Kim Nitschke is the Instrumentation Group Manager for NEON. Kim, who joined Battelle in the fall of 2019, manages a specialized team responsible for delivering engineering solutions to support the NEON program’s science design, and advance the quality and availability of continental-scale ecological data products. These data products are collected with custom- engineered designs to capture data at a consistent, variable spatial and temporal scale.
Paula Mabee has served as the Chief Scientist and Observatory Director for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) since early 2020. She is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor at the University of South Dakota, formerly the Nolop Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of South Dakota, where she served since 1997. She joined the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2015, serving until 2017 as Division Director for the Division of Environmental Biology in the Directorate of Biological Sciences.
Rhea M. Esposito is a member of the NEON Education Team, focused primarily on field science training. She works to develop and deliver curriculum and training materials for permanent and temporary Field Science staff at NEON, in addition to collaborating on other educational initiatives with members of NEON Education. She collaborates closely with NEON scientists to maintain training materials aligned with the terrestrial and aquatic observational and instrumentation protocols implemented across the national network of NEON field sites.
Bobby is an aquatic biogeochemist on the NEON Aquatic Instruments Science (AIS) team. He has a background in using high-frequency, in-situ sensor data to understand biological and hydrological controls on stream metabolism and nutrient spiraling. He has conducted research across a broad range of aquatic ecosystems, from the Everglades and artesian springs of Florida, agricultural streams in central Germany, the Colorado River in the desert Southwest and snowmelt dominated alpine catchments of the Rocky Mountains.
Dr. Sara Paull is a disease ecologist who oversees the data associated with small mammal, mosquito and tick communities along with the associated pathogen datasets. She contributes to design optimization, quality control efforts, and community outreach. She also works closely with the Biorepository in the management of samples associated with these data collections and collaborates on the maintenance of the sequencing data generated by NEON observational sampling.
Mike Long is the Field Operations Manager for Domain 20 (Pacific Tropical) based at the United States Forest Service Institute for Pacific Islands Forestry in Hilo, Hawaii. Mike manages the Domain 20 team of three full-time field staff and approximately six seasonal field technicians. The team maintains and operates NEON’s Puu Makaala Natural Area Reserve (PUUM) site on Hawaii Island.
