Office of the Chief Science Data Officer

A light blue circular graphic identifier, which contains stars, a satellite, and a DNA strand. A jagged graph line cutting through the middle of the circle represents NASA science data. Everything lies on a dark blue background.

The Office of the Chief Science Data Officer (OCSDO) within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate plays a pivotal role in advancing transformative science. Established in 2021, the OCSDO focuses on identifying and fostering collaborations in data, computing and analytics across NASA’s astrophysics, biological and physical sciences, Earth science, heliophysics, and planetary science divisions.

Led by Kevin Murphy, Chief Science Data Officer, the OCSDO collaborates with the five science divisions to drive innovation in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data science. The OCSDO is committed to fostering cutting-edge data practices, open science, and the continuous evolution of scientific data and computing systems. By ensuring NASA’s scientific data are accessible and usable by researchers world wide, the OCSDO contributes significantly to scientific progress.

Mission Statement

The OCSDO enables transformative science across NASA’s Science Mission Directorate by providing inclusive support for the adoption of open science, innovative data science, and the continuous evolution of scientific data and computing systems. 

Goals

  1. Develop and implement capabilities to enable open science practices and the use of innovative data science techniques
  2. Continuously evolve data and computing systems for efficiency, sustainability, security, and scientific integrity
  3. Enable scientific communities in adopting an inclusive culture of open science and foster partnerships for innovation 

Objectives

  1. Data Accessibility: Develop and oversee programs and projects to ensure that NASA’s science data are accessible to all, producing practical benefits for society.
  2. Policy Implementation: Enable the adoption, monitor effectiveness of and periodically update the Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate (SMD Policy Document SPD-41a).
  3. Technological Evolution: Oversee the continuous evolution of SMD’s scientific data and computing capabilities, enabling efficiencies and meeting strategic needs across science divisions and research communities.
  4. Advanced Data Science: Develop strategies and activities to support the use of advanced data science techniques, including AI/ML, to meet SMD's science objectives.
  5. Strategic Planning: Maintain and update the SMD Strategic Plan for Data Management and Computing every five years.
  6. Partnerships: Develop and maintain strategic partnerships to increase the adoption of open science and the use of advanced data science tools and techniques to drive scientific discovery.

OCSDO Activities and Mission

  • A distant capture of the Earth focused over the Americas include significant cloud coverage, primarily over the oceans. However, a grayer shade of atmospheric coverage is obscuring much of the Amazon basin. This smoke also seems to travel south toward Argentina.

    Open Science

    Learn how the OCSDO provides policy guidance, funding, and advocacy for open science at NASA.

  • The Transform to Open Science logo, which shows a rocket shaped like a spinning top blasting off against a blue shield-shaped badge.

    Transform to Open Science (TOPS)

    NASA's Transform to Open Science (TOPS) initiative is designed to transform agencies, organizations, and communities to an inclusive culture of open science, including through the free online Open Science 101 course.

  • A group of people sitting around a conference table with their laptops out.

    Core Data and Computing

    The Core Data and Computing Services Program (CDCSP) provides a layered architecture on which SMD science can scale.

  • Four NASA personnel posing next to a large wheeled machine.

    Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

    The OCSDO explores ways to improve the use of NASA science data through artificial intelligence tools.

  • Jupiter dominates the black background of space. The image is a composite, and shows Jupiter in enhanced color, featuring the planet’s famous Great Red Spot, which appears white with light pink around the edges. The planet is striated with swirling horizontal stripes of green, periwinkle, light pink, and cream. Horizontally across the equator is a wide cream-colored band, whose height extends about 1/7 of the planet. This is the planet’s equatorial zone. The stripes across the planet interact and mix at their edges. Along both of the northern and southern poles, the planet glows in green. Bright red auroras glow just above the planet’s surface at both poles.

    Science Mission Directorate Science Data

    The Science Data Portal provides a comprehensive list of NASA science data repositories.

  • A presenter giving a Transform to Open Science talk.

    Scientific Information Policy

    The information produced as part of NASA’s scientific research activities represents a significant public investment. Learn more about how and when it should be shared.

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