Innovations in Open Science (IOS) Planning Workshop: Advancing Open Science in Heliophysics and Space Weather Modeling--Challenges and Resolutions; College Park, MD; June 3-7, 2024

This award will provide support for a conference in response to the NSF 23-141 “Dear Colleague Letter: Innovations in Open Science (IOS) Planning Workshops.” The overall objective of this workshop is to provide a forum for the heliophysics and space weather modeling community to discuss open science practices, including the role of models and important instruments for research, the identification of critical infrastructure needs, and to ensure that heliophysics and space weather simulation codes, modeling frameworks, and simulation results follow FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) principles. The workshop will take place at College Park, Maryland from June 3 – 7, 2024 in combination with the existing biannual Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) Community Workshop.

The overall theme of the combined workshops will be open science. Approximately 300 participants will be in attendance. This funding will primarily provide travel and housing support for roughly 20 participants.

Four primary topics will be discussed at the conference: (1) open science infrastructure in modeling; (2) open use of simulation results; (3) open use of models; and (4) open model validation. A science committee will meet regularly prior to the workshop to organize subgroups for each of these topics, and subgroup leads will direct the discussions during the workshop.

Three months after the conclusion of the workshop, a report and recommendation of infrastructure needs will be shared on the workshop website and disseminated to the community via email. The results of this workshop will broadly benefit the heliophysics and space weather research communities as well as space physics education, space weather operations, and outreach efforts.

Open access to space weather models will allow the operational entities to select the best performing operational models with public trust and transparency. Open access to the model output and free visualization will involve more general public into the space physics field and inform them about some general knowledge.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.