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| Columbia Environmental Research Center |
Information Technology Branch
Ted Schwartz, Branch Chief
Information
Technology Staff
The Information Technology (IT) Branch is dedicated to providing the Center with
information retrieval capabilities for current scientific information using
traditional and contemporary data distribution and management systems and to
supporting the Center's computing needs through hands-on technical assistance
and proactive management policies.
The Information Technology Branch places a major emphasis on the discovery,
access, and full utilization of information sources available through the
Internet and World Wide Web. The IT Branch also places great emphasis on training
and keeping research staff abreast of rapid changes in computer technology that
are coupled with increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary science, information
exchange, and multimedia presentations. Staff with the IT Branch actively
participate with
the Center scientists in organizing and reporting data collected in research
investigations and is responsible for rapid dissemination of research metadata
into national databases. The Center continues to play an active role in the
development of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII),
a network of distributed databases and information sources for biological
information. A national clearinghouse for
metadata was
established by the NBII and CERC provides a node on that clearinghouse.
CERC has worked with NBII to serve several nationally important databases: Acute
Toxicity Database, the Sediment
Quality Guidelines (SQG) database, and the National
Contaminant Biomonitoring Program (NCBP) fish and starling databases.
CERC is recognized within BRD as a leader in working with federal, state, and
local agencies to provide high quality scientific information. CERC currently hosts
twelve web sites and numerous databases from its servers. CERC is experiencing a
rapid growth in information served through the World Wide Web. As a result, CERC
has continued to advance its hardware and software infrastructure to keep pace
with the demand for information and scientific products.
