GESTAR II Seminar Series, Thursday, Sept 12th at 11am

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 14:58:03 -0400
gestar2

Join us for a virtual seminar by Dr. Jessica Scheick, University of New Hampshire. Her talk is titled "Transforming ICESat-2 Research through Collaboration and Learning." The link to Dr. Scheick's presentation is available here.

Date and Time: Thursday, September 12, 2024 at 11:00am EST

Join us via Teams Meeting

Abstract:

"Writing code is a given for many modern students; research progress cannot happen without some form of data manipulation, and for those of us in the earth sciences, the data volumes may be large (>= terabyte) and may require specialized software to manipulate. This data volume challenge is a relatively new one, instigated by ever-higher data resolutions and our ability to not only measure but also store and transmit massive amounts of data. However, our need for managing and processing such large data volumes has not kept pace with our tools and expertise, and it's easy to fall back to old habits of downloading data and coding in relative isolation. Despite these challenges, a team of researchers, data scientists, and software engineers - brought together by the ICESat-2 mission - are demonstrating how collaboration and intentional opportunities for learning can transform research and make open science and cloud computing a reality. This talk will highlight two components of this paradigm: the icepyx community and software library and hackweeks. Hackweeks are a short-format training model developed by practitioners at the University of Washington's eScience Institute. The model emphasizes creating a positive learning environment in which to provide interactive tutorials and peer learning through project work. Learners of all levels collaborate to share their expertise while building technical and open science skills. From the first ICESat-2-themed Hackweek emerged icepyx, a community and software library aimed at improving ICESat-2 data access and computational workflows. As a community, icepyx provides opportunities for researchers to practice collaborative development in a beginner-friendly environment, which can increase the likelihood they will contribute their research software to a shared repository. As software, icepyx is used for over 40% of all ICESat-2 data downloads from NASA's NSIDC data archive center and is working to provide cloud-optimized data access for ICESat-2 data products. As part of a broader ecosystem of tools and people, hackweeks and icepyx are part of a collaborative, educational paradigm redefining the ways in which we enable successful scientific research."

Biography:

Dr. Jessica Scheick is a glaciologist, open-source software developer and maintainer, remote sensing expert, open science advocate, and lifelong lover of snow, winter, and the outdoors. She is currently a Research Assistant Professor at the University of New Hampshire and Affiliate with the University of Washington's eScience Institute. Her background is in remote sensing, climate science, and glaciology, focusing on glacier dynamics, ice-ocean interactions, and icebergs. Jessica's current work centers on research-enabling, open-source software projects and collaborative development education across the earth sciences. She is the lead developer and maintainer for the icepyx library and community, and a member, contributor, and/or maintainer to multiple other open-source software packages and communities, including Xarray, earthaccess, CryoCloud, and Pangeo. Jessica regularly leads hackweeks with the UW eScience team, working as Community Lead for four ICESat-2-themed events. When she's not working, you can usually find Jessica enjoying the outdoors, skiing, dancing, or working on the foundation of an old building.

For more information on the GESTAR II Seminar Series, click here.