NSF Award
2434964
The University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography will continue to host the NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative Facilities Board (OOIFB) Administrative Support Office (ASO) for a period of five years starting October 1, 2024. The funding provided will allow the ASO to assist the OOIFB in engaging researchers and educators so that NSF Ocean Observatory Initiative (OOI) educational and research opportunities can be shared broadly. The ASO will provide management structure and resources to enable the OOIFB and its committees to carry out its mandate as described in the OOIFB Terms of Reference. The ASO will administer funds for meeting organization and scheduling as well as for community and board member travel expenses. Additional tasks include support for the design and maintenance of the OOIFB website and continuous active promotion of OOI and OOIFB outreach communications. The OOIFB ASO will maintain meeting records and adhere to reporting requirements. It will also assist in the organization and running of at least two community workshops aimed at stimulating the formation of new science user groups and multidisciplinary collaborations, three summer school workshops, and town hall sessions at major oceanographic conferences. These activities will increase engagement with a broader array of science, engineering, and educational audiences from a wider spectrum of institutions and organizations.<br/><br/>The OOIFB was established in May 2017 to provide independent input on the management and operation of the OOI, an NSF supported, community-inspired, and community-serving research facility enabling ocean science research. The facility consists of an integrated network of instrumentation arrays, distributed in various coastal and global ocean locations that collect, archive, and distribute quality ocean, marine geophysical, and atmospheric data to the ocean and Earth science communities. The OOIFB consists of seven community members including two members from the OOI facility. The Board expands scientific and public awareness of OOI and ensures that the oceanographic community is kept informed of relevant developments. In addition, the OOIFB provides a communication conduit between the user community and NSF, which enables effective and informed NSF oversight of the facility. With support from this award, the OOIFB ASO will assist the OOIFB in fulfilling its mission and engage researchers and educators so that science discoveries and OOI data and resources are utilized by the broader oceanographic community.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
