NSF Hosts First Annual LTER Symposium

On Tuesday, February 26, the LTER Network offered a series of research presentations at the National Science Foundation (NSF) that summarized important accomplishments of the LTER Network. The audience was composed of more than 35 people from NSF and various agencies. In addition to Environmental Biology, other NSF offices represented included Polar Programs, International Programs, Human Resources, Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Science Education, Graduate Education, Legislative and Public Affairs, EPSCoR, Bioengineering and Environmental Systems, and Geosciences. Other agencies sending representatives included the Geological Survey, the Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Smithsonian Institution, and the American Institute for Biological Sciences. Rita Colwell stopped by for the last few talks and later sent a message complimenting LTER and Henry Gholz on organizing the activity.

After reviewing the response to the symposium, the LTER Executive Committee suggested that it should become an annual event. The exact nature of the future meetings will be discussed at the Coordinating Committee meeting in April. Future symposia will be organized as a combination between information and thematic talks, divided by a long break to permit interaction between speakers and audience. The meetings will conclude with a panel discussion, and the panel will include people with non-LTER perspectives.

The LTER Executive Committee is considering the possibility of conducting similar mini-symposia at different agencies, targeting one a year. The goal would be to encourage support and involvement from other agencies and would help optimize coordination between LTER and agency programs. Agencies and themes should be closely matched. One suggestion was to base the symposium on the science theme addressed at each fall Coordinating Committee meeting.

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