Appendix F: NASA SMD Computational and Information Sciences and Technology Office (CISTO): A Meta-Learning Framework for Characterizing and Accessing Training Data for GLOBE Observer Mosquito and Land Cover Protocols

This proposal is in response to NASA EPSCoR Rapid Response Research (R3) Solicitation that is related to Appendix F: NASA SMD Computational and Information Sciences and Technology Office (CISTO) under the research titled “Assessing and Qualifying Citizen Science Labeling for Training Data for GLOBE Observer Mosquito and Land Cover Protocols Improving Data Quality within the GLOBE Observer Community”. An exponentially increasing number of geo-tagged field photos are being collected and shared with the public community, providing the exciting potential for human and environmental studies across different scales. However, labeling and featuring those labels is time-consuming and might be biased for scientific re-use. In this project, based on GLOBE Observer (GO) unique sampling protocols, we proposed to develop a meta-learning framework to label and qualify GO Land Cover and Mosquito Habitat Mapper, and access the label qualities based on remote sensing imagery. This work will start to answer in which way we can use citizen science derived data for research purposes and how we should use those photos with extensive Computer Science and Geography knowledge to reestablish a solid citizen science field photo processing pipeline that can be used for other use cases.

The proposed work seeks to grow a research area crossing frontiers in citizen science, geography, spatial literacy, and machine learning and AI. Focusing on labeling, qualifying, and accessing the GO field photos for which few studies and literature exist, the work has the potential to advance knowledge and understanding across several related disciplines. Furthermore, this proposed work provides an opportunity to translate decades of traditional ways of experts collecting field data into the digital framework that can foster innovation in re-using citizen science data.

The PI believes that the proposed work has far-reaching implications on science, education, and technology that will benefit citizen scientists, researchers, and the community. The broader impacts include: 1) Promote geospatial literacy and call for citizen science participation in the State of Wyoming, where has the least population but tourism is the primary driver of the local and regional economy. 2) Advances in cutting edge tools’ applications on citizen science data. 3) Linking local citizens, researchers, government agencies (NASA GO) together to improve science communications.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.