DAAC – Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Location Description
The ORNL DAAC is a NASA-funded data operation focused on Terrestrial Ecology. ORNL DAAC staff are primarily located in Building 4500N at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Practicum Work Mode
Flexible
Semesters or Time Period Available
Ongoing, not limited to a specific semester
Location
1 Bethel Valley Road Building 4500N
Oak Ridge, TN 37831
https://daac.ornl.gov/
Contact
Bruce Wilson
ORNL DAAC Manager
manager@daac.ornl.gov
865-574-6651
Student Tasks
The exact tasks vary depending on the ORNL DAAC’s needs, student background, and student learning objectives. Tasks typically involve on-line research to identify relevant information, such as papers citing ORNL DAAC datasets, scripting and similar tasks to reformat and quality assure data, and data analysis and visualization. The general focus of the work is improving the completeness, quality, and process of identifying the documents (particularly journal articles) which cite ORNL DAAC-published data.
Type of Mentoring Provided to the Student
Mentoring will depend on student background and educational objectives. It may include coaching on scripting and other data manipulation or data analysis tasks. Mentoring will typically also include requirements analysis, effective communication, and personal project management skills. Mentoring may also include scientific metadata and specialized skills related to scientific data management.
Student Interaction With Others at the Location
The student will typically have one ORNL DAAC staff member assigned as the primary mentor, with some interaction during each work day. There will typically be at least weekly interactions with the ORNL DAAC Manager and/or ORNL DAAC Deputy Manager.