Science User Group for Research meetings
The U.S. National Science Foundation Ocean Observatories initiative (OOI) is always striving to seek community input on the data collected by OOI arrays, how the scientific community is using the collected data, and how we might make the data more accessible and useable to the community at large. To this end, the OOI is launching Science User Group for Research (SUGR) meetings. These meetings will serve two purposes: Provide a means for an exchange of ideas to improve OOI services through a direct exchange with community members and offer an informal mentoring program by bringing together a mix of senior and early career scientists OOI data users.
SUGR meetings will be opportunistic. They will be scheduled to coincide with large scientific professional meetings with large numbers of OOI data users already attending to minimize travel costs and excessive travel. Meetings will also be scheduled only when need to address relevant, pressing issues. As envisioned, SUGR meetings will help build a user community that supports the interchange of derived and quality-controlled data products, and appreciates the value added from merging straight OOI data with supporting observations.
SUGR meetings are not intended to replace OOIFB workshops and other ongoing community outreach activities, but rather are designed to enhance interaction with the user community. The primary mission of the SUGR meetings is to facilitate discussion with the OOI data user community. The meetings will be structured with a presentation on the pressing matter, followed by ample time for discussion that ultimately would result in action items.
The first SUGR meeting is planned for the Sunday December 8, 2024, in Washington, DC, prior to the start of the AGU Fall meeting on December 9. We are seeking community input on “curated” data sets, what they would contain and how they might be accessed to best meet research needs. The one-day meeting is designed to take advantage of the insights of those attending AGU and minimize extra travel time and expenses. Stay tuned as more details unfold.
Ideas for other topics for meetings, suggestions for scheduling, and interest in attending are always welcome. Please communicate directly with OOI Program Management Office Principal Investigator Jim Edson directly at jedson@whoi.edu.
