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Frequently Asked Questions

This page is the canonical location for ESIIL Working Group questions. The answers below are drawn from the Working Group FAQs source document and should be updated here as policies, timelines, or support processes change.

Where should I start in the guide?

Start with the RFP if you are preparing a proposal. Use the Guide for Applicants while drafting, Working Group Team Roles to identify the Tech Lead, Collaboration Lead, and Transition Lead, and the lifecycle guides for new groups, active groups, and finishing and reporting after selection.

Who can be an ESIIL Working Group PI or Co-PI?

We need PIs and Co-PIs to have PI eligibility, which is determined by your institution and respected by the NSF. For example, here is a link to the rules at CU (PI Eligibility Guidance), which allows graduate students to be PI eligible with the approval of a Chair, Dean, or Institute Director.

We currently have working groups who are led by Postdocs. We support and encourage early career participation and we encourage groups to give early career participants access to leadership opportunities. That is, grad student participation is an asset, not a liability. They just need to be PI eligible according to their institution if they want to be a PI. If your institution does not allow grad students as PIs, there are still great leadership opportunities as the Tech Lead or Lead Author for the group.

Can ESIIL Postdocs participate in Working Groups? What are the constraints?

We want postdocs to be as involved as possible with working groups. We ask that postdocs do not author proposals, but we do encourage you to help groups with proposals that you think are a good match with your interests. Once a group is chosen, then any postdoc can join any group they are invited to. If you have a group that you want to work with, I would support them in writing the proposal, but not as an author, and then have them invite you to join after they are selected.

Any working group that you think you want to join, feel free to reach out to them and ask to join their effort. The working groups get access to our postdocs for free, giving them a low-friction way to welcome postdocs into the group. Postdocs should be treated as any other member of your working group and roles and responsibilities should be discussed as part of your team norms discussion.

How can I find others to join my working group?

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Add confirmed public guidance for finding potential working group participants.

How can I join a working group?

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Add confirmed public guidance for joining existing or proposed working groups.

How are working group proposal selection decisions made?

Proposals are reviewed by a team of scientists including the ESIIL External Advisory Board members. Each proposal is reviewed by three unique individuals following an evaluation rubric developed by the ESIIL team. Proposals are given a rating on the following criteria:

  1. Scientific Merit and Innovation
  2. Interdisciplinarity and Collaborative Integration
  3. Data Science, Computation, and Analytical Rigor
  4. Feasibility and Team Strength
  5. Impact, Engagement, and Broader Value
  6. Open, Reusable, and Community-Oriented Infrastructure

Proposals are organized by raw rating average and Z-score, then discussed between ESIIL leadership and the External Advisory Board.

We have an international group. Can we still be considered to be an ESIIL Working Group?

Yes - international groups are eligible for ESIIL Working Group funding and are encouraged to apply. Proposals are reviewed based on the criteria in the RFP and align with ESIIL's mission to promote broad perspectives and collaborative, interdisciplinary teams in the field of environmental data science.

What inclusivity support do working groups receive?

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The source document lists this question but does not include an answer. Add confirmed public language describing what inclusivity support working groups receive.

Could working groups be held at a different place than Boulder?

ESIIL will consider support for working group meetings in locations other than Boulder under certain circumstances. Please reach out to esiil@colorado.edu if your group would like to meet off-site.

How does travel support work?

ESIIL funding to support participant travel to attend working group meetings is subject to policies set by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder).

Participant support is funding provided to help defray the costs (such as airfare, accommodation, ground transportation, per diem, etc.) of attending working group meetings in Boulder. Funds will be disbursed directly to individual participants as a stipend based on costs estimated by each participant. Working Group Principal Investigators (PIs) will review based on their proposed budget and will approve the stipend amount to be paid out to each participant for each trip. After receiving confirmation of their stipend approval, participants can make their travel arrangements. ESIIL will compile and send the appropriate financial forms through Docusign for the stipend payment process handled by the CU Boulder Accounts Payable team.

Please note that current CU employees are ineligible to receive participant support payments, federal employees may be eligible based on their agency policies, and international payments may be subject to a tax levy of up to 30%.

Who owns the intellectual property of the group when the project is over?

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Confirm final public intellectual property language with ESIIL and CU Boulder before relying on this answer.

Group should own their own IP. The university could challenge that, especially if the group includes a CU employee.

University of Colorado and funded by the NSF. Intellectual Property (IP) includes all copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property rights. Usually of commercial interest.

Where the intellectual property of individuals or organizations needs to be explicitly defined and agreed upon, teams should also reach out to Jennifer Balch for consultation and ask their Tech Lead to consult with the ESIIL CI team.

Participants warrant they have the authority to share or work with data or other IP within the ESIIL Working Group environment.

Otherwise:

  • IP that is developed may be the property of the US Government.
  • And/or IP that is developed may be licensed free-of-charge by the US Government.

Is there any mandate that ESIIL group data or deliverables are open?

We ask everyone to be as open as possible, and as private as necessary. We cannot legally guarantee it is going to stay private.

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Confirm final public language for groups working with private or industry partner data. The source document includes an unfinished internal note after this question.

What is the ideal size for a working group?

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The source document includes only an internal Slack link for this question. Add confirmed public guidance on ideal working group size.

See Also