Project
Description
NEON will be a continental scale research instrument consisting
of geographically distributed infrastructure, networked
via state-of-the-art communications. Cutting-edge lab and
field instrumentation, site-based experimental infrastructure,
natural history archive facilities and/or computational,
analytical and modeling capabilities, linked via a computational
network will comprise NEON.
NEON
will transform ecological research by enabling studies on
major environmental challenges at regional to continental
scales. Scientists and engineers will use NEON to conduct
real-time ecological studies spanning all levels of biological
organization and temporal and geographical scales. NSF disciplinary
and multi-disciplinary programs will support NEON research
projects and educational activities. Data from standard
measurements made using NEON will be publicly available.
Principal
Scientific Goals
NEON will provide nationally networked research, communication,
and informatics infrastructure for collaborative, comprehensive
and interdisciplinary measurements and experiments on ecological
systems. NEON’s synthesis, computation, and visualization
infrastructure will create a virtual laboratory that will
permit the development of a predictive understanding of
the direct effects and feedbacks between environmental change
and biological processes.
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Principal
Education Goals
NEON will be a platform for experiential learning and biosphere
literacy. NEON will create innovative learning environments
and pathways for K-20 students and foster integration of
research and education through institutional and multi-institutional
networking, partnerships, alliances, and collaborations.
NEON’s research and communication infrastructure will
enable public dialog, education of policy and management
decision makers, and the development of workforce skills
and life-long career opportunities. NEON will forge new
disciplinary alliances and push interdisciplinary scientific,
information, and technological frontiers, and thus will
create education and training opportunities leading to new
career paths.
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NEON
in FY 2004
The most pressing challenges facing the nation’s biosphere
result from complex interactions between human, natural
and physical systems, which operate over large spatial and
temporal scales and transcend all levels of biological organization.
To better understand these interactions requires a new tool
to investigate the structure, dynamics, and evolution of
ecosystems in the United States and to forecast biological
change. Through a series of workshops, reports, and planning
activities, (for information see: http://ibrcs.aibs.org/core/index.asp),
the research community determined they needed a new tool.
That tool needed to be a continent-wide research platform,
composed of networked state-of-the-art analytical and communication
technologies, or NEON.
In
response, the Directorate for Biological Sciences of the
National Science Foundation announces its intention to support
the establishment of a NEON Coordinating Consortium (NCC),
which will provide the scientific leadership, administration,
community participation, and overall governance of NEON
and include a NEON Project Office. The latter will manage
the initial planning and design phase of NEON and will ultimately
be responsible for NEON construction and daily management.
See
NSF 04-549 for the Program Announcement soliciting proposals
for the NCC and NEON Project Office.
A
Prospective Principal Investigator meeting was held
Friday, February 27, 2004 at the National Science Foundation
in Arlington, VA, to discuss this solicitation as well
as the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON),
NSF's Facilities Management and Oversight Guide, and Large
Facilities Project Management.
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