEA-NEON, Inc. partnership has helped broaden the awareness and increase the capacity of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) to conduct and participate in NEON ecological, engineering, cyberinfrastructural, and social science research and development (R&D) opportunities. Through workshops, institutional outreach, and coordination activities; SEA has been a leader in conveying the opportunities NEON provides. This award will continue the ongoing partnership to increase the capacity of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) to conduct and participate in NEON ecological, engineering, cyberinfrastructural, and social science research. Currently this demographic lacks experienced individuals with the detailed knowledge in NEON infrastructure, construction, deployment, and operation of NEON resources. For the past four years SEA has worked closely with NEON, Inc. in developing a series of documents known as the Satellite Site Framework. These documents provide a detailed overview of the NEON infrastructure capabilities that would allow institutions to build research capabilities similar to NEON sites. This phase of the SEA-NEON partnership will focus on transfer of NEON, Inc.'s knowledge and technical designs through intensive training of two individuals that will serve as resources for implementation of site based infrastructure and NEON research by MSIs and HBCUs. As such, NEON, Inc. is using the ?train the trainer? model for enabling research capabilities within this research community.
NEON is a complex Observatory that will consist of geographically distributed field and lab infrastructure networked via cybertechnology into an integrated research platform for regional to continental scale ecological research. Cutting-edge sensor networks, instrumentation, experimental infrastructure, natural history archive facilities, and remote sensing will be linked via the internet to computational, analytical, and modeling capabilities to create NEON's integrated infrastructure. As a continent-wide research instrument, NEON will support a large and diverse group of organizations and individuals; foremost are the scientists, educators, and engineers who will use NEON infrastructure in their research and educational programs. Building enhanced accessibility for all institutions will broaden the impact of NEON science and education to the next generation of scientists and educators. For this inclusive vision of NEON to be realized requires active engagement and partnerships with underserved communities to ensure awareness of NEON's research opportunities, education and training in NEON scientific and technical capabilities, and technology transfer in key infrastructure areas.
This award was a successful training and professional development project designed to build capacity and opportunities for underrepresented groups to utilize the federal investments made in the National Ecological Observatory Network. The Presidents Office of Science and technology Policy as called all agencies to ‘lift(ing) America’s game in climate education, literacy and training’ with particular emphasis on Science, Technology, Education and Math (STEM) activities for underrepresented groups. As part of this award, the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports minority-targeted research training programs at all educational and career stages; high school, undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, and career faculty. As part of this national effort, the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) - a project sponsored by the NSF-- spearheaded and advanced this unique training initiative through this NEON Satellite Site Training Plan (NSSTP). The NSSTP is a ‘train-the-trainer’ project, to build capacity to train and educate in various aspects of NEON science, engineering and information for students and faculty at MSIs developed by NEON in partnership, in part, with the Science and Engineering Alliance, aimed at: Developing capacity for interdisciplinary research in NEON science questions by partnering in research and education with MSIs Encouraging technology transfer between NEON and ecological community in general and with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), in particular Facilitating transfer of appropriate data and measurement technologies needed to study ecosystems changes at range of spatial and temporal scales The Rational, Activities (Scope), and deliverables of this NEON Satellite Site Training Program (NSSTP) were a two-year long extensive training program that contains four foci. NSSTP outlines the necessary training and experience needed for two ‘trainees’ e.g., "train-the-trainer" program. More specifically; Training Modules; i) External Training Activities (Module one) focused on providing foundational understanding, leadership, and technical capability to develop research infrastructure akin to NEON through external training and short courses, ii) Embedded Activities in NEON Project Teams (Module two) focused on the transfer of knowledge to two trainees by being embedded them with different NEON Project Teams and conducting hands-on activities with NEON staff, in order to realize NEON designs into construction. Participating NEON Project Teams include; Fundamental Instrument Unit (FIU), Calibration and Validation (CVAL), Facilities and Civil Construction (FCC), System Engineering (SE), and Engineering (ENG). Many of these activities are based in the field (NEON sites) and aligned with the construction activities, such as, site characterization efforts, construction-read reviews, management and communication with contractors, soil excavation for scientific samples, and others, iii) Other NEON (in-house) training (Module three) that focused on core competencies needed to conduct safe and ethical activities, and ensure compliance with all applicable U.S. federal government regulations regarding occupational health and safety. These core competencies are transferable to any work environment, and make the NSSTP trainees competitive in the workplace, and iv) Community Engagement (Module four) focused on education and outreach activities to advance the NSS activities through annual societal meetings and sponsored workshops. This award allowed NEON Inc to engage with the user communities and develop stronger relationships with scientists, educators, researchers, universities, Federal agencies and international institutions. Part of the engagement activities and in developing our scientific workforce/capital included our staff providing NEON information to scientific communities, societies, universities, NEON Domain contacts, through meetings, workshops, seminars, and publications. Engagement with all associated university, research and educational communities has shown very strong interest in applying all- or some fraction of NEON designs into their own projects and programs. The large federal investment into NEON—and the level of detail in the designs are of great interest to augment other programs and to apply them in other (eco)systems. Each trainee has successfully completed Modules one-thru-three, i.e., all the formal external and internal trainings. Certification of completion was issued for all external trainings. Leadership trainings included ongoing personal mentorship. These trainings have provided the skillsets to the participants to (i) understand the complexity in how NEON and other research infrastructures are crafted, (ii) to distil any component of NEON design to external communities, (iii) communication skills to engage with MSI communities, and (iv) contacts with specific initiatives within the MSI communities that can foster sustainability of these efforts. Module four was focused on engagement activities and fostering community interest in the NSS concept. This also proved to be quite successful through a portfolio of ongoing activities that included, meeting presentations, direct contacts, and workshops. We are committed towards continuing these efforts beyond this award. If interested, please contact Hank Loescher PhD <hloescher@neoninc.org>, and Arika Virapongse PhD <avirapongse@neoninc.org> National Ecological Observatory Network, CEO Office, 1685 38th St, Boulder CO 80301, and Maheteme Gebremedhin PhD <Maheteme.Gebremedhin@kysu.edu>, Division of environmental Studies and Sustainable Systems, 110 Atwood Research Building, Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY 40601
