Assignable Assets FAQ

MOAB tower at sunrise

General Questions

What is the NEON Assignable Assets Program?

  • A program that makes available certain components of NEON's infrastructure and staff to members of the community to support their own research or other activities.

What is an Assignable Asset?

  • Includes access to NEON infrastructure, AOP flight surveys, site coordination, labor pool of field ecologists, as well as engineering and science staff.

What kinds of projects are supported under the Assignable Assets Program?

  • All kinds of projects that require use of NEON infrastructure to complete their research objectives, and do not interfere with NEON's own measurements, scope, or mission.

Who can request the use of NEON Assignable Assets?

  • All researchers from universities, government agencies, and private sector companies.

How do I request support from the NEON's Assignable Assets Program?

What are these acronyms: SI, OSI, MDP, FSC, AOP, LOS?

Can I deploy additional sensors to the NEON sites?

Can I do my own sampling at NEON sites?

How long can my project remain at a NEON site?

  • Initial projects are up to 5 years, but long-term projects are possible and reviewed every 5 years for renewal.

Is destructive sampling permitted at NEON sites?

If I want to do my own research activities at a NEON site, do I need to tell NEON beforehand?

  • Yes. So, we can coordinate with you and provide information regarding NEON's sampling, infrastructure, site host relations, as well as provide insight into obtaining your own research permits for working at the site.

Where can I learn about NEON's current sampling protocols?

Where can I request samples from the NEON Biorepository?

Will NEON host my Assignable Asset data?

  • No. NEON does not host external researcher data. To increase discoverability of your Assignable Asset data, we can add links on the NEON website to your selected data publishing location. You can also partner or host your data at various data publishing locations (e.g. Environmental Data Initiative).

I have additional questions, who can I talk to?

Submissions, Request, and Timelines

Are there specific request forms to fill out?

How do I submit an Assignable Asset request?

Where do I request a Letter of Support?

How much time does it take to get approval for a project request?

  • Typically, 4 to 6 weeks. Submit your request at least 6 weeks prior to the date of your institution deadlines.

I have a short deadline; can I get approval, budget, and Letter of Support fast?

  • Perhaps but not guaranteed if timeframe is less than two week. We will work as best we can to conduct all the appropriate reviews, pricing, and other necessary steps, but we ask submissions to be at least 6 weeks prior to your institution deadlines.

What additional information should I provide along with my Assignable Asset request?

  • Detailed sampling protocols or standard operating procedures (SOP), maps, photos of instrument installations, tools used, links to manuals, site host permission or permits, etc.

Is it beneficial to provide a detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) or protocol for my Assignable Asset related project?

  • Yes. A more detailed SOP allows field ecologists to better understand what the intent of the research and activities are and provides better guidance for consistent sampling or instrument maintenance.

Costs and Budgets

How much will it cost?

  • Costs for supporting a project will depend on the type of request, and complexity and amount of support required. Submit your request and we will work on providing a cost estimate.

Are Assignable Assets free-of-charge?

  • Per NSF guidelines, research support via the NEON Assignable Assets Program is on a cost-recoverable basis. Support costs will vary depending on the type of support, and the amount of support needed.

What is a ROM?

  • Stands for Rough Order of Magnitude. This is the initial cost estimate of supporting your project and can be used for initial budget planning purposes, or budget submissions with your research proposal.

Can I re-use a ROM for a different proposal?

  • No. The provided ROM is specific to each Assignable Asset request and proposal submission.

What support do we provide to PIs in drawing up budgets?

  • We work with the investigator to develop a reasonable estimate of the labor and travel required to support their project at NEON sites.

What if my project goes over the contracted budget?

  • We will work up to, but not exceed, the amount of the contracted budget. If additional work is still needed, we will work with you on adjusting the budget, support effort, or update the contract.

Permits and Permissions

Will NEON do my permits?

  • No. We can facilitate contact or introduce the researcher to the site host or landowners but permits and access permission are the responsibility of the researcher.

Can I use NEON's permits?

  • No. But under very specific circumstances using NEON permits may be sufficient. These include if the sampling is the same as existing NEON sampling protocols, within NEON's permitted areas and conducted by NEON personnel. However, site hosts may still require that each researcher get their own permits.

Can NEON facilitate what kinds of permits I may need to work at a NEON site?

What support does NEON provide PIs in obtaining permits for field work?

  • We can facilitate contact or introduce researchers to the site host or landowners. We can also provide some guidance on what types of permits may be needed. We do not prepare draft agreements, nor provide sample agreements.

Implementation

Is a contract necessary to implement my research support?

  • Yes. Approved and funded Assignable Assets will require a contract between Battelle and your institution prior to any work being done.

Who is responsible for implementing my research support?

  • A NEON Field Operations Manager will be responsible for scheduling the field work, ensure the work is conducted as agreed, and providing the project deliverables.

Our contract with Battelle and my institution was signed. Now what?

  • Our implementation lead will be in contact with you. Once we have a contract in place, our teams will schedule your work. You can start finalizing sampling kits or sensors for shipping.

How do I communicate with NEON project leads once my work begins?

  • You will be invited to a Microsoft Teams Group specific to your project. We will provide instruction on gaining access to the "Posts" feature of Microsoft Teams for communicating with your NEON project leads.

I need to alter my protocol or SOP in the middle of the field season, how should this be handled?

Reach out to the NEON Field Operations Manager, or project lead. We understand the need for flexibility and can adopt new practices once communicated.

I want to visit a site to participate in some of the research activities. Can I do this?

  • Yes. Investigator support in the field is often helpful, especially at the beginning of projects as we are trying out new protocols or installing equipment. We ask you to work with the local domain project leads to schedule and coordinate the time. Please be aware we normally have a large list of activities to do in the field and may not be able to provide a tour or other demonstrations (unless otherwise arranged).

Can I use NEON's power and communications or deploy additional sensors to NEON sites?

  • Yes. Our systems are designed to accommodate additional research equipment. These are reviewed for feasibility prior to approval of your request.

How will I be charged?

  • The contract provides details on all these provisions.

Field Site Coordination

What does Field Site Coordination (FSC) mean?

  • Field Site Coordination describes our approach for coordinating external research on NEON sites. Generally, this category is reserved for researchers performing their own research on or near NEON study plots or infrastructure with little or no assistance from NEON staff. Field Site Coordination includes communication with local NEON domain staff to facilitate permissions (if needed), site access information, assistance locating NEON study plots, or timing your research activity with NEON planned visits. Our staff will work with you to ensure you have site access information you need to complete your project and ensure your research is not impacting NEON data. External researchers will still have to have their own permits and permissions from the site host.

How do I go about applying for or requesting Field Site Coordination?

I'm only interested in one NEON site. Should I contact the NEON Domain Manager directly?

  • We prefer you to coordinate with the centralized NEON Assignable Asset team by filling in the appropriate request form. This allows us provide consistent coordination and ensure you have the support needed. In some instances, you may not need to collaborate formally due to little or no interaction with NEON research

Will NEON contact site hosts for me?

I have been conducting research at a NEON site for years, do I need to apply for NEON Field Site Coordination?

  • No. You do not have to fill out a Field Site Coordination form if you already have site host permits or permission. We do ask researchers to fill out a Field Site Coordination request form if your research areas physically overlap with NEON plots. We also ask researchers to fill out a form as a courtesy to NEON, other researchers, and our site hosts so we can assist providing site-specific information (like for e.g., NEON sampling plots), known limitations and permits that external researcher may not be aware of, and so NEON or your sampling will not affect each other's work.

Letters of Support (LOS)

Where can I request a Letter of Support?

Do I need a LOS for my proposal if I am using data from the NEON Data Portal?

  • No. Unless you want to include one with your proposal.

How long does it take to get a letter of support?

  • Please allow a minimum of two weeks to process your request.

Collaborating with NEON

Can a NEON staff member be a Co-I on my proposal?

  • Yes, use the NEON Staff page for contact information and coordinate with them directly.

Can NEON staff be a co-author on my paper?

  • Yes

How do I reach out to a NEON scientist if I want to work with them on a project?

Excess Samples

What is an excess sample?

  • During normal execution of NEON protocols, we gather material that is weighed, subsampled, measured, or processed. Any material that is more than what NEON needs for archiving at the NEON Biorepository, or lab analysis is discarded. This excess material can be requested by external researchers.

What does NEON do with excess samples?

  • These are discarded after processing unless requested by external researchers.

How can I request some excess samples?

Will I be charged for these samples?

  • No, unless you require additional processing. We can arrange for researchers to pick up the material locally at the nearest NEON domain support facility. If shipping is needed, we will ask for prepaid shipping labels, or that you provide a FEDEX or UPS account number to use for shipments.

Sensor Infrastructure (SI)

What is the Sensor Infrastructure?

  • Includes the tower, instrument hut, soil arrays, aquatic mounting locations, aquatic buoys, power and communications infrastructure, boardwalks, and other aspects that involve structures or hardware at NEON sites.

What types of things can be put on NEON's sensor infrastructure?

  • Sensors, dataloggers, computers, antennas, mounting hardware, or any device that can be installed on or around any of the NEON infrastructure. This includes installations of sensors or instruments into the ground.

Do I need a permit to install sensors on NEON's infrastructure?

  • Typically, yes. But this depends on what is being installed. This is at the discretion of the site host or landowner and is on a site-by-site and case-by-case basis. Any sensor installation that involves ground disturbance may require additional site surveys and permits.

Observational System Infrastructure (OSI)

-More soon-

Mobile Deployment Platform (MDP)

-More soon-

Airborne Observation Platform (AOP)

-More soon-