PNNL

Abstract

Just as becoming a savvy food consumer requires learning where your food comes from before it reaches the grocery store, becoming a savvy data consumer means understanding what goes into taking observations. Scientific discovery in atmospheric science, like many geophysical science disciplines, depends on large-scale observational data from team projects such as field campaigns, observation networks, and satellites. Many of these tools are stewarded by national laboratories and large government agencies because of the scale of the infrastructure needed to support them. This fact creates a gap between the scientists and technical experts working to produce good data and the graduate students training to be the next generation of scientists who will design and produce future datasets required to advance science. In an effort to bridge that gap, 10 University of Washington (UW) students traveled to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington, in September 2017 to participate in a two-week intensive short course on instrumentation taught by PNNL scientists and engineers.