While profound changes are affecting earth’s biosphere and climate, cyberinfrastructure is changing the pace and methods of biodiversity research. Global- and continental-scale environmental issues demand accelerated research strategies, and rapid progress requires timely, global- and continental-scale collaboration. International collaboration with biodiversity and ecological informatics will build the common network protocols for taking on 21st century environmental science challenges. Biodiversity informatics training will be critical to develop the proficiencies needed to build and sustain that shared cyberinfrastructure.

To address these challenges, a Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute shall be held in Costa Rica, May 31 through June 12, 2008, on the theme Cyberinfrastructure for International, Collaborative Biodiversity and Ecological Informatics. The Institute will emphasize the development and application of network-based cyberinfrastructure tools for environmental research collaboration. The Institute program will serve as an excellent vehicle for graduate level students and young faculty from North, South and Central America to learn about cyberinfrastructure tools and their application to biodiversity and ecological research through a lecture series, hands-on lab exercises and interactions with domain experts.

The Institute is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, under award # 0617469.