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41 changes: 21 additions & 20 deletions mentors.qmd
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---
title: "Mentors"
description: |
A cross-DAAC mentor community creating & teaching resources to help researchers migrate workflows to the cloud
A Mentor community across NASA Earth science data centers creating & teaching resources to help people using NASA Earthdata migrate their workflows to the cloud
---

![](images/NASA-DAAC-logos-2023-2lines.png)

<br>

**NASA Openscapes Mentors have created “go-to” resources for staff and users across DAACs – such as the earthaccess python library and tutorials in the Earthdata Cloud Cookbook.** Over the last four years, mentors have developed a supportive community and created these resources in response to teaching hundreds of DAAC users via workshops and events together, and then further iterated through active use, documentation, and teaching. Recent presentations showcasing this work is [Supporting NASA Earthdata users in the Cloud: NASA Openscapes onboarding & fledging](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-TiPN8bfY6iDL5EVcEuCQSjqFMs3jPSX2MlNWA6no2E/edit#slide=id.g2eae202a90f_4_248) and [earthaccess: how to accelerate user value through open, collaborative development](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1D3C2_wBSHAPMNes0hLQHjaRuU_ifEzcKIvf3_H5rZGM/edit#slide=id.g269ad4ab477_0_691).
**NASA Openscapes Mentors have created “go-to” resources for staff and users using NASA Earthdata – such as the `earthaccess` python library and tutorials in the Earthdata Cloud Cookbook.** Over the last four years, Mentors have developed these resources as a supportive community in response to teaching hundreds of NASA Earthdata users via workshops and events together, where they identify and rapidly respond to common needs then iterate through active use, documentation, and further teaching. Recent presentations showcasing this work is [Supporting NASA Earthdata users in the Cloud: NASA Openscapes onboarding & fledging](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-TiPN8bfY6iDL5EVcEuCQSjqFMs3jPSX2MlNWA6no2E/edit#slide=id.g2eae202a90f_4_248) and [earthaccess: how to accelerate user value through open, collaborative development](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1D3C2_wBSHAPMNes0hLQHjaRuU_ifEzcKIvf3_H5rZGM/edit#slide=id.g269ad4ab477_0_691).

Openscapes is a mechanism that can rapidly identify problems and bring people together to solve them. The NASA Openscapes mentor community includes people across NASA Earthdata centers (DAACs) that work together to deliver work aligned with DAAC goals to enable users/science, enriched by collaborating with the open science community beyond NASA.
Openscapes is a mechanism that can rapidly identify problems and bring people together to solve them. The NASA Openscapes Mentor community includes people across NASA Earth science data centers (DAACs) that work together to deliver work aligned with DAAC goals to enable science, enriched by collaborating with the open science community beyond NASA.

# Current Activities

Building from successes and momentum 2021-2024, in 2025 we will continue teaching users and developing solutions for pain points, while we all grow as open science leaders. This is vital to support the shift to Earthdata Cloud and to NASA's values for open science.
Building from successes and momentum 2021-2024, in 2025 NASA Openscapes will continue teaching users and developing solutions for pain points, while we all grow as open science leaders. This is vital work to support the shift to Earthdata Cloud and to NASA's values for open science.

## 2025 goals

Our 2025 focus is strengthening NASA networks between DAACs, missions, training programs, and applications, aligned with SPD-41a open science, as we continue support users through developing skills and tools. 2025 goals were determined by Mentors during our Fall 2024 Mentors Retreat.

We will move forward on the following four interlinking goals, with a brief overview of the purpose, outcomes, and process of each, and how to join us.
We will move forward on the following four interlinking goals. Below is a brief overview of the purpose, outcomes, and process of each, and how to join us.

### 1. Champions Cohort (Fall 2025)
### 1. User support and co-development

- **Purpose**: To support users using NASA Earthdata from multiple data centers, taught and supported by Mentors who get to understand user needs deeply and co-develop solutions. Potentially earthaccess focused to support users programmatically.
- **Purpose**: Supporting users in the Cloud, which requires infrastructure and skills. Skills include mindset shifts, as well as new technical and collaboration skills. Infrastructure requires co-developing software and resources as well as providing a JupyterHub compute space for developing tutorials and teaching workshops, which we do in partnership with [2i2c](https://2i2c.org/). The goal is to "make once, use often", reusing materials and iterating and improving upon them as a distributed group of mentors who learn with, from, and for each other.

- **Outcomes**: Users learn skills for current best practices for using NASA Earthdata and are empowered to ask questions and work more collaboratively within and across teams. Users have more awareness of what is available, what is coming, and how to get involved as contributors.
- **Outcomes**: Users have a friendly onboarding experience using NASA Earthdata in the cloud, and develop good practices for sustained work in the cloud (parallelizing code, managing storage, understanding cloud costs and options for "fledging" from our workshop Hub).

- **Process**: We lead well-planned, welcoming, user-designed teaching events in a variety of formats including in-person and online (hackathons, workshops, Champions Cohorts, Community Calls, conference sessions). To prepare for these events, we develop open documentation, slides, and tutorials that are available for reuse and remix; we host a JupyterHub compute space in partnership with 2i2c; we co-develop technical cloud technical infrastructure including scientific software docker images, user access administration, cost reports/tracking, and documentation of user stories. We develop together asynchronously and synchronously via hackdays and coworking.
- **To join teaching events**: Check our [News & Events page](/news.qmd) for registration, available in late summer.
- **To join hackdays/coworking**: Check our [Cloud infrastructure GitHub ](https://github.com/Openscapes/openscapes.cloud/discussions) to get involved in biweekly hackdays.

- **Process**: This flagship Openscapes Champions program has been led 27 times since 2019, with 3 previous Cohorts co-led with NASA Mentors. We will lead this year's Cohort in Fall 2025, giving time to align with ESDIS and NASA Earth Action’s goals and communities. As there is current instability in our user communities, we will focus the spring and summer on developing relationships with user groups and restructure the Champions Cohorts to best meet user needs.
- **To join**: Check our [News & Events page](/news.qmd) for registration, available in late summer.

### 2. `earthaccess` python library

- **Purpose**: To continue growth and sustainability of this python library that is used by 100's of projects and 1000's of users for accessing NASA Earthdata programatically. `earthaccess` simplifies data discovery and access to NASA Earthdata by providing an abstraction layer to NASA’s APIs for programmatic access (CMR and EDL). It has complements in R and MATLAB that we can develop further.

- **Outcomes**: More users can easily access NASA Earthdata. Increased community engagement via developing scaffolding to reduce participation barriers (education and outreach); Software sustainabilty and maintenance and further feature development including integrating virtualizarr, testing on Cloud OPeNDAP-enabled collections (dmrpp compliance/consistency), and building a plugin interface for services like Harmony, development of a “Results” Class that will be interoperable with the STAC ecosystem, use earthaccess for download scripts from Earthdata Search, and developing a Command Line Interface (CLI).
- **Outcomes**: More users can easily access NASA Earthdata. Increased community engagement via developing scaffolding to reduce participation barriers (education and outreach); Software sustainabilty and maintenance and further feature development including integrating virtualizarr, testing on Cloud OPeNDAP-enabled collections (dmrpp compliance/consistency), building a plugin interface for services like Harmony, developing a “Results” Class that will be interoperable with the STAC ecosystem, using earthaccess for download scripts from Earthdata Search, and developing a Command Line Interface (CLI).

- **Process**: Community-driven and community-requested development, currently including contributors from multiple DAACs, NASA, and the open science community. We develop asyncronously as well as via biweekly hackdays (see below). We also share progress and features via continued talks and events to support users and showcase capabilities.
- **To join**: The earthaccess [contributing guide](https://earthaccess.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing/) shares information about joining biweekly hackdays and the Zulip messaging board.
- **Process**: Community-driven and community-requested development, currently including contributors from multiple DAACs, NASA, and the open science community. We develop asyncronously as well as via biweekly hackdays. We also share progress and features via continued talks and events to support users and showcase capabilities.
- **To join**: The earthaccess [contributing guide](https://earthaccess.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing/) shares information about asyncronous contributions, joining biweekly hackdays, and the Zulip messaging board.

### 3. Champions Cohort (Fall 2025)

### 3. User support and co-development
- **Purpose**: To support users using NASA Earthdata in science workflows from multiple data centers, taught and supported by Mentors who get to understand user needs deeply and co-develop solutions. Potentially earthaccess focused to support users programmatically.

- **Purpose**: Supporting users in the Cloud, which requires infrastructure and skills. Skills include mindset shifts, new technical and collaboration skills, and infrastructure requires co-developing software and resources as well as providing a compute space via the 2i2c JupyterHub. The goal is to "make once, use often", reusing materials and iterating and improving upon them as a distributed group of mentors who learn with, from, and for each other.
- **Outcomes**: Users learn skills for current best practices for using NASA Earthdata and are empowered to ask questions and work more collaboratively within and across teams. Users have more awareness of what is available, what is coming, and how to get involved as contributors.

- **Outcomes**: Users have a friendly onboarding experience using NASA Earthdata in the cloud, and develop good practices for sustained work in the cloud (parallelizing code, managing storage, understanding cloud costs and options for "fledging" from our workshop Hub).

- **Process**: We lead well-planned, welcoming, user-designed teaching events in a variety of formats including in-person and online (hackathons, workshops, Champions Cohorts, Community Calls, conference sessions); we develop open documentation, slides, and tutorials that are available for reuse and remix; we host a JupyterHub compute space in partnership with 2i2c; we co-develop technical cloud technical infrastructure including scientific software docker images; user access administration; cost reports/tracking; and documentation of user stories.
- **To join**: Check our [News & Events page](/news.qmd) for registration, available in late summer.
- **Process**: This flagship Openscapes Champions program has been led 27 times since 2019, with 3 previous Cohorts co-led with NASA Mentors. We will lead this year's Cohort in Fall 2025, giving time to align with ESDIS and NASA Earth Action’s goals and communities. As there is current instability in our user communities, we will focus the spring and summer on developing relationships with user groups and restructure the Champions Cohorts to best meet user needs.
- **To join**: Check our [News & Events page](/news.qmd) for registration, available in late summer.

### 4. Earthdata Cloud Cookbook

Expand All @@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ We will move forward on the following four interlinking goals, with a brief over
- **Outcomes**: A better-maintained resource that has contributors beyond the Mentors and a broadened set of users. What if we opened the scope beyond “cloud” and included other common Earthdata tutorials?

- **Process**: Throughout all our user support, we trial materials with users that help us to update and improve the Earthdata Cloud Cookbook. Tutorials, presentations, and approaches are added to the Cookbook based on latest user needs and trends/tooling. For example, we are adding more support for R users, and we are reporting openly on compute and storage costs so that they could allot cloud funding into future proposals. Most Cookbook development is motivated by teaching events (workshops and hackathons and Champions).
- **To join**: Check our [Cookbook GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/NASA-Openscapes/earthdata-cloud-cookbook/discussions); in Spring 2025 we are starting biweekly hackdays to drive more continual development alongside event-driven development. We are excited to build momentum with Development Seed contributions from VEDA. We can also collaborate with ESDIS about for sharing cloud resources on the unified site, answering questions like, Does it need to be cloud-specific? Can it just be Earthdata specific?
- **To join**: Check our [Cookbook GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/NASA-Openscapes/earthdata-cloud-cookbook/discussions); in Spring 2025 we are starting biweekly hackdays to drive more continual development alongside event-driven development. We are excited to build momentum with Development Seed contributions from VEDA. We can also collaborate with ESDIS about for sharing cloud resources on the unified site, answering questions like, Does it need to be cloud-specific? Can it just be Earthdata specific?

## How we work

Expand Down