Conceptualization of a Water Science Software Institute

北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校获得了一笔赠款，用于开发水科学软件研究所(WSSI)的概念，并制定实施水科学软件研究所的战略计划。WSSI的任务将是同时转变水科学界的研究文化和软件文化。水的可持续性是一个紧迫、复杂、跨学科的问题。复杂的生物物理和社会过程影响水的使用、质量和可用性。很少有研究领域比水科学更需要现代网络基础设施工具，然而，在应对水资源可持续性这一重大挑战方面取得的进展受到相关研究社区之间协调和协作不足的阻碍，而且社区开发的软件和网络基础设施没有经过专业设计，以实现可互操作、可持续或可重复使用。这一概念化阶段将在国家社会环境综合中心(SESYNC)的协助下，利用一个开放的社区参与进程，让水科学界参与各项活动，同时综合战略计划的投入，并作为研究所将用来实现其使命的进程的原型。具体地说，概念化赠款将资助两个综合讲习班，该讲习班将确定研究所的功能要素；一个社区论坛，将向利益攸关方社区介绍研究所的概念，以征求他们的意见；以及一个软件原型活动，将展示和评价在水科学界内发展生产质量软件工程文化的方法。在社区参与活动期间，该项目将编制关于研究所要素的白皮书，这些白皮书将被纳入WSSI战略计划。WSSI的愿景是促进可持续、生产质量高的网络基础设施的发展，这些基础设施将用于推进变革性的水科学。通过开展活动，将水科学家、计算机科学家、软件工程师和社会科学家带着共同的目的放在同一个房间里，这样的研究所将推动合作，产生创新的想法和新的研究。概念化方法将不断界定、测试、评价和完善研究所的概念模式，以便制定一项满足利益攸关方社区需要的战略计划。这一进程及其产品--研究所的原型要素、描述这些要素的白皮书和战略计划--将促进对如何形成和维持有效的跨学科合作的理解。作为原型活动的结果而开发的软件将用于推进水科学研究。彻底的规划将减少建立第一个软件研究所所固有的风险，并将解决在NSF资金结束后建立广泛的社区支持以维持研究所的挑战。

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is awarded a grant to develop the concept of a Water Science Software Institute (WSSI) and to create a strategic plan to implement the WSSI. The WSSI mission will be to concurrently transform the research culture and the software culture of the water science community. Water sustainability is an urgent, complex, and trans-disciplinary problem. Complex biophysical and social processes influence water use, quality, and availability. Few research areas have a greater need for modern cyberinfrastructure tools than water science, yet progress on meeting the grand challenge of water sustainability is hindered by insufficient coordination and collaboration among the exceptionally diverse research communities involved and because community-developed software and cyberinfrastructure have not been professionally designed to be interoperable, sustainable, or reusable. This conceptualization phase will use an open community engagement process with assistance from the National Socio-environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), to involve the water science community in activities that simultaneously synthesize input for the strategic plan and serve as prototypes of the processes the Institute will use to achieve its mission. Specifically, the conceptualization grant will fund two synthesis workshops that will define the functional elements of the Institute, a community forum that will present the Institute concept to stakeholder communities for their input, and a software prototyping activity that will demonstrate and evaluate methods for developing a culture of production-quality software engineering within the water science community. Between community engagement activities, the project will produce white papers on the elements of the Institute that will be incorporated into the WSSI strategic plan.The vision for the WSSI is to facilitate the development of sustainable, production- quality cyberinfrastructure that will be used to advance transformative water science. By developing activities that put water scientists, computer scientists, software engineers, and social scientists in the same room with a common purpose, such an institute would drive collaborations that produce innovative ideas and new research. The conceptualization approach will continuously define, test, evaluate, and refine the conceptual model of the Institute in order to produce a strategic plan that serves the needs of the stakeholder communities. This process and its products - the prototype elements of the Institute, the white papers that describe them, and the strategic plan - will advance an understanding of how to form and sustain effective trans-disciplinary collaborations. Software developed as a result of the prototyping activity will be used to advance water science research. Thorough planning will mitigate the risks inherent in standing up the first software institute and will address the challenge of building broad community support to sustain the Institute after NSF funding ends.