ESIP Update: Register NOW for ESIP Winter Meeting, Join us at the Data FAIR and Ignite@AGU, and more

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  This Week's Collaboration Area Telecons:

• Monday: Community Resilience, Data Stewardship
• Tuesday: CLEAN Network

See the full telecon calendar here. Select the meeting you'd like to attend, login instructions are included in description.

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Federation News 

Register for the 2019 ESIP Winter Meeting
We are about 55 days from the start of the ESIP Winter Meeting. Register and find more details here. Thanks to those of you who submitted session proposals. Keep an eye out for a draft schedule to be released next week! Although the deadline has passed for session proposals, if you have any late-breaking ideas, don't hesitate to contact staff@esipfed.org.

Fall ESIP Lab Request for Incubator Proposals Now Out
Through this RFP, the ESIP Lab will provide seed funding for incubator-style projects. Incubator projects run 6-8 months in duration and lie in the realm of good ideas ready to be tried out. We have identified the following topics as areas of need in the Earth science community. Proposals that address these topics will be given priority:

• Proof-of-concept for emerging technologies slated for operational use.
• Modernization of Earth science workflows using open source, machine learning and cloud computing.
• Extension of open source software critical to collecting, distributing, or analyzing Earth observations.

Multiple awards are anticipated up to $10,000 each. Learn more here. Contact lab@esipfed.org with questions.

ESIP Machine Learning Cluster Seeks Community Input
In order to help guide future directions of the new Machine Learning Cluster (chaired by Anne Wilson), the group is asking the community to take a brief survey regarding their interest and experience with machine learning. Please consider taking this easy (only 8 question!) survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QF3S3BN. To learn more about the Machine Learning Cluster and to find out how to join, see here.

ESIP Usability Cluster Can Help YOU Assess the Usefulness of Your Data Tools and Services
Are you providing data services via the web or using dedicated software tools? Do you know what your users would say about using your services? If you answer yes to the first question, but no to the second, the ESIP Usability Cluster can help!  Over the last two years, the ESIP Usability Cluster has been helping ESIP community members in evaluating the usefulness of their data services and determining the best ways to identify and improve usability issues. The types of usability assessment that the Cluster provided include: defining user personas, providing training on usability techniques and principles, reviewing user interface designs, and conducting user studies to identify specific use barriers to the systems-under-test. The Cluster has also created the Usability Test Framework; the Framework helps in providing essential information on how to construct and conduct a user study (one of the most popular usability evaluation techniques). Given that a delightful user experience can help retain existing users as well as attract new users, the ESIP Usability Cluster wants to help ESIP members in delighting their data service users! If you would like to know more about how the ESIP Usability Cluster can help with enhancing the usefulness of your data services, please contact esip-usability@lists.esipfed.org. Learn more about the ESIP Usability Cluster here.

Data FAIR at AGU Fall Meeting
The Data FAIR at AGU Fall Meeting provides researchers with opportunities to engage with informatics experts familiar with their scientific domain and learn about skills and techniques that will help further your research and make your data and software open and FAIR. The Data FAIR activities include Town Halls, Workshops at the AGU Booth, and a Data Reference Desk hosted by the ESIP and staffed with experts from the Earth and space science informatics community to answer your data questions and demo tools and platforms. Learn more and view the full schedule here. Contact megancarter@esipfed.org with questions.

Ignite at AGU Fall Meeting
ESIP and NASA's Applied Sciences Program are thrilled to co-sponsor Ignite@AGU 2018. As in past years, the event will feature a number of quick and exciting presentations with auto-advancing slides and encourages presenters to “Enlighten us, but make it quick!” The event will include free appetizers and a cash bar. Learn more and watch last year's talks here.

Around the Federation
Advancing FAIR Data in Earth, Space, and Environmental Science
Check out this recent EOS article about the Enabling FAIR Data Project, which “has brought together a broad spectrum of Earth, space, and environmental science leaders to ensure that data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.”

Comment and Vote on USGS Community for Data Integration (CDI) Statements of Interest
Now that the deadline has passed for Statements of Interest (SOI), all CDI members are invited to comment on submitted SOIs. Comments should help project teams strengthen their ideas or express support of the project. SOIs will be posted on the CDI wiki on November 19th. Project teams are encouraged to respond to comments. 

There will also be a lightning presentation to allow all CDI members to preview all SOIs ideas efficiently before further consideration and voting. It will be held on November 28, from 3-4:30p Eastern (Link to Google Calendar Event). Principal investigators will have the chance to deliver a 1-minute pitch for their proposal. The session will be recorded and posted on the RFP wiki page.

Members must be on the CDI member list by the close of November 29 to be eligible to vote. Voters are expected to read and consider all SOIs. Guidance for voting and evaluation criteria are posted on the CDI wiki page. Voting will open November 30th and close on December 14th, 2019. Want to become a CDI Member? See here.

Post-doc Opportunity through USGS Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program
A 2-year postdoctoral fellowship is now available on “Bridging the Disconnects Between Science and Decision Making.” The Mendenhall Fellow will be a member of the USGS Biogeographic Characterization Branch of the Core Science Systems Mission Area. She/he will interact primarily in a group partnership with the USGS Science and Decisions Center of the Energy and Minerals Mission Area and the Geosciences & Environmental Change Science Center. The Biogeographic Characterization Branch is actively engaged in providing technical services to enhance data use and integration and to document data provenance. Areas of focus within the biogeographic sciences include a) improving information transfer between scientific and professional communities, b) establishing techniques to integrate and evaluate diverse information used for scientific purposes and decision-making activities, c) advancing the use of analysis tools, including techniques used to support the decision-making process, and d) increasing productivity and reproducibility of scientific investigations using open source code. To learn more, see here.

Program Manager Opening in NASA Earth Science Division Applied Sciences Program
This position is located in the Applied Sciences Program in the Earth Science Division (ESD) of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters and will serve as a Program Manager responsible for managing portions of the Applied Sciences Program. It is closely tied to the NASA Earth Science applications themes and interacts with all of NASA Earth Science Division's programs. Learn more here.

Big Earth Data User Requirements Survey
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has developed a (<10 minute) survey to find out how users interact with large volumes of open environmental data and what challenges they currently face. The responses will help to steer developments and evolution of future data services, to make large volumes of environmental data better accessible.

UW Freshwater Initiative Invites Participants for WaterHackWeek 2019
The UW Freshwater Initiative is pleased to invite you to participate in the inaugural WaterHackWeek, hosted at the University of Washington’s eScience Institute, March 25-29, 2019.  Participants will learn about open source technology, models, and data for conducting state-of-the-art freshwater research. Following other successful hackweek models, mornings will consist of interactive lectures, and afternoon sessions will involve facilitated exploration of datasets and hands-on software development. What to expect from WaterHackWeek 2019:

• Peer-learning collaborations
• New skills and tools, including the latest technology and software
• Personalized mentorship from professional data scientists
• Interdisciplinary applications of data tools
• Access to an interactive library of custom tutorials
• Dedicated time and space to explore new ideas

In preparation for WaterHackWeek 2019, eScience Institute is also offering a 2-day Software Carpentry Workshop, February 7-8, 2019. For more information about the Software Carpentry Workshop, please visit: https://software-carpentry.org.

For more information about WaterHackWeek, visit https://waterhackweek.github.io. Limited travel support for attendees is available. Please contact fwi@uw.edu with any questions. Please apply by Monday, November 26, 2018.