MEMBER INformation

Stay in touch: Make sure you are signed up for our communication and collaboration channels

If you need to be added to any of these spaces, email Danielle Whittaker at danielle.whittaker at oregonstate dot edu.

• COLDEX email listserve: coldex@lists.oregonstate.edu

  • Email is one of the primary ways we keep you up-to-date on what is happening at COLDEX! Danielle Whittaker sends out a weekly email on Monday mornings with the week's COLDEX events, announcements, and reminders.

• COLDEX Slack Workspace 

  • We also use Slack for more informal communications. Announcements sent via email are also copied here.

• COLDEX Google Drive

  • All COLDEX-related documents are available to all COLDEX members, and they are stored in a shared Google Drive. If your institution does not allow access to Google Workspace with your institutional email, you may request to add your personal gmail account to this drive.

• COLDEX Google Calendar

  • COLDEX-wide events are collected in a central shared Google Calendar which includes Zoom links for these events. Make your life easier and add the COLDEX calendar to your own Google Calendar. Contact Danielle Whittaker to be added (danielle.whittaker@oregonstate.edu).

Make sure you are represented

• COLDEXer bios (add yourself!)

  • Browse the slides to learn more about the members of COLDEX, and add yourself to the slide deck! 

• Demographic Survey

  • NSF requires us to collect demographic information about the members of our center. Doing so is also important for us as we strive to meet our goals of increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the polar sciences. Please be sure to fill out the survey with your information. 

  • Note: if you took a COLDEX demographic survey before November 7, 2022, we have revised the survey to make it more inclusive and more useful now and in the years to come. We want to be respectful of your time, but we also want to have the data best represent the range of identities and individuals in COLDEX. Towards that, we are asking everybody in COLDEX to fill out the revised survey. Many of the questions have not changed, but it would be helpful for you to fill out the entire survey again to minimize errors if we try to merge previous answers with new ones.

Get Involved!

COLDEX activities are open to all COLDEXers. Consider attending monthly meetings of COLDEX subgroups related to your interests, such as:

• Research: 

  • Exploration and Modeling subgroup

  • Ice Coring and Ice Analysis subgroup

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• Education and Leadership

• Knowledge Transfer

• Early Career Researchers (COLDEX defines Early Career Researchers as graduate students and postdocs, though undergraduate researchers are welcome to attend ECR meetings.)

The Center for Oldest Ice Exploration is an NSF Science and Technology Center. The U.S. National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Centers: Integrative Partnerships program supports innovative, complex and potentially transformative research and education projects that require large-scale, long-term awards. STCs are funded at $5 million per year for up to 10 years, and involve multiple research fields and institutions. Learn more about STCs here. 

As an STC, COLDEX is reviewed annually by a team of experts as part of the NSF Site Visit. Below are powerpoint slides from presentations given at COLDEX's 2022 NSF Site Visit explaining who we are and what we are doing. We invite you to browse these slides to get a better sense of our goals as a Center.

• Overview of COLDEX Rationale and Goals

• COLDEX plans for broadening participation

• COLDEX Education plans for:

  • Fostering Undergraduate, Graduate, and Post-Doc Success

  • Bringing Polar Science to K-12 Teachers and MSI Faculty

• COLDEX Knowledge Transfer plans

• COLDEX Google Calendar: Get all the COLDEX events and Zoom links right on your Google Calendar. Contact Danielle Whittaker to be added to this shared calendar (danielle.whittaker@oregonstate.edu). 

• **COLDEX Zoom links master list - find all Zoom links for upcoming events **

COLDEX Seminars

The COLDEX monthly seminar, held on the first Monday of every month, features speakers from all over the world. These seminars are open to interested people outside of COLDEX - please feel free to invite your colleagues, collaborators, and friends! 

• Upcoming seminars:

  • Monday, April 1, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Pacific: Dr. Ran Feng, University of Connecticut: Do Pliocene records support weakened Pacific Walker Circulation with elevated CO2? https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/95922306794?pwd=QzdZK013TEQ4M1lCRFFuYTlxN3Irdz09 

• Recordings of past COLDEX seminars

• Speaker invitations - feel free to add your suggestions to this document!

• COLDEX Zoom links master list - find all Zoom links for upcoming events 

COLDEX All-Hands Monthly Meetings

The monthly COLDEX all-hands meeting is an internal business meeting held on the third Monday of every month. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss COLDEX plans, policies, and other issues, provide professional development training, and to gather your feedback. All COLDEX members are encouraged to attend.

• All-Hands Monthly Meetings agendas, notes, and powerpoints

• COLDEX Zoom links master list - find all Zoom links for upcoming events 

Group Monthly Meetings

COLDEX subgroups meet on a monthly basis. All COLDEX members are welcome to attend any meetings that interest them. Please see each groups' notes document below for meeting times, Zoom links, agendas, and notes from past meetings.

• Exploration and Modeling

• Ice Coring and Ice Analysis

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• Education and Leadership

• Knowledge Transfer

• Early Career Researchers (Open to ECRs and undergraduates only. COLDEX defines Early Career Researchers as graduate students and postdocs.)

Annual COLDEX All-Hands Meeting

The third annual COLDEX All-Hands Meeting will take place September 9-11, 2024, in Corvallis, OR. More information will be available here when we have it!

COLDEX Leadership Contact Information

• Director Ed Brook: Edward.Brook@oregonstate.edu

• Managing Director Danielle Whittaker: Danielle.Whittaker@oregonstate.edu

  • Contact Danielle for access to communication channels (email list, Google Drive, Slack workspace, Google Calendar), for information about COLDEX events, for information about COLDEX policies and procedures, with questions about budgets or subawards, or just about anything else! If she can't help you, she will direct you to someone who can.

• Director for Education Kristen Rahilly: Kristen.Rahilly@oregonstate.edu

  • Contact Kristen for resources for Early Career Researchers, including access to the ECR slack channel, information about the monthly ECR group meeting and ECR-specific training sessions, and guidance on Individual Development Plans (IDPs). 

  • Kristen is also the primary contact for the COLDEX REU program. Contact her if you are interested in becoming a COLDEX undergraduate researcher or if you want to mentor one!

• Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Erin Pettit: pettiter@oregonstate.edu

  • Contact Erin for questions about the DEI Committee, DEI Ambassadors program, DEI-related training, the demographic survey, and the COLDEX ethics plan.

• Director for Knowledge Transfer Heidi Roop: hroop@umn.edu

  • Contact Heidi for questions about the COLDEX Communications Plan and the Social Network Analysis. Heidi is also a resource for COLDEXers interested in putting out press releases and other major communications.

• Director for Field Research and Data Peter Neff: pneff@umn.edu

  • Contact Peter with questions about Antarctic fieldwork and data management policies. 

  • Peter will be the primary COLDEX contact in Antarctica during the field seasons. If you have any issues while in the field, he is there to help.

  • You should also follow Peter on Twitter and TikTok, where he shares lots of great information about polar research!

Policies and Procedures

• Strategic and Implementation Plan (Last updated January 2024)

• Integrity and Professional Ethics Policy (Last updated November 2023)

• Data Management and Sample Allocation Policies (Last updated November 2022)

• Strategic Communication Plan (Last updated January 2023)

• IP Management Plan (March 2022; last reviewed October 2023)

Reporting Requirements

• All COLDEX personnel that are named in the Strategic Plan are required to report on their COLDEX-related activities and progress towards strategic plan milestones on a quarterly basis.

  • Quarterly reports are due February 28, May 31, August 31, and November 30 of each year. 

  • All such personnel will receive their custom reporting form directly from Danielle Whittaker 30 days before the due date.

• If you are not required to submit a quarterly report, but would like to report COLDEX activities such as publications or media publicity, please use this form.

Best Practices Documents

• Graduate student recruitment best practices

• Responding to prospective graduate students interested in COLDEX

• Safe and inclusive field teams best practices

Request Access to COLDEX Data

• We have set up a Google Drive for sharing COLDEX data. Request access by filling out this form. (Note that over the next year, the location of this data repository will likely change, as Oregon State University plans to phase out Google Workspace.)

COLDEX Communication Support Resources

• Media inquiry? Pending press release or press event? Here is a ‘cheat sheet’ to help make sure you keep the right people informed and know who to contact with any questions.

• COLDEX Engagement and Training Support Request Form: This form can be used to request support for communication or engagement-related inquiries and requests (e.g. a media request, request for support engaging a policymaker or preparing a written testimony for work related to COLDEX, communication or applied science-related coaching session). Please also use this form if you have received a media inquiry related to COLDEX and either need help crafting a response or want assistance in deciding who is best to respond to the inquiry.

• COLDEX Media Engagement Tracking List: Please help us track COLDEX’s successful media engagement efforts, such as the publication of COLDEX press releases, interviews with COLDEX participants or coverage of COLDEX efforts, by updating this list with any media engagement that you have participated in.

COLDEX Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts

• Director for DEI Erin Pettit has compiled a document with a summary and links to ongoing activities here.

• If you are interested in getting involved with COLDEX DEI work, please consider attending the monthly meetings! 

• Nominations for the first annual COLDEX Inclusive Leadership Award are due on August 18, 2023. The COLDEX Inclusive Leadership Award recognizes exemplary leadership in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the COLDEX community and beyond.

COLDEX Feedback Portal

• We now have a mechanism for members to provide both positive and negative feedback related to their experiences as a COLDEX community member. We also encourage any community member to submit suggestions, ideas, concerns, and information related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the Center. Such feedback may be submitted anonymously if desired. Go to the COLDEX Feedback Portal for more information. 

All COLDEXers are required to comply with the Integrity and Professional Ethics Policies.

Responsible Conduct of Research Training

• All COLDEXers conducting research are required to comply with their institution's RCR training requirements. COLDEX PIs must report compliance of their team with this requirement in the quarterly progress reports.

  • Online RCR training modules are offered through CITI. 

    • Oregon State University users with an ONID register here: https://research.oregonstate.edu/ori/training. Logging in using OSU’s single sign on (SSO) process enables the CITI to match users and completion reports with the OSU electronic research administration systems.

    • COLDEXers at institutions with a CITI subscription should log in through their institution.

    • COLDEXers at institutions without a CITI subscription may access the training modules by registering at the main CITI website here: https://about.citiprogram.org/. As part of the registration process, please manually select an affiliation with OSU. 

    • There are multiple RCR training courses available - please select the version most appropriate for your field. Available courses include:

      • Biomedical Responsible Conduct of Research Course

      • Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research Course

      • Physical Science Responsible Conduct of Research Course

      • Humanities Responsible Conduct of Research Course

      • RCR for Engineers

Reporting violations of the COLDEX Integrity and Professional Ethics Policies

• COLDEX participants concerned about ethical or scientific integrity, including problematic behavior in lab, field or other settings, can make their concerns known and seek mediation in a variety of ways. 

• These reporting methods are detailed on this page: How to Report Ethics Violations.

• They are also outlined in the COLDEX Integrity and Professional Ethics Policies document. 

Scholarships

COLDEX funding available through scholarships for Early Career Researchers: COLDEX scholarship funds are available for current Early Career Researchers (ECRs), defined here as students (undergraduate or graduate), post-baccalaureate researchers, or postdoctoral fellows. Scholarship funds toward research or broadening participation work related to the COLDEX mission are open to any ECR working in the United States. Proposals may be for individual or collaborative projects and we suggest a budget limit of $5,000. Funds are also available for ECRs within COLDEX to attend a workshop, training, or short course. These funds are limited to $500 for domestic and $1,000 for international experiences. ECRs should fill out this form and contact Kristen Rahilly (kristen.rahilly@oregonstate.edu) with any questions. There is no deadline to apply, though the total amount available each year is limited.

COLDEX Short Courses

Each year, we organize a short course focused on a topic of interest to COLDEX researchers and others. Early career researchers within and outside of COLDEX are invited to apply. Travel expenses for participants are covered by COLDEX, and housing and food are provided.

2023: Oldest Ice Short Course. This two-day short course, organized by the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX; www.coldex.org), introduced early career ice core researchers to the various subfields that contribute to the search for, and study of, very old ice, including relevant aspects of Antarctic geologic history, paleoclimatology, glaciology, and ice core chemistry. In addition, participants will learn about communicating old ice science to the public, media and policy makers. 

Every year in June, COLDEX is evaluated via an NSF Site Visit. NSF recruits a panel of 6-8 external experts to visit the center and evaluate how we are progressing in our research, education, DEI, and knowledge transfer goals. They write up a report to NSF, and COLDEX also submits a response to that report. 

• 2022 Site Visit Report

• COLDEX Response to 2022 Site Visit Report

• 2023 Site Visit Report

• COLDEX Response to 2023 Site Visit Report