April 7, 2008
Boulder, Colorado

Presentations Available Now for Workshop Attendees

The National Science Foundation funds an extensive array of  large scale scientific research facilities.  These facilities are extremely diverse, cover a wide range of disciplines and include such things as: centralized laboratories and computer facilities, distributed sensor networks, large astronomical observatories, planes, and ships. Additionally, NSF facilities are distributed worldwide, including in the polar regions. While diverse, these facilities do share a number of common issues including aging infrastructure and upgrades, environmental safety & health (ES&H) , cyber security, educational outreach and responses to external reviews.
The 2008 NSF Large Facilities Workshop is designed to bring together representatives of these facilities to discuss common issues and learn from each other’s experiences. Specific goals of the workshop include:

• Discussions of facility operating experiences including best practices and lessons learned
• Development of personal contacts between facilities staff to allow future communication and shared problem solving
• Education on  current issues in cyber security, ES&H and  oversight
• Discussions of current concerns as well as ideas for future workshops

The emphasis of the workshop is on facility operation rather than scientific research and attendees should include anyone concerned with or interested in the operation of large NSF funded facilities.  The program is currently under development but will include talks on cyber security, ES&H, facility reviews as well as reports from individual facilities on their current operations and issues. The program will also include time for open discussion.  For more information or to make program suggestions please contact: John Weisend (Tel: 703-292 4337)

This workshop will compliment and will be held the day before the “Measuring Up “workshop on best practices in federally funded environments sponsored by UCAR  Attendees may well benefit by attending both workshops.  Please click the link for more information about Measuring Up.