Student researchers in Luquillo get $30K grant
Puerto Rico’s Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, home to the Forward Research organization, was selected to be a part of the Battelle NEON STEM Grant Program, a national $100,000 initiative that enables five student research projects to leverage the open data generated by the National Ecological Observatory Network.
Forward Research’s project — known as the “Puerto Rican Neon Data Jam” — will receive a $30,000 grant to host a one-week summer program for 60 students and six teachers that will use NEON data to investigate real community problems, such as recent storms and droughts.
The program’s primary goals are to develop student STEM competencies through the analysis of scientific data and support under-represented students in applying scientific practices.
NEON, a continental-scale ecological observation facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation and operated by Battelle, provides the scientific and academic communities open-access to data to help forward our understanding of the world’s ecosystems.
