NASA is awarding a total of $6.5 million to U.S. institutions for education and training in open science. The promise of open science is that NASA research and data should be more collaborative, accessible, inclusive, and transparent for everyone from the scientist and student to the city manager and citizen.
NASA is awarding a total of $6.5 million to U.S. institutions for education and training in open science. The promise of open science is that NASA research and data should be more collaborative, accessible, inclusive, and transparent for everyone from the scientist and student to the city manager and citizen.
The agency’s Open-Source Science Initiative (OSSI) is promoting change in the openness and speed of access to scientific information by supporting new training opportunities. To kickoff the initiative, NASA is investing in a 5-year Transform to Open Science (TOPS) project, which helps researchers engaged with NASA and beyond to put open science into practice.
“NASA is opening up science like never before,” said Chelle Gentemann, program scientist for TOPS. “Opening science calls for a shift in both the culture of science and how we conduct research. These awards equip interested scientists and researchers to become the next leaders and innovators working in the open to transform their fields.”
TOPS projects target scientists and researchers at all levels of their careers – from undergraduate students to principal investigators to program managers. TOPS summer schools and virtual cohorts promote understanding of open science using an introductory curriculum called Open Science 101. A new curriculum called ScienceCore helps learners increase their knowledge and skills in specific disciplines.
“We are building an open science ecosystem for a more equitable, impactful, and efficient scientific future,” said Yaítza Luna-Cruz, program officer for the TOPS Training (TOPST) initiative. “Open science is about making sure that scientific knowledge is not only accessible, but also reproducible and inclusive. TOPS is a crucial step towards increasing participation of historically excluded groups across NASA Science.”
Summer Schools
TOPST summer schools will increase the adoption of open science practices by teaching introductory curriculum and increasing opportunities for collaboration. The selected institutions, their projects, and principal investigators (PIs) are:
- National Louis University, Chicago, IllinoisEnsuring Culturally Responsive Practices and Community Building in Open Science
PI: Robyn Moncrief - Neuromatch Inc., Los Angeles, CaliforniaAn Open, Community Supported, Accessible Summer School for Climate Science
PI: Nicholas Halper - University of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignBringing Together Open Science and Research Software
PI: Madicken Munk
Virtual Cohorts
Virtual cohorts will offer remote learning and community building around open science principles and practices. The selected institutions, projects, and PIs are:
- Code for Science and Society Inc., Portland, OregonTOPS OpenCore by Embedding Community Values
PI: Yo YehudiCiencia Abierta Accesible: Community-Based Teaching of the TOPS OpenCore Online in Spanish
PI: Laura Acion - Don’t Use This Code, New YorkVirtual Cohorts: Developing Lifelong Committed Interaction with Open Science
PI: Cameron Riddell
ScienceCore
ScienceCore curriculum will complement existing training materials and provide information about open science tools and technology for NASA Earth and space science research. The selected institutions, projects, and PIs are:
- University of Montana, MissoulaSatellite observations and models informing agriculture: Training for open science under climate change
PI: Arthur Endsley - North Carolina State University, RaleighBuilding a framework for ScienceCore Carpentry from a Marine Sciences Lab
PI: Lisa Lowe - NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MarylandETHOS: ExoplaneTs in the epocH of Open Science
PI: Richard Barry - Million Concepts LLC, Louisville, KentuckyKnowing the Sky: Building Open Science Skills through Native Knowledge Practices
PI: Sierra Brown - University of California, BerkeleyExamining Environmental Justice through Open Source, Cloud-Native Tools
PI: Carl Boettiger - Code for Science and Society Inc., Portland, OregonReproducibly Analyzing Wildfire, Drought, and Flood Risk with NASA Earthdata Cloud
PI: James Munroe - Washington University in St. LouisExoCore: An open science curriculum for enhanced reproducibility and equity in exoplanet research
PI: Tansu Daylan - NASA’s Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, CaliforniaTraining in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Space Biological Sciences Using NASA Cloud-Based Data
PI: Lauren Sanders - Columbia University, New YorkScience Core Heuristics for Open Science Outcomes in Learning (SCHOOL)
PI: Kytt MacManus - Polyneme LLC, New YorkHeliophysics ScienceCore curriculum development with emphasis on knowledge representation techniques to increase usability of NASA cloud-based datasets
PI: Donald Winston
As part of the Year of Open Science, NASA is awarding $2.7 million across these different projects this year, with a total of $6.5 million over three years. Read more about the projects.
For information about open science at NASA, visit: