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Participants will engage in research skills workshops, diversity networks and focused conversations on the Power of the Data Revolution.  This is a special opportunity for diverse underrepresented scientists interested in enhancing or expanding your research interests with your peers from other disciplines through the use of Big Data drawn from the many branches of the ecological sciences.

The ecological sciences are rich with an ever-growing volume, diversity and complexity of data from large-scale experiments, remote sensing, observatory networks, and predictive (simulation) models.  We now have access to microbial and genomic data, and to paleo and specimen data recently digitized in the form of images, audio, and motion recordings. Today, rich Citizen Science data are being used to monitor the health of our waters and ecosystems, collecting data where scientists are not able to go. Beyond biology, data such as geophysical data and socioeconomic data, are just some examples of sources for research data that can be coupled with biological data in order to investigate novel ecological questions.

 

BENEFITS

Selected participants will have the opportunity to:

  • Attend the Power of Data workshop, October 17-22, 2021, all expenses covered 
    (Sunday, October 17 is a travel day and departing after noon on October 22). 
  • Enhance your knowledge of Big Data, data management and explore a variety of datasets.
  • Expand your network with data scientists and peers who share your interests
  • Engage in focused conversations with a community of diverse scientists and ESA leaders
  • Learn about leadership opportunities and resources to build diversity, inclusion and justice in ESA and environmental organizations.
  • Join a Slack group to continue conversations 

DETAILS

During the workshop you will be able to:

  • Share a poster on your own research
  • Attend a 2-day Data Carpentry workshop to gain skills in data management relevant to Ecology 
  • Explore multiple types of Big Data including geospatial, biodiversity, socioeconomic data, genomic data with a faculty of experts
  • Participate in science communication and grantwriting sessions
  • Work with an interdisciplinary team of peers to pitch research ideas using Big Data

Workshop activities are subject to change based on the COVID-19 health risks.

LOCATION

The workshop will be held at the Maritime Conference Center in Linthicum, (Baltimore), MD,  a full service conference center including hotel, meals, and meeting space.

 

WHO SHOULD APPLY / ELIGIBILITY·       

  • Graduate students enrolled in a PhD program or already accepted to begin by fall 2021, Postdocs, and early career scientists (within eight years of their PhD) from any discipline interested in incorporating ecological data into their work
  • Masters degree students are welcome to apply if they are ready for Big data analysis tools and datasets
  • Must be enrolled or affiliated with a US institution
  • Participants should have interest in using large ecological datasets
  • Participants who demonstrate significant contributions to increasing the participation of underrepresented populations in ecology

COVID-RELATED REQUIREMENTS

  • Participants must be fully vaccinated for covid-19 and be able to provide documentation of vaccination at least 14 days before arrival. Those with medical or religious reasons for exemption should contact ESA  staff immediately if selected to participate. 
  • All participants may be required to wear masks during some part of the workshop following CDC guidelines.

 

REQUIREMENTS

  • Participants must commit to attending the full five days of the workshop
  • Participants should be willing to collaborate with peers from other disciplines
  • Participants should be prepared to engage in conversations about diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.
  • Participants must be willing to abide by ESA's Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics

TO APPLY: Please create an account, login and complete your user profile.  You may save a draft and return to it at a later time. Please note that when you complete your user profile, you will be asked for Contact Information, Academic background and personal demographic information. You will have the option not to provide personal demographic information but we hope you will participate so we have an accurate picture of our efforts to broaden participation in ecology.  This information is used to understand the reach of our program and will not be released to a third party or to external reviewers. ESA will only use aggregated data for reports to our funders and to stakeholders.  



Questions about the Application?

Please visit the FAQs page

Contact: Teresa Mourad, Director of Education and Diversity Programs
teresa@esa.org