Ecoinformatics, Citizen Science,and Adaptive Management Cooperative Extension Specialist
Position: A Cooperative Extension Specialist in ecoinformatics and citizen science will focus on improving our understanding of environmental processes by synthesizing physical, biological, and social sciencedata setsusing new computational and modeling approaches. Ecoinformatics focuses on developing ways to acquire and integrate big data, structured and unstructured data that is so large that it's difficult to process using traditional techniques. This may involve data management, data mining and manipulation.Data collected by citizen scientists is an emerging form of crowd sourced data, or information solicited from and contributed by a large group of people, either in the field or online. Advances in computer technology have made participating in science possible for groups that previously were not participating in science. These new citizen scientists are providing a fast growing source of crowd source data at fine spatial and temporal resolutions; as well as advancingSTEM learning and environmental stewardship on the ground. This CE Specialists will engage inenvironmental research in the department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management in the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley by applying an ecoinformatics approach to agricultural and natural resource management issues and advancing the effectiveness of citizen science for research and extension. This will involve working with county advisors, resource agencies, and the public across the state to designand take advantage of citizen science projects, to advance research, scientific literacy, and sustainability.
Justification: By mid-century, California will begin to emerge from the era of committed climate change, that will accelerate changes in the environment, agriculture, and the human condition across the State. Studies of the interactions of climate change and other stressors including biological invasions are underway and increasingly rely on volunteer monitoring working on public and private lands. The number and level of interest in citizen science monitoring efforts to track rapid environmental change requires increased attention by UC ANR in order to engage with these public efforts and apply the resulting data for research purposes. Bringing the power of crowd source scientific information to bear on management problems is an excellent way to support planners, managers, policy-makers, and regulators -- an important theme in the UC ANR Strategic Vision 2025. At the same time having the public invested in the research that informs decision-making results in increased public interest in policy and implementation on the ground.
UC ANR has recognized the importance of citizen science with the promotion “everyone is a scientist’ in order to engage the public in celebrating100 years of cooperative extension. The value of citizen science for scientific research has been improved by statistical tools and computational techniques that remove previous obstacles to assembling and analyzing the resulting complex data sets and the inherent uncertainty of data collected by multiple observers. At the same time, advances in technology – particularly the widespread availabilityof the internet and smartphones - have made participating in science possible for groups that previously were not reached or well served.
Extension: County Advisors are uniquely position to take advantage of public participation in science and would greatly benefit from access to a Specialist with experience designing and analyzing crowd sourced data and other complex data sets. The Specialist will interface with Advisors, land managers, agencies, private landowners, communities, citizen scientists, and nonprofits, discussing the design of data collection, analysis, modeling approaches, and communicating results to decision-makers and the public. The specialist would also connect with a variety of existing citizen science groups and grower-driven monitoring programs, as well as coordinating the creation of new groups appropriate for emerging local, regional, or statewide concerns. The specialist will also help to coordinate ecological monitoring efforts among groups and analyze the resulting data from those efforts, communicate the findings, and evaluate program effectiveness.
Research: Specific questions addressed by the specialist's research program will depend on emerging needs across California. Examples may include a focus on, species response to climate change, pollinator decline, agricultural land use issues, water quality and quantity monitoring, urban tree pest monitoring, invasion biology, and ecotoxicology. In general, the Specialist would use cutting-edge modeling and data analysis techniques to analyze existing data and sound experimental design principles and simulations to help design sampling protocols for monitoring programs. The Specialist could take advantage of numerous datasets residing at UC Research and Extension Centers as well as those created by citizen science projects that when analyzed individually or in concert will yield significant, management-relevant results. Publication will be in peer-reviewed journals, UC ANR publications, and online outlets.
ANR Network: A diverse array of applied research and extension programs are taking advantage of citizen science and the resulting crowd sourced data. The Sustainable Natural Ecosystems initiative fosters citizen science through the California Naturalist Program andmaintains the largest data portal on citizen science projects in California. The California Naturalist Program also integrates citizen science in the education requirements and service hours of certified UC California Naturalists. The Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases strategic initiative is advancing data collection efforts using mobile technology and public participation to track tree disease and mortality from several new pests and diseases. The Healthy Families and Communities initiative’sfocus on science literacy for youth in particular recognizes the role that citizen science projects can play for STEM learning. This Specialist could collaborate with multiple strategic initiatives that are engaging in public participatory research and working with large complex data; as well as offer trainings and professional development seminarson how to best design citizen science programsto not only provide buy-in from stakeholders but ensure the best data and research outcomes for UC ANR advisors and other education and service organizations.In addition, this Specialist could work with statewide programs including IGIS, UC California Naturalist Program, and UC IPM. The position was discussed and revised at the Forest and Rangeland Systems Program Team meeting and there is full support for this position from the associated workgroups.
Network External to ANR: The specialist would also work with resource agencies and nonprofits that foster environmental monitoring and citizen science projects in California including the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco Estuary Institute, and Point Blue. They would work with the newly formed citizen science society and engage with multi-state opportunities.
Support: The specialist would have office space in CNR and access to quantitative computing resources at the Geospatial Innovation Facility.
Other support: Depending on the specialist's area of interest there are NSF programs that address citizen science related to informal science education and new technologiesas well as the potential for seed money through the Berkeley Institute for Data Science Fellows program.
Location: The position is well situated in ESPM on the Berkeley campus, where we are currently hiring an AES faculty member in ecoinformatics, allowing for a cluster of expertise in this powerful emerging fieldwhere existing Specialists Matteo Garboletto, Van Bustic and Maggi Kelly are also key collaborators. UC Berkeley is an ideal location for this position due to easy access to top-notch researchers in many fields with knowledge and experience in a variety of cutting-edge modeling techniques, as well as facilities and existing collaborations which would enhance data synthesis and experimental design; including the Geospatial Innovation Facility and Berkeley Institute for Data Science.
Developed and proposed by:Adina Merenlender and Maggi Kelly, ESPM
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