OOI Welcomes Data Discussions for NSF OED Synthesis Center Solicitation

The National Science Foundation recently issued a solicitation to create a Center for Advancement & Synthesis of Open Environmental Data & Sciences (NSF 21-549). The Center will be fueled by open and freely available environmental data, such as that provided by the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), the Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER) network, and others.

The vision is that large, publicly accessible datasets will catalyze novel scientific questions in environmental biology and speed discovery through collaborations with scientists in other related disciplines.  It is also hoped that the Center will help democratize science and diversify the STEM workforce by catalyzing the use of the open data by everyone, from collaborative teams to individual students, researchers, educators, fishers, and policy makers.

OOI is pleased to have been listed as a data source for the Center and looks forward to helping to generate answers to important environmental questions. For those considering submitting a proposal, OOI stands ready to help you learn more about OOI data.  If you are interested in having such a discussion, please reach out directly to John Trowbridge