“The Force, to me, is open data science,” said Dr. Julia Stewart Lowndes, a marine scientist at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Lowndes uses Skywalker’s learning experience as an analogy for what it feels like to venture into computational data analyses alone.
Researchers are often tasked with analyzing large datasets, but they rarely have formal training in coding, data wrangling, and collaborative research practices. Compounding these challenges is the need to migrate data analyses to the cloud as remote sensing instruments provide higher resolution data. Lowndes felt this first-hand in 2013 while working on the annual Ocean Health Index assessment with a team of researchers. Wading through unruly documentation buried in forwarded emails, Lowndes knew there was a better way to analyze data collaboratively.
Enter Yoda. Or in this case, open science.
After learning the power of open software and collaborative computing, Lowndes is now an advocate for open science. She launched Openscapes at NCEAS through a Mozilla fellowship in 2018 to help other environmental science teams harness the power of collaborative coding and foster a scientific culture that is more welcoming, open, and efficient. At the end of 2020, Erin Robinson, former executive director of Earth Science Information Partners and co-founder of Metadata Game Changers, joined Openscapes as co-director, bringing over a decade of experience in strategic planning and community building in Earth science.
Openscapes recently received NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) funding to support researchers migrating workflows to the cloud. Collaborating with Dr. Amanda Tan, a senior data scientist and cloud evangelist at the University of Washington’s eScience Institute, the NASA ROSES award enables the Openscapes team to work with mentors from NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) in building a larger framework to support the specific needs of the NASA community.
