The Northern Gulf Institute Gets the Science "Out There"

September 16, 2013

The Role of NGI within the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

Since the establishment of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) about three years ago, the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) at Mississippi State University,  has played an active role in the GoMRI program. NGI is a member of the GoMRI administrative team, providing support for program administration, communications, and outreach. The Gulf of Mexico Alliance leads the GoMRI administrative team which, along with NGI, includes the Harte Research Institute and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. The administrative team works closely with the GoMRI Chief Science Officer and its twenty-member Research Board. The NGI team consists of Jay Ritchie (PI), Maggie Dannreuther, Suzanne Shean, and Lindy Nelson, all based at Stennis Space Center. Team member Brandon Cobianchi is based at Mississippi State University in Starkville.

GoMRI Research Information System

The NGI team leads the development and maintenance of the GoMRI Research Information System- a comprehensive structure that provides organization, storage, and retrieval of GoMRI research information. This system consists of three primary components: a project inventory, program roster, and research bibliography. The project inventory (http://research.gulfresearchinitiative.org/research-awards/) contains all GoMRI research awards and accompanying sub-contracts. The program roster (http://research.gulfresearchinitiative.org/gomri-funded-researchers/) lists all members of the research teams funded under those awards. And the research bibliography (http://research.gulfresearchinitiative.org/gomri-publications/) is a compilation of all peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations that GoMRI-funded researchers have produced.

The GoMRI Research Information Systems serves as the core source for three aspects of the GoMRI administrative needs: a public interface, program metrics, and metadata for scientific datasets. The public accesses information about GoMRI research projects through the research tab on the GoMRI web site (research.gulfresearchinitiative.org). Administration generates program performance metrics such as projects, people, and publications linked with funding cycles to assist with program oversight. The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC) (http://data.gulfresearchinitiative.org) team at Harte Research Institute links to research project metadata to associate with respective scientific datasets. GRIIDC is responsible for the identification, collection, registration, and distribution of all the datasets that GoMRI-funded research generates.

GoMRI Communications & Outreach

The NGI team supports the GoMRI communications and outreach activities with the public, science community, and internal program administration. Maggie Dannreuther leads the content development for the GoMRI website (http://gulfresearchinitiative.org), including selection and writing of articles for the main page. The articles highlight GoMRI research activities, researchers, and peer-reviewed publications. The team is also developing an education site (http://education.gulfresearchinitiative.org) to provide a central, curated collection of materials and activities that GoMRI-funded projects produce.

Additional support includes the NGI team facilitating and hosting regularly-scheduled education and outreach teleconferences that bring together personnel associated with funded projects and GoMRI administration. The NGI team also manages an outreach listserv. A new education program that the NGI team is currently developing will identify and track graduate students who are members of GoMRI-funded research projects. This program intends to support the student community in the near term and document the impact of their involvement in GoMRI research on future education and career paths.

The Northern Gulf Institute is an affiliate of the High Performance Computing Collaboratory at Mississippi State University. For more information, visit www.msstate.edu and www.hpc.msstate.edu.