2019 Fellowship Program

About

We successfully completed our second EDI Summer Fellowship Program (10 June – 9 August 2019). We supported nine fellows at host sites located in different parts of the country, studying a large variety of ecosystems, with the host institutions differing in size and data management resources. For a list of host sites, on-site mentors and fellows, see below.

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.

Highlights

• EDI workshop on “Introduction to publishing environmental data” at Clemson Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science with support of EDI fellow Vanessa Bailey.
• Fellow Katherine Qi with NES LTER shared her work in teleconferences with NASA, Integrated Ocean Observing System, and Marine Biodiversity Observation Network scientists and data managers. She developed workflows to contribute datasets from plankton imaging systems to EDI.
• Fellows Katherine Le and Alexis Garretson continue to work with their former host sites, Lacawac Sanctuary and Biological Field Station and Mohonk Preserve on data management related tasks.
• Conference contribution: Beaulieu, S.E, Futrelle J., Qi, K., Sosik, H.M. 2019. Contributing datasets from plankton imaging systems for reuse in Essential Ocean Variables and Essential Biodiversity Variables Taxon-resolved dataset Individual-level Sample-level Metadata. Poster. OceanObs’19 conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, (September 16-20, 2019)

Testimonials

“I benefited greatly from the EDI summer fellowship program. The workshop in Albuquerque exposed me to data concepts that I hadn’t thought of before and improved my knowledge of data management best practices. Learning about metadata and the Ecological Metadata Language prepared me to help the people at the Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science with their data. Working with data at the field station further gave me hands-on experience with different ecological data, their nuances, and associated troubleshooting. EDI support allowed the repository upload process to occur smoothly. I’ve made so many wonderful connections with other ecologists and data managers from this program. I feel extremely fortunate for the opportunity and hope to apply the skills I learned to my own data management in the future.”

– Vanessa Bailey | Fellow at Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Field Station –

“The Environmental Data Initiative Fellowship Program was a great opportunity to connect with ESIP partner organizations while developing my information management expertise. The fellowship opened with an in-person crash course in data publishing, including instruction on cleaning and structuring datasets, on using and creating Ecological Metadata Language, and on publishing data packages in the EDI data repository. This training, combined with the hands-on experience in data management at Mohonk Preserve and other host sites, has helped me define and explore career opportunities in environmental information management roles.” (Excerpt from “How an ESIP Output Helped me in my Summer Fellowship”).

– Alexis Garretson | Fellow at Mohonk Preserve –

“Like many field stations, we accumulate a lot of data, and we’re eager to make it accessible to a broader research community. It seems like such an insurmountable task, and starting the process of cleaning up even one dataset for publication was daunting. We were so fortunate to have a really talented, well-trained EDI Fellow, Alexis Garretson, to spend the summer with us. Alexis was able to quickly and efficiently format and publish some of our simpler datasets, and made tremendous strides cleaning up an unwieldy dataset that we’ve been struggling with for years. We’re already benefiting from her work- just this week I was able to provide the doi for one of the datasets Alexis worked on to a researcher at another institution who wants to include the data in a project he’s working on.”

– Dr. Elizabeth Long | Director of Conservation Science at Mohonk Preserve –

“The training I received through EDI’s Summer Fellowship Program has helped me to enhance my skillset in programming and data management. This past summer, I had the opportunity to attend EDI’s training workshop where I met a welcoming group of like-minded individuals and together, we learned how to use R to clean up messy data, translate metadata into EML, and publish data packages to EDI. Following the training workshop, I got to apply what I learned to formatting and publishing decades of water temperature, meteorological, and dissolved oxygen sensor data at Lacawac Sanctuary and Biological Field Station. Throughout the process, I always had support from EDI and the other fellows when I needed it. In addition, my mentor Beth at Lacawac was always more than willing to help and answer any questions I had. Through this program, I learned valuable skills in overcoming challenges associated with maintaining long-term data. In addition, this fellowship led me to continue on as a data manager for Lacawac Field Station.”

– Katherine Le | Fellow at the Lacawac Sanctuary and Biological Field Station –

“As an undergraduate student pursuing a career in research, experience in working directly with scientists and real life problems is essential. Environmental Data Initiative provided a supportive program that allowed me to engage with data scientists, engineers, and ocean biologists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute this summer. I was able advance my own software skills and proficiency in plankton ecology while developing a project that directly influenced many working groups. Without the great mentoring and training I received through EDI and WHOI, I would not have been able to accomplish and learn as much as I did in this short period of time. This opportunity was a unique insight into the importance of data analysis and management, and I now understand how these techniques are applicable to all fields.”

– Katherine Qi |Fellow at the Northeast U.S. Shelf Long-term Ecological Research (NES-LTER), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution –

“This summer we had the wonderful opportunity to host Kathy Qi as an Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) Fellow. Kathy’s project was a big success for NES-LTER and is already having impact in the broader community – Kathy got to share her work in telecons with NASA, IOOS, and MBON scientists and data managers! Thank you again for this opportunity, what a great fellowship program.” Please read more in this post.

– Stace Beaulieu | Senior Research Specialist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution –

Host projects and mentors

• Adirondack Ecological Center, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Location: Newcomb, NY. Mentor: Stacy McNulty (smcnulty@esf.edu), Fellow: Maureen Lynch

  • Project title: Adirondack Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program Data – Wildlife, Habitat and Ecosystem Fellowship.

• Clemson Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science. Location: Georgetown, SC. Mentor: Dr. Skip J. Van Bloem (skipvb@clemson.edu), Fellow: Vanessa Bailey

  • Project title: Long-term forestry and wildlife dynamics data.

• Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana. Location: Polson, MT. Mentor: Dr. Robert O. Hall (bob.hall@flbs.umt.edu), Fellow: Amalia Handler

  • Project title: Long-term hydrological, water quality and meteorological data from a suite of environmental sensors on a wild and scenic river floodplain in northwest Montana.

• Lacawac Sanctuary and Biological Field Station. Mentor: Location: Lake Ariel, PA. Dr. Beth Norman (beth.norman@lacawac.org), Fellow: Katherine Le

  • Project title: Decades of temperature and dissolved oxygen through the depth of a pristine southern glacial lake.

• Mohonk Preserve. Location: New Paltz, NY. Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Long (elong@mohonkpreserve.org), Fellow: Alexis Garretson

  • Project title: Long term phenology observations of flora and fauna of the Northern Shawangunk region.

• Northeast U.S. Shelf Long-term Ecological Research (NES-LTER), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Location: Woods Hole, MA. Mentor: Dr. Stace Beaulieu (stace@whoi.edu), Fellow: Katherine Qi

  • Project title: Contributing datasets from plankton imaging systems deployed at the NES-LTER for Essential Ocean Variables and Essential Biodiversity Variables.

• Sagehen Creek Field Station, UC Berkeley. Location: Truckee, CA. Mentor: Faerthen Felix (ffelix@berkeley.edu), Fellow: Georgia Titcomb

  • Project title: 65+ years of meteorological data. Small mammal trapping, bird banding, fisheries, contemporary camera trap research data.

• University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) Field Station in Saukville, UWM Field station in Waukesha and Greene Field Station, Carroll University. Location: Milwaukee, WI. Mentors: Dr. Teresa Schuller (teresa.schueller@uwc.edu), Dr. Gretchen Meyer, Todd Levine, Fellow: Jana Gedymin Viel

  • Project title: Long-term observations from Cedarburg Bog natural area, Genessee Creek and Kettle Moraine.

• University of Wyoming-NPS Research Station. Location: Laramie, WY. Mentor: Dr. Michael Dillon (Michael.Dillon@uwyo.edu), Fellow: Craig Garzella

  • Project title: Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem data: pollinators, small mammals, invertebrates, vegetation and plant communities.

Featured data packages

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

• “Mohonk Preserve Amphibian and Water Quality Monitoring Dataset at 11 Vernal Pools from 1931-Present”

• “Monthly litterfall, monthly tree band, and annual tree growth of a South Carolina coastal wetland forest”

Published data packages

Breitmeyer B. W., M. K. Gooden, M. J. Appleby, R. Ash, J. Rahn. 2019. Continuous Forest Inventory (CFI), 1970-2017, Long-term Forest Property Monitoring by State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, New York, USA. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/5f2eb71d634b9ca1ec3c37effa557d33.

Conner W. H. 2019. Monthly litterfall, monthly tree band, and annual tree growth of a South Carolina coastal wetland forest. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/87e25c8383eb7f857f38fe532e408775.

Gard R., M. Yoder-Williams. 2019. Calhoun Small Mammal Trapline Data 1950-1989. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/c731305d47dd357b4db2905a75e4b3e6.

Hargreaves B. R. 2019. Decades of water column temperature, lake level and meteorological data of Lake Lacawac, a pristine glacial lake at Lacawac Biological Field Station in the Pocono mountains, Pennsylvania USA (1992-2019). Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/e8a18d110700f2f85cbc16845f511379.

Matson P. L., T. S. Bansak, A. M. Handler. 2019. Nyack Floodplain RiverNet meteorlogical and soil data in Northwest Montana, USA, 2012-2019. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/c98d64fa6945a5b01a15409d18c299a2.

McNulty S. A. 2019. White-tailed Deer Population Study, 1962-2008, Adirondack Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program by Adirondack Ecological Center of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Newcomb, New York, USA. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/775df4c52b2441702bdc776930d9e711.

McNulty S. A., R. D. Masters. 2019. Seed Production Survey, 1988-2009, Adirondack Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program Project No. 26 by Adirondack Ecological Center of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Newcomb, New York, USA. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f28fe27b04d069dd1f9b4de45488bd8e.

Mohonk Preserve, N. Feldsine, A. Forester, A. Garretson, P. Huth, E. Long, M. Napoli, E. Pierce, D. Smiley, S. Smiley, J. Thompson. 2019. Mohonk Preserve Amphibian and Water Quality Monitoring Dataset at 11 Vernal Pools from 1931-Present. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/864aea25998b73c5d1a5b5f36cb6583e.

Needham P. R., R. Gard, A. S. Leopold. 2019. Sagehen Creek Creel Census, 1953-1961. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/7b6ddfc376fc341b1362e9ee3b1883e2.

Petersky R. S., A. Harpold. 2019. A Long-Term Micrometeorological and Hydrological Dataset Across an Elevation Gradient in Sagehen Creek, Sierra Nevada, California. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f7ba0d637f25c4a118c67030daa1611a.

Redmond K., J. A. Reinartz. 2019. Flowering phenology along the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Field Station boardwalk in the Cedarburg Bog Saukville WI 1984 to 1993. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/7837c386c7c3c5e79e6ff68a585facc1.

Sayler D. 2019. Photographic documentation of forestry treatments of 77 forest plots at Sagehen Creek Field Station, 2016-2019. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/ec298a9cdd4a7d32dcd63010ba09f32d.

Sayler D., G. C. Titcomb. 2019. Temperature and Relative Humidity Time Series across 60 forest plots at Sagehen Creek Field Station, 2016-2019. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/7f68a42a053dde3ce89915d9981b43ce.

Wolfe B. T., R. Macchiavelli, S. J. Van Bloem. 2019. Tally of seeds collected in seed-rain traps and the trees around the traps in Guánica Forest, Puerto Rico. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/3b9b472dc754c916ad229790e91e95d6.