With 2021 coming to a close, we reflect on the community events and activities that brought us closer together.

Our global engagement has continuously increased since 2020 thanks to the leadership of various early career scientists from iLEAPS, LAECESS and our own community members. This year alone, we held a Spring Workshop, ECN-LAECESS early career social mixer, co-hosted a Twitter Conference with iLEAPS, and invited numerous guest speakers to join us for live webinars. Now we are gearing up for 2022 with new opportunities to join our organizer board and collaborate with the recently funded FLUXNET Co-op initiative. Check out our activities below to catch what you missed or discover new opportunities for where you can get involved!

This year, our line-up of events was top-notch thanks to our sponsors and new partnerships.

Our two-day Spring Workshop 2021 celebrated the AmeriFlux theme Year of Water with guest speakers and a Python workshop. On day one, four renowned researchers discussed the intersections and opportunities of flux measurements, modeling, and remote sensing. Speakers included Cynthia Gerlein-Safdi, Jacob A. Nelson, Paul Stoy, and Pier Luigi Vidale. On day two, three Python workshop leaders joined us from the Graduate Program in Environmental Engineering (PPGEA) at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) in Brazil and Laboratory for Studies in Environmental Monitoring and Modeling (LEMMA). Leaders included our own André Luís Diniz dos Santos, as well as Lucas Emilio B. Hoeltgebaum and Rafael Bueno who each presented a written and live tutorial of data acquisition and analysis specific to the FLUXNET2015 dataset. Recordings of presentations and the workshop are available on our YouTube channel and a synthesis of resources and coding materials are on our blog.

Word cloud of ECN specialties

ECN community specialties shared at the Land-Atmosphere Workshop 2021.

We’re grateful for our collaborators across early career networks who increased our outreach and participation this year. In June, we networked with LAECESS (@laearlycareer) in the AmeriFlux Land-Atmosphere Workshop in a trivia challenge mixer hosting  ~30 guests! In August, we co-hosted an online Twitter Poster Conference with iLEAPS (@iLEAPS_ECSN) on themes of modelling, measurements, methods/frameworks and science communication. Our own FLUXNET members, Drs. Ankur Desai and Housen Chu, volunteered as Twitter conference judges, reviewing online submissions from early career scientists around the globe. The best part about the conference is that posters are still available on Twitter— just search #iLEAPS_FLUXNET. Congratulations to our award winners Kuangyu Chang and Francisco Gaxiola, who each shared first place and won a book prize of their choice.

Our continued support from AmeriFlux Management Project sponsored our online ECN webinars, workshops and in-person gatherings, making space for early-career mixers and events at every opportunity. This year, we hosted four webinars covering water fluxes, modeling and careers in environmental sciences; and even had our own members participate in two AmeriFlux Early Career Spotlight webinars. Check out recordings of our webinars you might have missed here and browse through our blog posts to discover early career spotlights, webinar summaries, and interviews with folks in the field!

Last but not least, coordinators for the AmeriFlux Annual Meeting 2021 invited FLUXNET ECN to a Career Mentor Panel and the Beyond the Professoriate Workshop. Attendees also participated in a virtual Job Lounge on Gather, where job seekers and hiring managers could share opportunities with members from around the globe. Find more information about ECN events at the Annual Meeting on our blog.

Here’s what we are looking forward to in 2022

The FLUXNET global research community earned support from the United States’ National Science Foundation (NSF). The $2 million award will create multiple research and training opportunities, expand opportunities for the next generation of FLUXNET early career scientists, support diversity among scientists, and support community efforts to develop the FLUXNET dataset to include more biomes and climate regions. The project will also support further development of data-focused processing protocols. Trevor Keenan, assistant professor at UC Berkeley, and affiliated to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a faculty scientist, will oversee the new FLUXNET Coordination Project (FLUXNET Co-op, follow @FLUXNET_Coop).

We are also excited for the return of FluxCourse, a hands-on and in-person event demonstrating the tools, tech and theory of flux science. It will be held July 23rd through Aug 6th at the Mountain Research Station, Colorado. Announcements of registration and potential funding opportunities to join will be made early next year.

New opportunities are also underway, including funding for students undertaking research collaboration projects abroad under the FLUXNET Co-op Secondment Program. All announcements will be sent to the FLUXNET email list and the FLUXNET Co-op Twitter (@Fluxnet_Coop), so make sure you’re signed up!

Looking for more ways to engage? Join the FLUXNET ECN team!

Excited by all these events and opportunities? Join our community to stay in touch! FLUXNET ECN has content specifically tailored for early career scientists (e.g., Undergraduate, Graduate, Post-doc and those non-supervisory professional researchers of all institutions). Find leadership opportunities below and reach out to the ECN organizers with any interest or questions ([email protected]):

  1. Join the ECN organizing team (2-3 year volunteer to lead blogs, webinars, resource content with other EC organizers)
  2. Join the FLUXNET Co organizing team as a regional representative (2-3 year volunteer to build community globally with EC members on the FLUXNET Co council)
  3. Volunteer/present in a ECN webinar
  4. Submit an idea or volunteer for a guest blog, workshop or networking event