View source for July 20-23, 2010, ESIP Federation Meeting, Knoxville, TN

==Agenda== 
The theme of the 2010 Summer ESIP Federation Meeting is Energy and Climate.  See the [[preliminary agenda]] for the Program schedule. Check back often to see its evolution. Anyone with an interest is welcome to contribute to the evolving program.

==Meeting Venue==
The 2010 ESIP Federation summer meeting is scheduled for July 20 – 23 in Knoxville, TN at the [http://www.outreach.utk.edu/Conferences/new/Conference%20Center/info.html University of Tennessee's Conference Center] (600 Henley Street, 4th Floor, Knoxville, TN 37902). The meeting will take place in downtown Knoxville, a short ride from Knoxville McGhee Tyson airport (TYS), and is co-hosted by the ORNL DAAC and the University of Tennessee School of Information Science.

NOTE: The city of Knoxville has a convention center which is across the street from the building with the UTK conference center.  '''Please don't get confused.'''  The [http://downtownknoxville.org/images/graphics/parkingmap.jpg downtown Knoxville map] shows the UTK Conference Center building in blue.  For those staying at the Hilton, walk across Locust St. into the green building.  signs will direction you to the elevators.  The meeting is on the fourth floor. The entrance across from the Hilton hotel is on the second floor of the Conference Center building; the conference facilities are on the fourth floor.

==Transportation==
The closest airport is Knoxville's McGhee-Tyson airport (code: TYS), with direct service from a number of eastern US cities.  Downtown Knoxville is about 15 minutes from the airport.  A cab from the airport should be about $35, but there aren't always cabs waiting at the airport.  There are a number of shuttle services available from the airport.  See http://www.tys.org/ground-transportation for a list.  The local recommendation is to arrange a shuttle with Chariots of Hire (865-522-8108 or 800-287-5934; $30 to $34 round trip, depending on when reservations are made). Chariots of Hire are aware of our meeting and will help to expedite reservations. Please look on their site for the ESIP logo. By clicking on it, you will go directly to the reservations site.  Payment will be made at the time of your arrival.  

For people driving to the meeting, a  [http://downtownknoxville.org/images/graphics/parkingmap.jpg map of downtown Knoxville parking] is available.  The public lot between Locust and Walnut is the closest. Parking is available at the Hilton for guests staying there (but it's not free).

==Lodging==
The hotel for the meeting will be the Hilton Knoxville (501 West Church Avenue SW, Knoxville, TN 37902, Phone 865-523-2300).  Cost will be $84/night + tax (upgrade to a King for $94/night) (Group Code: '''ESI''').  Rooms can be booked [http://www.hilton.com online]  or at 1-800-HILTONS. Cut-off date for reservations is June 30, 2010 or when room block fills up, whichever is sooner. The room block is limited with rooms available on a first-come, first-served basis.  The Hilton is about 2 blocks from the UTK conference center.  

There are a number of restaurants in the downtown and University districts.  A couple of lists of downtown restaurants can be found at [http://downtownknoxville.org/visitors/restaurants_and_bars downtownknoxville.org], [http://www.knoxvillebusiness.com/downtown-knoxville-restaurants.html knoxvillebusiness.com], [http://www.urbanspoon.com/n/68/6806/Knoxville/Downtown-Knoxville-restaurants Urban Spoon], and [http://www.tasteofknoxville.com/downtown.html Taste of Knoxville].

==Registration== 
Registration for the 2010 Summer ESIP Federation Meeting is available [https://www.regonline.com/esip_federation_summer_meeting_2010 online].  Early registration (through June 18, 2010) is $375/members and $475/non-members. After June 18th, the registration fee rises to $475 (members) and $575 (non-members). Meeting attendees are provided an opportunity during registration that allows them to purchase optional carbon credits to offset their air travel to the Summer Meeting. Proceeds from your carbon credit purchases will be sent to Atmosfair. The Amosfair website has a carbon calculator to help you estimate your air travel's footprint. We request that you make payment through our registration system as we would like to track (anonymously) participation in this stewardship project. You can complete and pay for your registration for the meeting and separately pay for your credit in a different transaction. After registering, you will be given the option to register your skills/expertise in the new ESIP Skills Database.

==Program Elements==
===Technical Workshops (Tuesday)===
This year's technical workshops provide your organization or project to share your experience and technical insights with other Federation members, both to facilitate technology transfer, but to also expose your team's capabilities with an eye towards developing new collaborations with other Federation members. Previous workshops have highlighted work with various standards and specifications (e.g. OGC, ISO, JSR), new products and platforms, and interoperability demonstrations. 

Please consider developing and presenting a workshop for one of our 90-minute slots in the list below. If you have any questions about available facilities and resources, please contact Rahul Ramachandran. A small number of session slots are available. 

To submit a workshop, please add a link to a new Wiki page for your workshop in one of the available slots in the list, and provide on the linked page: 

*The title of the workshop 
*The name of the presenter 
*A brief abstract of the presentation
 
Also, if you will be demonstrating an online technology, please let us know if you need access through any specific network ports, as we want to arrange ahead of time firewall rules for the network to allow for those connections.

===Breakout Tracks (Wednesday afternoon)===

*Air Quality Working Group
*Data Preservation Cluster
*Decisions Cluster
*Energy Cluster **NEW**
*Water Cluster
*Teacher Workshops
*Semantic Web

===Poster Session and Reception (Wednesday evening)===
Leveraging the technical nature of the summer ESIP Federation meeting, the meeting's organizers would like to feature emerging technologies during the poster session.  This summer, we are looking for posters and demos related to Mobile Technologies, Standards and Data Collection, in addition to the usual types of IT, science and education posters seen at ESIP Federation meetings.  We expect a broad range of participants from the Federation and local Agency offices, so this is your opportunity to show off your cool tools, technologies, or outreach programs. Mobile Technology posters and demos will be gathered into one section of the poster room. If you have other topics to discuss, you can still contribute a poster! We also expect some excellent posters from education, IT, and the various clusters. There also will be an accompanying reception sponsored by UT-Battelle and Northrop Grumman Information Systems.

''Below we will offer some sites that can help you create posters that are dynamic and hold the interest of your audience.'' 

Swarthmore College's Advice on designing scientific posters...<br>
Doing a great poster on the cheap<br>
Printing up a 3' by 5' poster at Kinkos will set you back about $200, and it will be on flimsy poster paper and require a special tube for mailing or checking through. As an alternative, you can design a 2.5' by 5' poster in three 20 inch by 30 inch parts and have these three parts printed as though they were photographs at the online Costco photo service. Costco Photo Center You can, of course, pick alternative services. What I do is design the piece like a triptych so that the images and text are not split between the three parts. The most important graphics are on the center part. I do the design as three Adobe InDesign files (you can choose any poster design software) and then export them as high resolution (300dpi) tiff images that I then export into high quality JPEG files. I upload the three files to my Costco photo account and then ask Costco to print out glossy large-scale prints, 20" by 30" each. Costco charges $10 per print (so, $30 total) plus some shipping. If you are in a rush, you can have them ship directly to the Hotel! It takes about 2 days to get the print done, and 3-5 days for the UPS service. The total cost is about $40, and it comes in a tube that you can carry on the plane and shove into the overhead compartment. The paper is thick and the images and print are super clean.

===Open Meeting Day (Thursday)===
The member-proposed sessions for Thursday, July 22, 2010, are listed here. If you are proposing a session, please add a linked page with a description of your session, what the goals are and how much time you need for your session. Please also include contact information so that people with questions about the session may contact you. If you are interested in attending a session, please add your name to the linked page associated with that proposed session so that the organizer can know that there will be sufficient interest to request a room or table for the session. View the [[Media: Call_for_Sessions_Summer2010.pdf |Call for Sessions]] for more information.

* [[SPG Agenda July 22 2010 | SPG Technical Session on Reference Architectures for NASA Earth Science Data Systems]]
* [[TIWG Agenda July 22 2010 | TIWG Decadal Survey Mission Use Case Workshop]]
* [[Communicating Your Science Workshop Agenda July 22 2010| Communicating Your Science Workshop]]
* [[The_HDF_Group_Support_of_Easy_Access_to_HDF/HDF-EOS_Data| The HDF Group Support of Easy Access to HDF/HDF-EOS data]]

===FUNding Friday===

'''What:''' Annual Mini-grant competition. (see last year's funded projects [http://wiki.esipfed.org/index.php/Cool_Creations here])

'''The Prizes:''' Three $5,000 awards to fund small projects that are inspired by ESIP collaboration or participation. 

'''The Purpose:''' This competition serves several purposes, which should inform those desiring to compete: <br>
1. The competition promotes and rewards new collaborations or bridges between ESIP projects and technologies, so that novel outcomes can be explored. <br>
2. The competition fosters small-scale projects of real value by supporting programmer salary, travel—whatever is needed to realize the proposed work (overhead is NOT supported).<br>
3. The competition showcases how the ESIP Federation can leverage current technologies and member skills to add new services with a modest amount of effort (and funding). <br>
4. The competition rewards members who are looking to explore new collaborations and new ideas inspired by other Federation member activities. <br>
This year’s competition does NOT have a single topical or other focus. It encourages collaborations across member organizations that demonstrate the value of ESIP participation. It is open to the imaginations and the needs of the ESIP members. 

'''Eligibility:''' Registered meeting participants who are members of the ESIP Federation can apply (you need not be your organization’s Assembly representative). YOU MUST BE PRESENT AT THE FUNding FRIDAY POSTER EVENT TO COMPETE! Federal employees must check their eligibility to participate and funding is available only to partners from US-based organizations. 

'''Limit on participation:''' An eligible member can be the lead person on only ONE proposed project. The team members for the project should be identified on the poster. Last year’s winners are ineligible to compete again this year. 

===Student FUNding Friday===
'''Announcement and Rules'''<br>
The ESIP Federation announces a mini-competition for students.

The Prizes: Two $3000 awards (plus 2 trips to the 2011 Winter ESIP meeting in DC).

QUICK FAQs:

1. YOU ONLY NEED TO DO THE POSTER ABOUT YOUR PROPOSED PROJECT BY JULY 23! AND the poster can be hand-drawn. There is NO weight given to the poster design.  Your project needs to be finished by Jan 1, 2011.

2. YOU MUST BE PRESENT AT THE ESIP FEDERATION MEETING to WIN. You will be given a minute to describe your poster/project.

The Purpose:  
*The competition promotes new collaborations or bridges between ESIP projects, technologies, and education/outreach so that novel outcomes can be explored.
*The competition fosters small-scale education/outreach projects of real value by funding salaries, travel—whatever is needed to realize the proposed work.
*The competition showcases how the ESIP Federation can leverage current technologies and member skills to add new services with modest effort & funding.
*The competition rewards enterprising students who are looking to explore new ideas and new collaborations (future ESIP members and leaders).

Projects that engage the larger population are encouraged. Examples include broadcast or internet videos or audio programs, interactive websites, partnerships with community organizations, events, or outreach to schools.   

To Participate: Teams must exhibit a poster (size limit: 25 by 30 inches) at the FUNding Friday Poster event at the Summer ESIP Federation meeting at the University of Tennessee on Friday July 23, 2010. The project lead described by the poster must be present. NO PROXIES. The poster can be hand drawn: there is no weight given to the design of the poster.

Eligibility: Full-time students at post-secondary schools are encouraged to apply. The team members for the project should be identified on the poster. Eligible students can be the lead on only ONE proposed project. THE LEAD MUST BE PRESENT AT THE FUNDING FRIDAY POSTER EVENT TO COMPETE! You may propose in either the student or member FUNding Friday competition but not both.

To Vote: Voting will take place at the FUNding Friday event. YOU MUST BE PRESENT TO VOTE. All persons who have paid the registration fee for the Summer Meeting can receive ballots. Each voter will get TWO ballots. There is no rule against voting both for one poster. Voting will close at the end of the Poster Session.

The winners will be announced the same day.  In the case of two way tie for second place, the winners can choose (by consensus) if they prefer to split the funding and do both projects, or flip a coin to determine the winner. In the case of a three (or more) way tie, the winner will be determined the ESIP Executive Committee at the next regular telecon. All decisions are final.

Awards and Responsibilities: Winning teams will be given 50% of the funds upon submissions of a project statement and milestone schedule to the Foundation Executive Director. The remaining 50% of the funds will be awarded at the Winter ESIP Meeting, where the winning projects will describe their work in a new poster. ONE person from each of the two winning teams will be provided with travel expenses to the 2011 Winter ESIP Meeting in DC.

'''To Participate:''' You must exhibit a poster (size limit: 25 by 30 inches) that describes the project at the FUNding Friday Poster event (morning of Friday, July 23) at the Summer ESIP Federation meeting. NOTE: the lead person on the project must be present for the poster to be considered. NO PROXIES. The poster can be hand drawn: the expectation is that novel proposal ideas will be rewarded. During the event, you will be expected to give a 2-minute pitch for your project idea. Time will be strictly enforced. 

'''To Vote:''' Voting will take place at the FUNding Friday event. YOU MUST BE PRESENT TO VOTE. All persons who have paid the registration fee for the Summer Meeting are eligible to vote. Each voter will get THREE ballots, obtatined from the voter table. There is no rule against allocating all three ballots for one poster. Voting closes at the end of the Poster Session. The winners will be announced at a box-lunch event on the same day. In the case of two-way tie for third place, the winners can choose (by consensus) if they prefer to split the funding and do both projects, or flip a coin to determine the winner. In the case of a three (or more) way tie, the winner of the tie will be determined by a vote of the ESIP Executive Committee at the next regular telecon. 

All decisions are final. 

'''Responsibilities of the Winners:''' The winners will be given 50% of the funds when they submit a project statement of work and a milestone schedule to the Foundation Executive Director. The remaining 50% of the funds will be given out at the following Winter ESIP Meeting, where the winning projects will describe their work in a new poster. ALL WORK MUST BE DONE WITHIN THE SIX MONTH PERIOD BEFORE THE NEXT ESIP MEETING, unless a different timeline is requested in the original funded proposal. (In no case will project deliverables be allowed more than 12 months after the original competition.) This payment schedule can be revised by the Foundation Executive Director in cases where the is a compelling reason to complete the payment earlier. All funds must be spent according to current US Government rules on contract expenditures. Winning project leaders that fail to produce the proposed deliverables may find themselves at a disadvantage in future competitions.

==Local Background==
'''The University of Tennessee'''

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville prides itself on adding value to Tennessee — by educating its students, doing research and creative work that improves quality of life, and reaching out to share expertise with Tennesseans. The University of Tennessee stands in a class by itself as Tennessee's flagship institution and one of the United States' great public research universities.
The university is a co-manager with Battelle of the nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Faculty and students experience unparalleled research and learning opportunities at the Department of Energy's largest science and energy lab.

'''Oak Ridge National Laboratory'''

Oak Ridge National Laboratory. ORNL is a multiprogram science and technology laboratory managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by UT-Battelle, LLC. Scientists and engineers at ORNL conduct basic and applied research and development to create scientific knowledge and technological solutions that strengthen the nation's leadership in key areas of science; increase the availability of clean, abundant energy; restore and protect the environment; and contribute to national security.

'''Knoxville'''

Knoxville has been the social, commercial and cultural center of a unique region of the American South since 1791. First it was a fortified outpost, capital of the Southwest Territory and later of the state of Tennessee.
The city furnished the political and intellectual leadership for Unionist East Tennessee when the region struggled to remain loyal to the United States at the time of the Civil War. The contending armies made this strategic railroad center a battlefield during the sectional conflict.
After the Civil War, Knoxville boomed as its entrepreneurs exploited the mineral and forest resources of the surrounding mountains and its great merchants built a large wholesale trade in Southern Appalachia.
In the twentieth centry, the development of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the atomic complex at nearby Oak Ridge, together with the phenomenal growth of the University of Tennessee, have given the city a new dimension.

==Things to Do in the Area==
For more information on what to do and see in Knoxville, go to this site, http://www.knoxville.org/media/story-ideas/