NMDC Champions

NMDC Champions understand and appreciate the value of well-curated data, and are willing to advocate for the importance of FAIR microbiome data.

Featured NMDC Champions

"I hope as an NMDC Champion I can apply my knowledge of data rescue, scientific gateways, and data integration efforts to support the ongoing work of NMDC and advocate for FAIR microbiome data."

Alexis Garretson

George Mason University, Graduate Research Fellow

Alexis Garretson is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow completing her Master’s degree at George Mason University. Her research focuses on improving the accessibility and integration of historical data sources while ensuring sustainable stewardship of scientific data. This fall, she will begin her Ph.D. in Genetics through Tufts University and The Jackson Laboratory.

@GarretsonAlexis

I see from my own work the importance of benchmarking diverse approaches and making sure data obtained from different studies are standardized for comparison. I want to work with scientists of the same interests to help promote the production and documentation of high quality data.

Ying Zhang

University of Rhode Island, Associate Professor

Dr. Ying Zhang is an Associate Professor in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Rhode Island. She joined the faculty after a postdoctoral experience at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She has research experiences from multiple disciplines and her current research focus involves the following topics: (1) developing advanced computational tools for integrating large-scale omics data into genome-scale models; (2) investigating the function and evolution of biological molecules and molecular networks.

@yingmicro

Active NMDC Champions

Kai Blumberg (UA)

"I became an NMDC champion for because I want to participate in the creation of a unified and interoperable semantic layer which can be used to join data from different scientific disciplines. As an early career scientist, I'm very excited to potentially play a role in enabling scientists to unify our knowledge and data to better address global scale environmental challenges."

@Kia_Bloomburg

Jenny Bratburd (UW Madison)

PhD Candidate

“I am excited about the potential for microbiome research to improve human health, and I believe we need to improve rigor and reproducibility to achieve that potential.”

John-Marc Chandonia (LBNL)

"I became an NMDC Champion because I am interested in collaborating to develop new technologies for managing data. I am particularly interested in solving long-standing challenges in making data truly interoperable and reusable."

Bill Duncan (LBNL)

"I became an NMDC champion because of the great need to develop systems that bring together data from multiple microbiome data repositories. The development of these systems is a truly exciting opportunity to advance an emerging branch of science."

JP Dundore-Arias (CSUMB)

"I became an NMDC Champion because I am excited to be part of this collaborative community developing efforts to increase awareness, access and engagement in the microbiome research community."

@AgMicrobiomes

Sean Gibbons (ISB)

"I became an NMDC Champion because I believe that access to usable public data and metadata is a right and not a privilege."

@gibbological

Ulas Karaoz (LBNL)

"I became an NMDC Champion because as microbiome science shifts from data generation to interpretation, FAIR data is critical to enable integration of global datasets."

@ukaraoz

Luke Thompson (NOAA)

"I am excited to be an NMDC Champion because our community has a special opportunity to make our data more reusable -- empowering scientists, citizens, and governments to use this data for research, medicine, conservation, and restoration."

@lukethompson

Alonna Wright ( UC Davis)

PhD Candidate

“I believe microbiome data helps us better understand our world and our health. Making this data more accessible and adherent to FAIR data practices would provide opportunities for meaningful analyses that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”

Join our vision

Want more info? Or to be an NMDC Champion? Subscribe to be the first to know about the latest news and developments.