The Science Team Model
From MapModeling
For flight projects, NASA empowers a science team associated with an instrument on a spacecraft to address the major science questions that were the rational for the instrument in the first place. This science team is responsible for calibrating and validating the data collected by the instrument, and for generating higher level products from the data that are used to address the science questions.
A science team focuses on more than keeping the instrument running and producing products. It empowers investigators not originally connected to the instrument team to investigate specific science questions that might be answered using the instrument data. The membership is selected by a peer review proposal process, and is periodically refreshed throughout the life of an instrument. Members might engage in independent calibration and validation activities, address specific proposed science investigations using the data, or generate new products from the instrument data using algorithms they have devised. In all cases, they work closely with the instrument team and provide essential feedback to the instrument team that can uncover problems in the instrument data products or the instrument itself.
If we look at the major MAP investments [a list can be found on the Community portal link in the navigation box to the left], one can see a parallel to the instruments that NASA flies in space. These models have a PI akin to the instrument PI, and a group responsible for producing model products as the first order output of the investment. They are also responsible for keeping the model running, tuning it for specific investigations, and improving its capabilities over time. (This last point is not something you normally get from an instrument which has launched ...) They have collaborators to work on science investigations with the models. They engage in validation activities.
But is this a science team? Not quite. It's more like an extended instrument team in that everyone has a very direct association with the model developers. A science team enables a broader group of scientists to perform independent investigations that have been selected by peer review. There is level of independence in these investigations that benefits the overall project by providing valuable feedback on the usefulness and validity of the products generated.
