This past November 3-4, HAQAST members, stakeholders, NASA program officers, and interested members of the public health and air quality communities met at the beautiful Emory University for two days of networking, planning, and collaboration. The first day was reserved for HAQAST members to begin charting the course of our three-year effort, while day two was an open meeting devoted to bringing public stakeholders and HAQAST members together.
The HAQAST Program Manager for Health and Air Quality Applications, John Haynes, provided background on the selection process and team mission. Every member, he said, ran a “very impressive mini-team,” and together we were “a whole greater than the sum of its parts.” Team Lead Tracey Holloway outlined the vision for HAQAST to broaden applications of satellite data and other NASA science, and HAQAST Member Bryan Duncan reflected on “lessons learned” from the success of the 2011-2016 Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (AQAST).
“What are the key things we’re going to focus on?” asked Lawrence Friedl, Director of NASA’s Applied Sciences Program. His answer was clear: “HAQAST’s mission is to bring the power of NASA’s satellites down to earth and into the hands of the public health and air quality communities.” HAQAST members need to be “in listening mode,” Friedl said, and the three keywords that should characterize HAQAST’s work over the next three years are creativity, agility, and service. Friedl went on to give the room a wide variety of avenues for triangulating between NASA, our research community, and the public.
Day two featured a series of presentations from NASA, health and air quality stakeholders – including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and HAQAST researchers. HAQAST 1 Stakeholder Talks.
It was a full, productive meeting, and it built plenty of energy for HAQAST2, February 27 – 28, 2017 at the University of Washington.
Finally, special thanks to Yang Liu for organizing HAQAST1.