On September 30, Jeff Schloss attended a citizen science forum, "Open Science and Innovation: Of the People, By the People, For the People," at the White House. He was one of only 10 attendees invited to talk about participatory citizen science programs in a working session following the morning's webcast. Schloss is Cooperative Extension's natural resources program team leader and co-director of the Lakes Lay Monitoring Program. He is also past president of the North American Lake Management Society and an advisor for their annual Secchi Dip-In, an all-volunteer effort to collect water transparency data.
“It was very rewarding to see citizen science get its due and exciting to know that the President is working to remove the barriers for federal agencies to engage with these programs and projects,” he said.
During the forum, it was announced that Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren is issuing a memo for Federal agencies that outlines how to maximize citizen science value and impact, design and implement citizen science projects, and effectively publicize opportunities to the public.
In conjunction with Director Holdren’s memo, the U.S. Government is releasing “Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Toolkit,” which includes case studies, best practices, and other lessons to help Federal agencies create successful citizen science and crowdsourcing programs.
Dr. Annette Schloss, who recently joined Cooperative Extension to coordinate the Ocean Exploration Trust Program, was also invited to the forum and participated on the Ocean Science Team. She and Schloss were the only married couple among the invitees. For more information on the forum and citizen science and crowdsourcing, click here.
