Pronouns: He, Him, His
Senior Staff Associate, Information Technology, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia Climate School
Senior Digital Archivist, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)
Acting Head of Cyberinfrastructure and Informatics Research and Development, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)
202 Geoscience 61 Route 9W PO Box 1000 Palisades, NY 10964 USA
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Robert R. Downs serves as the senior digital archivist and acting head of cyberinfrastructure and informatics research and development at CIESIN, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, a research and data center of the Columbia Climate School of Columbia University. He is a co-chair of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Data Working Group, a co-chair of the Research Data Alliance (RDA) Interest Group on Repository Platforms for Research Data, and a co-chair of the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Information Quality Cluster. He serves on the Editorial Board of the International Science Council (ISC) Committee on Data (CODATA) Data Science Journal. He is a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and is a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the International Association for Information Services and Technology (IASSIST). His research interests include the development, management, use, evaluation, and scientific impact of data systems, digital libraries and repositories; digital preservation; data management; data policy; data confidentiality; software reuse; participatory design; business process re-design; and organizational change.
Downs RR, Urquidi Díaz, A, Xu, Q, Wang, J, Chambodut, A, Liu, C, Flower, S and Payne, K. 2023. Harvestable Metadata Services Development: Analysis of Use Cases from the World Data System. Data Science Journal, 22: 20, pp. 1–20. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2023-020
Peng G, Lacagnina C, Downs RR, Ganske A, Ramapriyan H,Ivánová I, Wyborn L, Jones D, Bastin L, Shie CL, Moroni DF. 2022. Global Community Guidelines for Documenting, Sharing, and Reusing Quality Information of Individual Digital Datasets. Data Science Journal, 21: 8, pp. 1–20. http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2022-008
Peng G, Downs RR, Lacagnina C, Ramapriyan H, Ivánová I, Moroni D, Wei Y, Larnicol G, Wyborn L, Goldberg M, Schulz J, Bastrakova I, Ganske A, Bastin L, Khalsa SJS, Wu M, Shie C-L, Ritchey N, Jones D, Habermann T, Lief C, Maggio I, Albani M, Stall S, Zhou L, Drévillon M, Champion S, Hou CS, Doblas-Reyes F, Lehnert K, Robinson E, Bugbee K. 2021. Call To Action for Global Access and Harmonization of Quality Information of Individual Earth Science Datasets. Data Science Journal, 20: 19, pp. 1–15. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2021-019
Downs RR, Ramapriyan HK, Peng G, Wei Y. 2021. Perspectives on Citizen Science Data Quality. Perspective, Frontiers in Climate, Section on Climate Risk Management, Special Issue: Open Citizen Science Data and Methods. 3:615032. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.615032
Klump J, Wyborn L, Wu M, Martin J, Downs RR, Asmi A. 2021.Versioning Data Is About More than Revisions: A Conceptual Framework and Proposed Principles. Data Science Journal, 20(1), p.12. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2021-012
Zhang L, Downs RR, Li J, Wen L, Li C. 2021. A Review of Open Research Data Policies and Practices in China. Data Science Journal, 20(1), p.3. http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2021-003
Downs RR. 2021. Improving Opportunities for New Value of Open Data: Assessing and Certifying Research Data Repositories. Data Science Journal, 20: 1, pp. 1–11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2021-001
Vannan S, Downs RR, Meier W, Wilson BE, Gerasimov IV. 2020. Data Sets are Foundational to Research. Why don’t we cite them? Eos, 101, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EO151665
Lin D, Crabtree J, Dillo I, Downs RR, Edmunds R, Giaretta D, De Giusiti M, L'Hours H, Hugo W, Jenkyns R, Khodiyar V, Martone M, Mokrane M, Navale V, Petters J Sierman B, Sokolova DV, Stockhause M, Westbrook J. 2020. The TRUST Principles for Digital Repositories. Scientific Data 7, 144. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0486-7
Mayernik MS, Breseman K, Downs RR, Duerr R, Garretson A, Hou C-Y., and EDGI and Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Data Stewardship Committee. 2020. Risk Assessment for Scientific Data. Data Science Journal, 19(1), p.10. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-010
Parr CA, Gries C, O'Brien M, Downs RR, Duerr R, Koskela, R, Tarrant P, Maull KE, Hoebelheinrich N, Stall S. 2019. A Discussion of Return on Investment Metrics for Data Repositories in Earth and Environmental Sciences. Data Science Journal, 18(1), p.58. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-058
Schuster DC, Mayernik MS, Hou CY, Stossmeister G, Downs RR, Kinkade D, Nguyen TB, Ramamurthy M, Zhang F. 2019. Challenges and Future Directions for Data Management in the Geosciences. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. http://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0319.1
Ramapriyan HK, Downs RR, Dozier J, Duerr R, Folk M, Frew J, Hoebelheinrich N, Mattmann CA, Peng G. 2019. Bruce Barkstrom (1944–2018), Eos, 100, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EO115561
Donaldson DR, Dillo I, Downs RR, Ramdeen S. 2017. The Perceived Value of Acquiring Data Seals of Approval. International Journal of Digital Curation, 12(1) 130-151. https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v12i1.481
Downs RR. Reflections on the Management, Curation, and Preservation of Geospatial Data, Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 2016 Mar 15; 12:1, https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2016.1146646
Downs RR. Progress on the Management, Curation, and Preservation of Geospatial Data, Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 2015 Sept 2; 11(3): 267-270, https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2015.1102189
Hills D, Downs RR, Duerr R, Goldstein J, Parsons M, Ramapriyan HK. The Importance of Data Set Provenance for Science. Eos 2015, 96. https://doi.org/10.1029/2015EO040557
Downs RR, Lenhardt WC, Robinson E, Davis E, Weber N. Community Recommendations for Sustainable Scientific Software. Journal of Open Research Software. 2015 Nov 18; 3(1): e11. https://doi.org/10.5334/jors.bt
Downs RR. Management, Curation, and Preservation of Geospatial Data: Introductory Perspectives. Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2015 May 4; 11(2): 117-122. https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2015.1064848
Downs RR, Duerr R, Hills DJ, Ramapriyan HK. Data Stewardship in the Earth Sciences. D-Lib Magazine 2015 Jul; 21(7/8). https://doi.org/10.1045/july2015-downs
Starr J, Castro E, Crosas M, Dumontier M, Downs RR, Duerr R, Haak LL, Haendel M, Herman I, Hodson S, Hourclé J, Kratz JE, Lin J, Nielsen LH, Nurnberger A, Proell S, Rauber A, Sacchi S, Smith A, Taylor M, Clark T. Achieving human and machine accessibility of cited data in scholarly publications. PeerJ Computer Science. 2015 May 27; 1:e1 https://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.1
Wilson A, Downs RR, Lenhardt WC, Meyer C, Michener W, Ramapriyan HK, Robinson E. Realizing the Value of a National Asset: Scientific Data. Eos. 2014; 95(50): 477-478. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014EO500006
Mattmann C, Crichton D, Hart A, Kelly S, Goodale C, Ramirez P, Hughes JS, Downs RR, Lindsay F. Understanding Open Source Software at NASA. IEEE IT Professional, 2012; 14(2): 29-35. https://doi.org/10.1109/MITP.2011.118
Duerr RE, Downs RR, Tilmes C, Barkstrom B, Lenhardt WC, Glassy J, Bermudez LE, Slaughter P. On the Utility of Identification Schemes for Digital Earth Science Data: An Assessment and Recommendations. Earth Science Informatics, 2011; 4(3): 139-160. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-011-0083-6
Downs RR, Marshall JJ. A Proposal on Using Reuse Readiness Levels to Measure Software Reusability. Data Science Journal. 2010; 9, 73-92. https://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.009-007
Downs RR, Chen RS. Designing Submission and Workflow Services for Preserving Interdisciplinary Scientific Data. Earth Science Informatics. 2010; 3(1): 101-110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-010-0051-6
Marshall JJ, Downs RR, Samadi S. Relevance of Software Reuse in Building Advanced Scientific Data Processing Systems. Earth Science Informatics. 2010; 3(1): 95-100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-010-0054-3
Downs RR, Chen RS. Self-Assessment of a Long-Term Archive for Interdisciplinary Scientific Data as a Trustworthy Digital Repository. Journal of Digital Information. 2010; 11(1): Open Repositories 2009 Special Issue. http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/article/view/753
Marshall JJ, Downs RR, Samadi S, Gerard NS, Wolfe RE. Software Reuse to Support Earth Science. Journal of Frontiers of Computer Science and Technology. 2008; 2(3): 296-310. http://www.ceaj.org/wes/qikan/manage/wenzhang/T0804026.pdf
Downs RR, Chen RS. Organizational Needs for Managing and Preserving Geospatial Data and Related Electronic Records. Data Science Journal. 2005; 4, 31 Dec 2005, 255-271. Release Date: 25 Jan 2006. Online ISSN: 1683-1470. https://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.4.255
Downs RR, Chen RS. Cooperative Design, Development, and Management of Interdisciplinary Data to Support the Global Environmental Change Research Community. Science & Technology Libraries. 2003; 23(4): 5-19. ISSN: 0194-262X. https://doi.org/10.1300/J122v23n04_02 Co-published simultaneously as Downs RR, Chen RS. 2003. Cooperative Design, Development, and Management of Interdisciplinary Data to Support the Global Environmental Change Research Community. In Virginia Baldwin (Ed.), Online Ecological and Environmental Data, 5-19, Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. Hardcover ISBN: 0-7890-2446-2. Paperback ISBN: 0-7890-2447-0.
Downs RR, Friedman EA. Digital Library Support for Scholarly Research. Information Processing & Management. 1999 May 31; 35(3): 281-291. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4573(98)00062-4
Downs RR. The Frederick Winslow Taylor Project: User-Centered Design and Evaluation. ACM SIGOIS Bulletin. 1995; 16(2) 20-21. https://doi.org/10.1145/226188.226201. Reprinted From: How We Do User-Centered Design and Evaluation of Digital Libraries: A Methodological Forum. 37th Allerton Institute, Oct 29-31, 1995. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Chapters in Books
Downs RR. 2018. Chapter 9. Enabling the Reuse of Geospatial Information. In: Kruse JB, Crompvoets J, Pearlman F. GEOValue: The Socioeconomic Value of Geospatial Information. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis. Pp 129-146. ISBN: 9781498774512.
Downs RR, Chen RS. 2017. Chapter 12. Curation of Scientific Data at Risk of Loss: Data Rescue and Dissemination. In Johnston LR (Ed.) Curating Research Data Volume One: Practical Strategies for Your Digital Repository. Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) of the American Library Association (ALA). Pp 263-277. http://bit.ly/CRDataV1 and https://doi.org/10.7916/D8W09BMQ
Marshall JJ, Downs RR, Samadi S. 2010. Building the Next Generation of Aerospace Data Processing Systems by Reusing Existing Software Components. In Arif TT (Ed.) Aerospace Technologies Advancements. Croatia: IN-TECH, 25-36, ISBN: 978-953-7619-96-1 https://doi.org/10.5772/6940
CONTACT
rdowns@ciesin.columbia.edu
845-365-8985
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EXPERTISE
EDUCATION
PhD, Stevens Institute of Technology, Information Management MS, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Management and Organizational Studies BS, Montclair State University, Industrial Technology & Education