January 27-29, 2026 | Santa Barbara, CA
Hosted by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
Environmental Data Science (EDS) is a growing field of interdisciplinary approaches to investigating and answering environmental questions with modern data science tools. The field is broad, diverse, and expanding. This Summit aims to bring together all types of environmental data scientists to lay the foundation for a more cohesive and collaborative transdisciplinary community.
The goals of the Summit are to build community and foster collaboration within the Environmental Data Science community. This year’s theme is Turning Data into Action: How can we bridge the gap between environmental data science and real-world applications, especially in support of policy, management, and community engagement?
Agenda
Day 1 - January 27, 2026
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 8:15 | Registration |
| 8:30 | Breakfast, Get to Know & Welcome |
| 9:15 | Keynote Speaker - Alex Reed, Project Manager, Mapping Black California |
| 10:00 | Coffee Break |
| 10:30 | Instructions for the day |
| 10:45 | Ideation Session |
| 11:30 | Poster & Flash Talk Prep |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 1:30 | Instructions and Next Steps |
| 1:35 | Flash Talks |
| 2:45 | Coffee Break |
| 3:00 | Breakout group work |
| 4:50 | Day 1 Wrap Up |
| 5:00 | Sunset cocktail hour |
| 6:00 | Dinner |
| 7:00 | Get Funky with the Steering Committee |
Day 2 - January 28, 2026
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 8:30 | Breakfast |
| 9:00 | Welcome to Day 2 |
| 9:05 | Keynote Speaker - Scott Reinhard, former graphics editor New York Times |
| 9:50 | Day 2 Instructions |
| 10:00 | Coffee break |
| 10:15 | Midway Group Presentations |
| 12:15 | Lunch |
| 1:15 | Breakout Group Work |
| 3:15 | Coffee break |
| 3:45 | Breakout Group Work |
| 4:30 | Day 2 Wrap up |
| 4:45 | Free Time - explore the area |
| 6:00 | Dinner |
Day 3 - January 29, 2026
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 8:30 | Breakfast |
| 9:00 | Welcome to Day 3 |
| 9:05 | Final Group Presentations |
| 10:15 | Coffee break |
| 10:30 | Final Group Presentations |
| 11:30 | Next Steps Discussion |
| 12:00 | Closing |
| 12:15 | Depart |
Steering Committee
Ben Halpern | Elizabeth Wolkovich | Noam Ross | Amanda Whitmire | Susan Shingledecker | Dawn Wright | Dorris Scott | Leah Wasser
A Research Coordination Network, hosted by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and funded by the National Science Foundation.
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