2018 Fellowship Program

EDI Fellows 2018
Fellows and EDI team members at the data publishing workshop at UNM in Albuquerque, NM (June 2018). From left: Susamme Grossman-Clarke (EDI), Kristin Vanderbilt (EDI), Colin Smith (EDI)


About

EDI successfully completed its first summer fellowship program from June 4 to August 13, 2018. Each of our six fellows made a significant contribution to the preservation and reuse of data and metadata that they published for their host sites. EDI will provide continued support to the host sites in maintaining the already archived data packages as well as in future data publishing efforts. Each fellow made a significant contribution to publishing the host site’s data, for long-term data preservation, making the data discoverable (in the EDI data repository, DataONE and by internet searches) as well as to fulfill the requirements of scientific journals and funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation. We also supported the development and publishing of a workflow for marine image analysis.

Testimonials

“I feel immensely grateful to be part of the EDI Summer Fellowship 2018. This program has given me the unique opportunity to transition from more computer-based study in R Language to the real ecological data and its issue in field stations. I would not have been able to finish the internship without the Ecological Metadata Language (EML) training. The training and the internship not only has sharpened my skill in data management but also enhanced knowledge and awareness in ecology and conservation. Finally, the opportunity to regularly interact with such a diverse group of fellows and scientists has been invaluable to my personal and professional development.”

– Prita Novita | Fellow at the Adirondack Ecological Center –

“The EDI fellowship allowed the Plant Ecology Program to make great strides in publishing our long-term plant demographic data. We worked with fellow Gabriel Kamener and Vivienne Sclater of Archbold to get two complex datasets organized and posted. In addition, the procedures and coding that were created will make posting of additional datasets more feasible and improve the quality of those datasets.”

– Eric Menges, PhD | Senior Research Program Director and Research Biologist at Archbold Biological Station –

“EDI’s Ecological Data Management Summer Fellowship program has been a great benefit to Archbold Biological Station. Our fellow, Gabriel Kamener, was able to publish multiple datasets as well as clean one of our larger, more difficult datasets. Gabriel was able to give insightful feedback to researchers and was able to find answers to any questions they had. EDI’s commitment to the fellows benefitted Gabriel by providing mentorship and insight as well as Archbold by providing a trained employee to focus on data archiving and documenting the procedure for future use.”

– Vivienne Sclater | GIS and Data Manager at Archbold Biological Station –

“My Ecological Data Management Summer Fellowship with EDI provided the opportunity to successfully transition from collecting ecological data in the field to managing data and publicly archiving datasets with standardized metadata. EDI’s training workshop at the beginning of the fellowship program not only introduced me to the skills needed to tidy, document, and publish datasets, but it also offered the opportunity to work with data professionals and the other fellows in my cohort to overcome challenges involving messy data. Additionally, the hands-on experience in working with my mentor and researchers on data at Archbold Biological Station (ABS) allowed me to apply what I learned at the workshop, and it also allowed me to further expand my data-management skillset. The fellowship experience directly led to a job offer with ABS, and I now work as a Research Data Assistant in the station’s Data Management department.”

– Gabriel Kamener | EDI Summer fellow and Research Data Assistant at Archbold Biological Station –

“My co-authors and myself recently got a manuscript accepted in PlosOne. As part of the final submission, we were asked to publish/archive the data associated with our manuscript. Luckily, Gabriel Kamener (an EDI summer fellow) started his fellowship right at the same time. We asked him to prepare the data that were going to be sent to the EDI Data Repository. Gabriel fulfilled that task in a timely manner, updating me on the status of the dataset and making sure the data met the format requirements asked from EDI. Because Gabriel was familiar with EDI, it made the process of publishing this dataset painless and saved me much needed time to work on other projects.”

– Grégory Sonnier, PhD | Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Archbold Biological Station’s Buck Island Ranch –

“I spent this summer working at Shoals Marine Laboratory, ME. My goal was to clean, document, and archive data from the 30-year-plus long-term rocky intertidal monitoring program. There were challenges along the way, since the research program itself underwent many changes over the years; however, with support from numerous people at Shoals and at EDI, the dataset is now archived on the EDI portal. My experience with both the host site and with EDI mentors has been fulfilling and productive; I have learned much about how to communicate the importance of data quality to both practicing biologists and biologists-in-training. Most importantly, I have experienced first hand that there are both immense potential and challenges in working with long-term data, and that it takes constant ongoing work by dedicated people and organizations such as EDI to maintain and promote data quality and publication.”

– An Nguyen | Fellow at Shoals Marine Laboratory –

Host projects and mentors

Featured data packages

Two data packages published by EDI fellows were featured in our “Featured Data Package” series:

Published data packages

Demers C. 2018. Small mammals surveys, 1981 – 1996, Adirondack Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program Project No. 10 by Adirondack Ecological Center of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Newcomb, New York. Environmental Data Initiative. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/5fbb6e06b7a5a059446c749a289a7030.

Hogg A. 2018. Ozone Concentrations and Ozone Flux at the Univerity of Michigan Biological Station PROPHET Tower from 2002-2005. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/4be647de13b62c28ffa3ee3db6794611.

McNulty S. 2018. Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) drumming surveys, 1987-2017, Adirondack Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program Project No. 9 by Adirondack Ecological Center of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Newcomb, New York. Environmental Data Initiative. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/39f495a15fa0667af635991d749741c4.

McNulty S. 2018. Lake ice surveys, 1874-2016, Adirondack Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program Project No. 8 by Adirondack Ecological Center of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Newcomb, New York. Environmental Data Initiative.. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/e6ff947b3cd152e1a79f248b76923b6d.

McNulty S. 2018. Songbird surveys , 1952 – 1964, 1983 – 2008 Adirondack Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program Project No. 2 Breeding Birds by Adirondack Ecological Center of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Newcomb, New York. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/60258aef9640cc5eba87f0c767f4560f.

Menges E. S., P. L. Marks. 2018. Survival and growth of south Florida slash pines in four seasonal ponds at Archbold Biological Station, 1992-2001 . Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/b88e5314d292b988d7ab0c69fc5f8296.

Menges E. S. 2018. Demography of the Florida endemic Eriogonum longifolium var. gnaphalifolium (Polygonaceae) at Archbold Biological Station and the Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge Carter Creek from 1990 to 2013. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/046a5d4f540f1f8aca1ddbc02be888f4.

Menges E. S., C. W. Weekley. 2018. Demographic measures of Liatris ohlingerae (Asteraceae) in 20 populations across multiple habitats and time-since-fire intervals in south central Florida from 1997-2017. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/b08931c0292b11c3a32a02bfb425fe16.

Menges E., S. Smith, S. Crate. 2018. Long-term demographic data on the endangered legume Crotalaria avonensis, from Carter Creek Tract, Lake Wales Ridge Wildlife Environmental Area, 1998-2017 (ongoing). Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/858785f0e6f67ea8b60c3d26d16b58a6.

Meyers P. 2018. Michigan Opossum Distribution from 1899 to 2008. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/10f6ddc77cd7005d57b47fd7c7fd2fec.

Meyers P. 2018. Michigan Rodents Distribution at the University of Michigan Biological Station, Pellston, MI, from 1883 to 2007. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/6b6fdbfd077f528ca01d2b526f707a69.

Mohonk Preserve, C. Belardo, N. Feldsine, A. Forester, P. Huth, E. Long, V. Morgan, M. Napoli, E. Pierce, D. Richardson, D. Smiley, S. Smiley, J. Thompson. 2018. History of Acid Precipitation on the Shawangunk Ridge: Mohonk Preserve Precipitation Depths and pH, 1976 to Present. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/734ea90749e78613452eacec489f419c.

Mohonk Preserve, A. Forester, P. Huth, E. Long, V. Morgan, M. Napoli, E. Pierce, D. Smiley, S. Smiley, J. Thompson. 2018. Mohonk Preserve Ground Water Springs Data, 1991 to Present. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/928feed7ee748509ab065de7e3791966.

Pearsall D., M. Lapin. 2018. Landscape Ecosystem Classification Soils and Vegetation Plots Data at the University of Michigan Biological Station, Pellston, Michigan from 1988 to 2001. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/a442d02adba8ae466268caa75b95cb59.

Shoals Marine Laboratory 2018. Long-term Rocky Intertidal Monitoring on Appledore Island, Maine, 1982-2017. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/b8f52444f86fbefe97c5bb40673e02d5.

Sonnier G., P. J. Bohlen, H. M. Swain, S. L. Orzell, E. L. Bridges, E. H. Boughton. 2018. A case study of the effects of wetland restoration on the hydrology, species diversity, species composition and floristic quality of restored wetlands within a Central Florida ranchland, 2003 – ongoing.. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/b745934d136ce9ca8de26c5063eee86a.