The purpose of this project is to create a potential partner directory to grow the ESIP Federation membership. Following a review of the current ESIP membership directory, a test strategy for finding potential partners was created. ESIP Partner Types I and II were targeted by developing an entity list to guide the search process. The search was conducted using a search engine. After testing the strategy on Maryland, the entity list was refined. Research was done within regions based on the NOAA U.S. Climate Regions with additional divisions for Alaska/Hawaii and US Territories/District of Columbia. This entity list was used on a first round of states after which non-productive entity types were eliminated. The final search strategy involved looking for four types of entities 1) land-grant universities, 2) research institutes or organizations affiliated with land-grant university research, 3) state associations and agencies, 4) specific regional or state divisions of U.S. Departments. Potential members were cross-checked against the current member directory to avoid duplication. Information collected included name and contact information, affiliation and funding, and notes on type of research or data collected. Potential members were listed in the directory at the most specific level for which contact information was available (e.g. labs, research groups, divisions). Partner type was assigned based on ESIP guidelines. Data was merged for simple analysis. Potential partners are involved in rich and diverse research and data collection. A directory of 1,344 potential members was created.
 | Name: Jeni Trimmer |