Welcome to the Citizen Science Salon

NASA’s Pilot Joe Kittinger once said, "You can't get any real fun things unless you volunteer." At the time, he was referring to things like voluntarily jumping out of planes at extremely high altitudes to help NASA conduct research on zero-gravity environments during its pre-Apollo days. Whether or not Kittinger knew it, he was a citizen scientist. A citizen scientist is an individual who contributes time and talents to formal or informal scientific research. The citizen science movement is sweeping the globe, with thousands of projects enlisting help from millions of volunteers. These citizen scientists are advancing diverse fields including ecology, astronomy, medicine, psychology, linguistics, genetics, engineering, medicine, and more. Researchers and project organizers are also tapping the enthusiasm and creativity of Makers, DIYers and others who are building low-cost instruments, apps, APIs and more to help accelerate research and empower citizens. Starting this month, we welcome you to the ...