Project Grant 2531988

The National Science Foundation Office of Integrative Activities awarded the University Corporation For Atmospheric Research (doing business as National Center For Atmospheric Research) $425,597 on August 1, 2026, for disciplinary improvements to expand FAIR principles for the NCAR Data Commons and ensure responsible use through fitness-for-purpose literacy under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050).

The project will develop research data management and curation standards for geoscience data producers, tied to FAIR principles, along with mechanisms for user data discovery and responsible use. The team will create metadata and supporting documentation standards that promote fitness-for-purpose information about data validity, and will develop semantic frameworks using ontologies and knowledge graphs to increase user literacy around data characteristics that determine appropriate and responsible use, tailored toward machine learning and artificial intelligence applications in the geosciences. The effort addresses unintentional data misuse arising from misinterpretation or misunderstanding of data fitness. Development of these standards, mechanisms, and tools will be achieved through consultation with a diverse community of geoscience data producers and developers, including observations, reanalysis, and model output. The project is funded jointly by the Directorate for Geosciences and managed by the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure. No sub-awards are planned. Work is performed in Boulder, Colorado, with a period of performance from August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2029.