Welcome to the 2025 NMFS Champions Program for NOAA Fisheries (National Marine Fisheries Service, NMFS)! This is the website for the three NOAA Fisheries Cohorts running concurrently in Fall 2025 with research teams and individuals from across NMFS Centers and Offices. To learn more about what to expect (the purpose, outcomes, and process of our Cohort) and to browse the open lesson materials, please see the Champions Program Lesson Series.

Cohorts A, B, C will meet via Zoom five times over two months for 1.5 hours each. Agendas are accessible to Cohort participants in our Cohort Google Drive Folders; they are an archive of our live google-doc’ing. Template versions of our agendas.
Cohort A - Dates: Nov 18, Dec 2, 16, Jan 6, 20 Times: 1:00 - 2:30 pm PT - CohortFolder
Cohort B - Dates: Nov 19, Dec 3, 17, Jan 7, 21 Times: 10:00 - 11:30 am PT - CohortFolder
Cohort C - Dates: Nov 19, Dec 3, 17, Jan 7, 21 Times: 1:00 - 2:30 pm PT - CohortFolder
| Cohort Call Topics | Lesson Series Chapters | Seaside Chat Topics |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Openscapes mindset | mindset, better science for future us | Pathway trailhead |
| 2. Team culture and (meta)data strategies for future us | team culture, data strategies | Metadata; create ORCID account; create Zenodo Sandbox account |
| 3. Zenodo Clinic: Archive your first or second data set | Data preservation | |
| 4. Open communities; coding strategies and cloud workflows | open communities, coding strategies | Pathways preparation |
| 5. Pathways share and next steps | pathways |
Coworking sessions are where get our own work done at the same time together. Sometimes, this means quiet work with check-ins to break up focused work and get feedback, and sometimes this involves asking questions and screensharing to learn and problem solve. We will make breakout rooms so people working on related themes can meet and learn from each other.
Julie Lowndes (@jules32), Openscapes
Stefanie Butland (@stefaniebutland), Openscapes
Andy Teucher (@ateucher), Openscapes
Eli Holmes (@eeholmes), NMFS Open Science
Jon Peake (@jonpeake), NMFS Open Science
Participants in Fall 2025 Cohorts include teams and individuals from all 6 NOAA Fisheries Centers - Pacific Islands, Southwest, Southeast, Northwest, Northeast, Alaska - along with the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Office of Science and Technology (OST), National Ocean Service (NOS), Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), Southeast Regional Office (SERO), West Coast Region (WCR), Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO), and Office of Protected Resources (OPR).