Dr. Brian Wee - NEON

July 29 and 30, Wednesday/Thursday 2:30 - 5:30pm (MSB 228)

Dr. Brian Wee, Principal Scientist, NEON (NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL OBSERVATORY NETWORK)

NEON is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded continental-scale, cyber-enabled ecological Observatory now under construction by NEON Incorporated.  NEON’s purpose is to gather and serve comprehensive open ecological data on the impacts of climate change, land use change, and invasive species on natural resources, biodiversity, and major ecological processes.  Dr. Wee serves as NEON’s liaison to Congress and to U.S. Federal agencies.  His first talk on Wednesday, Enabling Continental-Scale Ecological Forecasting, will include information about NEON’s architecture and how it enables scientists, educators, and decision-makers to advance our understanding of large-scale ecological processes.  Thursday’s talk, Informatics, science, and policy frontiers on the domestic and international scenes, will discuss the role of the United States in environmental science and technology leadership, and the current thinking about the future of global ecological science.  Dr. Wee holds a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, a M.Sc. in Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence, and a B.Sc. in Information Systems and Computer Science.