-----Original Message-----
From: Dr. Daniel L. Swets [mailto:swets@inst.augie.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 10:56 AM
To: Durkin, Thomas V. (SDSMT)
Cc: swets@inst.augie.edu
Subject: Re: NASA Linkages Table

... A) Augie travel

A1) 10 August, 1999: Dr. Daniel Swets from Augustana College with Dr. Bradley Reed and Jim Rowland from EDC established a working relationship with Dr. Compton "Jim" Tucker at NASA-Goddard. Rowland has been using Tucker's data in the FUSE project for some years, and Reed has dealt with Tucker on several contracts. 10 August, 1999, Reed visited Tucker at NASA-Goddard, and approached the possibility of teaming Tucker's Seasonality research projects with the South Dakota NASA EPSCoR effort.   Tucker and Swets exchanged email over the potentials of pooling our efforts under the SD NASA EPSCoR umbrella, which was met with a great deal of enthusiasm from Tucker. No EPSCoR travel funds were expended because Reed was there on other EDC business.

A2) 15-18 Nov, 1999: Dr. Bradley Reed from EDC made a presentation to Dr. Compton "Jim" Tucker from NASA-Goddard regarding collaborative research work being done with Dr. Bradley Reed, EDC, James Rowland, EDC, Dr. Larry Tieszen, EDC, and Dr. Daniel Swets, Augustana College on the Seasonality project, involving NDVI smoothing techniques and seasonality metrics derived from the NDVI data (e.g., start-of-season, season length, rate of greenup, etc.). The presentation was developed collaboratively by the players prior to Reed's trip. Dr. Swets followed up on the presentation with numerous phone calls to Tucker and his seasonality research project team, including Daniel Slaybach (PhD in physics candidate at the University of Maryland), and Horhay Pinzon (PhD in applied mathematics candidate at the University of Maryland) about closer collaborative ties. We released the software to the NASA group for their evaluation, then worked to tailor the algorithms to suit the particular needs of the NASA research group, working under the SD NASA-EPSCoR umbrella. Tucker worked to help us identify a post doc / visiting professor that we could support under a joint position with EDC and Augustana College to bolster the relationship between NASA, EDC and the South Dakota NASA EPSCoR Consortium. (Unfortunately, this position has not yet materialized; work continues to push for this close relationship.) No EPSCoR funds were expended for this effort since all parties were supported elsewhere.

A3) 10 February, 2000. Dr. Bradley Reed, EDC visited with Jim Compton Tucker, NASA-Goddard, on behalf of the SD NASA-EPSCoR Consortium. The meeting was to further refine the cooperative efforts between the Augustana College-EDC team and the NASA team on the seasonality smoothing and metrics computations, analysis, and application. Tucker's team had gotten busy and had not performed the analysis that they expected to do by this date. The meeting and follow-up phone calls from Dr. Daniel Swets, Augustana College, further reinforced the positive aspects of the collaborative relationship between the NASA team and the SD EPSCoR team, whereby the SD team could enhance the productivity of the NASA-Goddard team by assisting with some of the work in the research projects. No EPSCoR funds were expended for this effort, since all parties were supported elsewhere.

A4) 5-9 April, 2000, Council on Undergraduate Research "Posters on the Hill" session. Dr. Daniel Swets, Augustana College, and Catherine Van Note, research assistant, Augustana College, attended CUR's fourth annual "Posters on the Hill" session. Swets and Van Note met individually with Senators Daschle and Johnson and Rep. John Thune of South Dakota, and with Senators Grams and Wellstone and Rep. Sabo of Minnesota. (Catherine comes from Minneapolis, which is why we saw the Minnesota officials.) We personally met Daschle, Johnson, Thune, and Sabo, and with aids of Grams and Wellstone to extole the virtues of the NASA research programs. We arrived in Washington on the heels of Dan Goldin's testimony about the failed Mars probes, so the negatives of NASA were in the front of the politician's minds. Catherine Van Note brilliantly told her story about how perhaps some things in NASA could change, but NASA's funding of research (particularly undergraduate research in her case) is invaluable, allowing her to engage in research that would otherwise have been impossible. Catherine's research was completely funded by NASA, partially through the Space Grant and partially through the EPSCoR planning grant fellowships, and she had a powerful story to tell the elected officials.  EPSCoR planning grant travel funds were used to make this trip. ...