Letter to the Community

GLOBE Breadcrumb

May 2016 Letter to the Community

Letter to the Community

26 May 2016

Hello Everyone,

A man sits and smiles while facing a laptop.

Preparations are beginning to kick into high gear here at the GLOBE Implementation Office for the upcoming annual meeting to be held in Estes Park, Colorado, USA, in July. As you may know by now, the meeting will begin with a reception on the evening of Saturday, 16 July, and will continue through lunch on Thursday, 21 July. This meeting is a wonderful time for the GLOBE community to gather together to learn about recent developments in the program; to learn from one another; and to celebrate our accomplishments. In addition, students will again have an opportunity to participate in a research experience, this time in Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the jewels of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). The U.S. national parks are celebrating their Centennial this year -- 100 years of providing visitors access to some of the most spectacular land in America -- and we are working with Rocky Mountain National Park staff to showcase its beauty during the meeting.

Students continue to play an important role at our annual meetings, and I encourage you to get them involved. Students will communicate their research results using the GLOBE science protocols and data they have collected. The International Virtual Science Fair teams who received stipends to attend the meeting will also present their posters at the Annual Meeting.

The 2016 International Virtual Science Fair was a huge success, with 105 submissions -- by far the largest number for any GLOBE virtual science fair ever held. You can view all the IVSF projects on the GLOBE website. I want to thank all of the GLOBE students who participated. I'd also like to express my appreciation to the GLOBE International STEM Network (GISN) mentors and judges who were involved in the fair this year.

The new webpage for the 2017 International Virtual Science Fair is already up. Let's try to beat the 2016 record with even more student projects next year! Remember to focus the students on using GLOBE science protocols and data. That is a must!

One of the newest additions to our website has been eTraining. Check out this very exciting opportunity to refresh your knowledge of science protocols or learn new ones. We would like to hear your comments and suggestions about the eTraining slides sets, so please use the feedback link on the webpage. In the coming months we are planning to translate the slides into a number of languages. Stay tuned for developments on that.

As the school year draws to a close for some of you, it is kicking into high gear for others in our community. Wherever you are in your academic year, I hope that you will continue to collect and share your data and your research findings, and return to the GLOBE website for updates and opportunities.

I hope to see many of you at the GLOBE Annual Meeting in July.