DataONE 2010 Summer Internship Program

The Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE) is a virtual organization dedicated to providing open, persistent, robust, and secure access to biodiversity, ecology, and environmental data.   DataONE is pleased to announce the availability of summer research internships.  The program is open to all undergraduate students, graduate students, and potsgraduates who have received their masters or doctorate within the past five years. 

Approximately six interns will be accepted this year.  As part of a larger virtual organization, interns will work in virtual groups of 2-3 with multiple mentors from DataONE.  Interns must be at least 18 years of age by May 23, 2010. Interns must be currently enrolled or employed at a university or other research institution and must currently reside in, and be eligible to work in, the United States.  Interns from previous years are eligible to participate. Given the broad range of projects, there are no restrictions on academic backgrounds or field of study.  Interns are expected to be available approximately 40 hours/week during the internship period (noted below) with significant availability during the normal business hours.

Projects

The project description page contains information about proposed projects and mentors.  These cover a range of topic areas including software development, library science, and sociotechnical aspects of scientific data.  These projects vary in the extent and type of technical expertise required.  The interests and expertise of the applicants will determine which projects will be selected for the program.  Please see the current list of projects and the full program announcement to learn more about the program, how to apply, and schedules.

For further information about DataONE, see the website (http://dataone.org).  The architecture documents and SubVersion repository are also publicly accessible.

USGS and Partners to Help Scientists Deal with Data Deluge

A new global data access program will help scientists deal with the ever-increasing amount of information they must access to understand Earth’s living and nonliving systems.

The program, called DataONE, is a global data access and preservation network created by experts at the ’s National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII), in partnership with many universities. DataONE is the result of a recent 5-year, $20 million award through the National Science Foundation. ONE is short for Observation Network for Earth.

DataONE is committed to ensuring the preservation and access to Earth-observation data across scientific disciplines to make new discoveries that improve life, said Mike Frame, a bioinformatics expert leading the USGS efforts along with Vivian Hutchison, also of the NBII.

Frame noted that the NBII offers DataONE partners expertise in biological informatics: the convergence of the biological sciences, information science and computer technologies.

“We’ve been developing standards and tools for using and integrating data for more than a decade,” said Frame. “With DataONE, our involvement will go beyond the focus on biological resources to include the necessary infrastructure and integration of data needed to confront broader environmental challenges.”

Much work will center on learning how scientists from many areas of study gather and label their data, then identify and develop tools, including software, that allow scientists to more easily access, interpret and use each other’s research.

Those benefiting from DataONE will include scientists, land-managers, policy makers, students, educators and the public. Most importantly, said Frame, DataONE is not an end in itself but a means to serve a broader range of science domains both directly and through interoperability with the DataONE distributed network.

The NBII Program is contributing thousands of metadata and datasets to DataONE through the NBII Metadata Clearinghouse. Through the clearinghouse, users can search detailed descriptions (metadata) of hundreds of different biological datasets and information products. These records describing biological datasets will be combined with metadata contributions from other partners in the DataONE system to provide a foundation for users to identify, access, and analyze data collected across multiple disciplines.

“Even though these datasets were collected to answer specific scientific questions at the time of data development,” said Hutchison, “there may be broader uses for the data, such as for complex analysis needed in climate change research.”

The USGS is the only federal agency participating in this grant. DataONE is led by the University of New Mexico and includes partner organizations across the United States, Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and Australia. It also includes experts from library, computer and environmental sciences to bridge these fields and to develop an infrastructure to serve science and the public at large for decades to come.


About the NBII

A major collaborator in the DataONE project, the NBII is a broad, collaborative program to provide increased access to data and information on the nation's biological resources. Coordinated by the USGS, the NBII links diverse, high‑quality biological databases, information products, and analytical tools maintained by NBII partners and other contributors in government agencies, academic institutions, non‑government organizations and private industry. NBII partners and collaborators also work on new standards, tools and technologies that make it easier to find, integrate and apply biological resources information. Resource managers, scientists, educators and the general public use the NBII to answer a wide range of questions related to the management, use and conservation of U.S. biological resources.

(Photo: DataONE sponsored a kick-off meeting to launch the program (October 2009) in Albuquerque, NM)