DEADLINE DECEMBER 8: Content for NASA TOPS Module on Open Science Hardware

Opportunities
1

Hi GOSH Community Members,

NASA’s Transform to Open Science (TOPS) mission is seeking proposals for modules on open science as part of its Transform to Open Science Training (TOPST) program.

It would be great to have a module on open hardware, and I am reaching out to you all to see if anyone is interested in submitting curriculum content on open hardware - or if you are already working on content for TOPST.

If you are interested in contributing, please either respond to this forum thread, send me a private message, or send me an email.

Proposals close on December 8.

Thanks so much!
Bri

6 Likes
2

Thus seems perfect for a lot of things kind of like what me and @dusjagr were talking about converting closed stuff to open, BUTTT , it says on the proposals that the intent to propose deadline seems to have already passed?

1 Like
3

Hey yeah! So yeah, my name is Thomas and I’m an open science advocate who had been following the TOPS calls for a couple of months. I’m not an open hardware builder myself but I really appreciate the work that you guys are doing. I reached out to them and got them in contact with Dr. Malloy and they sent this as a response. They have said before that the NOI is a formality.

So we have the go-ahead. If the GOSH community wants to come together and work on building a module on best practices in open hardware for a MOOC built by NASA aiming to be the standard of Open Science (with its own free certification) teaching scientists across disciplines how to best contribute to our mission. This would be that opportunity.

Luna-Cruz, Yaitza (HQ-DK000)[Agile Decision Sciences] yaitza.luna-cruz@nasa.gov Nov 16, 2022, 5:07 PM (2 days ago)

to Chelle , me, jcm80@cam.ac.uk, Cynthia

Thanks for your interest in the F.14 TOPST solicitation. The deadline for TOPST is Dec 8th .

If you have any specifics questions, please let us know. Here some useful information:

Thanks,

Yaítza

2 Likes
4

If we can make this work, I think NASA’s weight will help give much-needed visibility to open science hardware. So thank you @VertiCulture et al. for following up on this opportunity.

I have extremely limited mental bandwidth at the moment, but my first thought is whether we could make use of the Open Hardware Makers curriculum:

https://curriculum.openhardware.space

And do you have a sense of how complicated/involved the proposal process is?

Also, I have the impression that the funds can only go to a U.S.-based organisation. Would you like me to double check? If it is true, maybe this is an opportunity to make use of the Open Science Hardware Foundation which is based in the U.S.? (@jcm80 @shannond?)

2 Likes
5

pinging @rmies @jarancio, would we like to tackle this, maybe including people from TU Delft, in addition/complement from our work together in openmake ?
sounds like an opportunity we could take, although MOOCs may not be the best way to convey open hardware principles.

@briannaljohns it could be great to have a meeting in the next two weeks to see who would be interested to follow up on this. @amchagas we may want to try calling in the opensciencemooc slacks, maybe there are other interested parties there ?

3 Likes
6

Hey everyone, Thomas again!

It’s excellent to hear that you guys already have done some work with MOOCs on this topic that could be adapted and all the collaborators you’re calling in.

I’ve been reading through the documentation sent in the email I forwarded above to try and figure out precisely what is expected by Dec 8th.

There appear to be 2 different tracks:
"OpenCore" (which serves as an entry point to open practices for people not familiar with the process of science) and “ScienceCore” (which is aimed at educating practicing scientists to convert to open procedures.)

I need to ask for clarification on this but this call I believe is only for ScienceCore content.

From the FAQ above: "What is TOPST?

A1: TOPST stands for “Transform to Open Science Training.” The F.14 TOPST
program element can be found here. TOPST element solicits proposals for;
(1) the development of the ScienceCore, a discipline-specific scientific use cases curriculum,
(2) implementation of Summer Schools to teach OpenCore, and
(3) implementation of Virtual Cohorts to complete OpenCore.

The training material as well as the design of thelearning activities should be targeted to audiences from undergraduate students to
established scientists and managers from all science disciplines supported by NASA’s
Science Mission Directorate (SMD)."

“Areas of focus for the ScienceCore include how to access and analyze NASA science data including cloud-based data; open-source data, analysis, and visualization libraries both general and discipline-specific libraries; and creation, management, and sharing of reproducible science workflows and results.”

Notice how this specifically relates to NASA SMD (Science Mission Directorate) fields.

There is also a certain requirement to send a project representative for a 4-day annual meeting in D.C.

Does that still seem like something that the GOSH community would be interested in building? If so I highly recommend jumping into the literature provided. Maybe we can even schedule a call that includes the TOPST contact above for further clarification.

(Also yes @hpy to receive funding the proposing org, must be based in the US)

2 Likes
7

Also here is the actual TOPST Document that explains what it is and what is expected in the proposal.

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/cmdocumentid=860824/solicitationId={AB776446-03A8-4C24-845D-2E5A2ADA2D5A}/viewSolicitationDocument=1/F.14_TOPST_Amend46.pdf

2 Likes
8

Hi @VertiCulture @hikinghack @hpy @Juliencolomb and anyone else interested,

I’ve created a meeting poll to see who’s available in the next two weeks. Please fill it out by November 23 and we can try to schedule a meeting.

Best,
Bri

2 Likes
9

Hi Everyone!

thanks for the ping @Juliencolomb!
In principle, Open Hardware Makers has created a whole course and curriculum all about best practices on Open Source Hardware. At the moment we are actually running a cohort dedicated to Open Science and funded by Code for Science and Society.

We have a curriculum designed for a 16-week course and another version adapted to an 8 week course.

After an initial chat today, we would be happy to chat more about this with GOSH, specially because @biomakers_lab and other people from GOSH council were already chatting with us to collaborate/support each others work!

2 Likes
10

cool stuff yall! I’m probably not available these next two weeks, BUT if such a proposal went through i could definitely help carry out teaching courses or whatever if you need people! Also if somehow in the proposal it helps to have more people signing on to it/ being a part of it, feel free to list me as a supporter! :slight_smile:

1 Like
11

Also, I have the impression that the funds can only go to a U.S.-based organisation. Would you like me to double check? If it is true, maybe this is an opportunity to make use of the Open Science Hardware Foundation which is based in the U.S.? (@jcm80 @shannond?)

Good suggestion @hpy! OSHF could be a fiscal sponsor for this type of opportunity but it would require some digging into the details and also a level of admin and review that would be difficult by 8 Dec.

I think getting a group together on this is a great idea even if there is little time remaining for this call. There may be another call in 2023 or an opportunity to approach NASA or a part of NASA directly.

1 Like
12

Thank you @jcm80!! :hearts: I agree this is a good case of something the GOSH community wants to pursue that the OSHF can be a fiscal sponsor for. Really appreciate the partnership with the OSHF here.

Also agree it would be good to put something together as best as we can. Even if we don’t meet this deadline, there’s a reasonable chance another call like this will come up in 2023.

13

Hi all! Based on the results of the meeting poll, I have scheduled a meeting for this on November 30 at 9 am ET/ 2 pm UTC.

I have invited most of you on this thread via Google Calendar, but if anyone else would like to join the event is also available on the GOSH calendar.

1 Like
14

just saw this thread that might be of interest: Open science online course - #5 by jarancio

1 Like
15

Hey, thanks for sharing. It sounds interesting and I’m going to try to join tomorrow.

1 Like
16

hi, I don’t know much about the topic, but I thought of bringing https://libre.space/ to your attention. They have been building open space technology for a while now, so maybe it’s worth it having them involved? cheers

1 Like
17

Hi all,

I am responding to this thread with notes and the next steps from today’s meeting.

People on the call:

Meeting summary

  • Context: NASA TOPST program is looking for materials to teach and train scientists on Open Science. Deadline December 8, and very likely that this is one of many calls that NASA will have in the coming months. The call is geared towards space and earth science and for those in the US.
  • Discussion on whether we have best practices for OH → André and Open Hardware Makers (OHM) have been working on this since 2018, and Julien and Open.make are working on guidelines in the coming months.
  • Decided we will not submit a proposal for this call, due to the limited time and the fact that we don’t fit the call’s requirements for most of the work being done in the US.
  • However, noted this is an opportunity for two things 1) getting the OScH and NASA communities connected and 2) to consolidate efforts between various OScH training, mentorship, and other programs.

Important links from the meeting:

  1. Link for upcoming NASA community calls.
  2. OHM curriculum

You can see the full notes from the meeting here.

Next steps

  1. Post to the forum looking for various OScH mentorship and/or training materials and programs, or other materials related to best practices for OH. (@amchagas did you want to start this thread on the forum? If not, I am happy to).
  2. Meet to discuss how we can imagine a future collaboration between OScH and NASA communities → we have a meeting scheduled for this on Jan 17 (send me a message if you’d like to be involved). We will come prepared for the meeting with ideas of how this collaboration could look.
  3. Meet again to discuss OH/OScH training materials. Let’s find a time to meet in January, fill out this poll to see what time works best for everyone.

That’s all for now!

Bri

3 Likes
18

I just saw this thread!

Thank you @briannaljohns for the summary! Looks really interesting.

As a GOSH funded project, we will be happy provide some materials from the Real Time Nucleic Acid Amplification group. The open qLAMP it’s already working and we can produce a few units in a relatively short time in case genetic amplification/biosensing can be useful for the call!

Just let us know:)

2 Likes
19

done! :slight_smile:

1 Like
20

Realize I’m responding in the 11th hour here, but want to add support on this and help get a proposed curriculum across the finish line. I have experience in developing open syllabi, assessment metrics, course modules/assignments, etc and am very happy to help. I also teach in Public Interest Tech/open/makerspaces/fabrication so could pitch in on the instruction side as well further down the line.

@amchagas @briannaljohns - any place for me to dive in?

From the call notes, it appears as though reconvening in January is the approach. In wanting to put the next community call on my calendar, I noted that the link throws a 404. :frowning:

2 Likes