Atmospheric and Environmental Research Lab

Infrastructure for Data-Advanced Research and Education (I-DARE) to improve NASA's Earth Science applications in Iowa


Imagine if an Iowa farmer could more accurately predict the weather, monitor water quality, and keep tabs on soil conditions

I-DARE Description


Under the umbrella of Iowa Space Grant Consortium, we propose to design and implement the Infrastructure for Data-Advanced Research and Education (I-DARE) to improve NASA’s Earth science and technology education and their applications in Iowa. These applications include weather forecasting, flood and water-quality monitoring, agricultural surveillance, and studies of climate change and natural resources (wind and solar energy).

The central theme of all components is that our students and trainees will collect surface and sub-orbital observation data and combine that data with NASA’s satellite data to solve Iowa-centric problems related to weather, agriculture, and natural resources. A key component is the IDARE-summer camp that is designed for both field campaign planning and engagement with undergraduate and graduate students. The participants will be exposed to, and in some cases actively participate in, all activities associated with the design of field campaigns. This includes system engineering to assemble all instruments and payloads for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs or drones. Through the summer camp, participants will develop key concepts and critical thinking about satellite remote sensing and the uncertainties in satellite data. To learn more about summer campaign and its application, please visit summer campaign description.


I-DARE Team


Jun Wang
Jun Wang,Principal Investigator
Web site
Prof. Thomas Schnell,
Co-Investigator
Web page
Prof. Corey Markfort,
Co-Investigator
Web page
Lecturer, Dr. Jing Zeng,
Co-Investigator
Web page

Prof. Marc Linderman,
Co-Investigator
Web page
Prof. Fatima Toor,
Collaborator
Web page
Prof. Brian Hornbuckle,
Collaborator
Web page
Prof. Xinhua Shen,
Collaborator
Web page

Note: The team member pictures were taken from their web pages, copyright belongs to those specified in those spaces.

This project/material is based upon work supported by the Iowa Space Grant Consortium under NASA Award No. 80NSSC20M0107.