SLIS doc student Plato Smith II selected by NSF as early career scholar

Posted by Robert Branciforte on

FSU School of Library & Information Studies doctoral student Plato L. Smith II was chosen by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a leading American early career scholar to be invited to its “Early Career Strategic Visioning Workshop” for EarthCube last October at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.

“We were very happy for Plato,” said Kathleen Burnett, interim director of the School of Library & Information Studies. “In selecting him for this workshop, the NSF has affirmed our belief that he is a scholar with great promise and potential.”

Plato Smith II
SLIS doctoral student Plato Smith II has been recognized by the National Science Foundation as an early career scholar.

Smith was among the 72 attendees chosen from upcoming scholars and educators in 42 different program areas where computer science and geoscience intersect. The NSF’s ten-year EarthCube initiative is working to advance research and understanding in the geosciences by developing a cross-disciplinary, community-guided digital infrastructure. The NSF asked participants to share their ideas and perspectives so that it might use them to facilitate future research on the most pressing challenges in earth science.

“I was chosen to represent data management due to my prior NSF grant panel participation and performance,” said Smith, who is a teacher’s assistant in the Program in Interdisciplinary Computing at Florida State University. “Data management and curation services are my areas of research interest.”

As part of a pre-workshop assignment, Smith submitted a modified framework for interdisciplinary data curation that he originally developed for his doctoral studies. It was shown to attendees during a presentation at the workshop. “I learned from scientists in various disciplines that many struggle with the challenges of managing and preserving data,” he said.

Smith has been developing a relationship with the NSF since 2007, when he was asked by Dr. Sylvia Spengler to be a part of a 2008 NSF grant review panel. As NSF program directors were pleased with his grant panel review evaluations, assessments, and recommendations, he was asked to participate in grant review panels in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

“Though I’m qualified because of the technical knowledge, skills, and abilities that I’ve developed over the years, my experiences at FSU in digital libraries, data management, digital preservation, research and scholarly publications have contributed significantly to my qualifications as a NSF grant panel review team member,” Smith said.

Smith was department head of FSU’s Digital Library Center at Strozier Library from 2005-2012. He holds a master’s degree in information science and a bachelor’s in computer information systems from North Carolina Central University as well as a bachelor’s in marketing from North Carolina A&T State University. He expects to graduate with a Doctoral Degree in Information Studies from the School of Library & Information Studies in the fall of 2013. Some of his publications are available through University Libraries at FSU: http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/digital_lib/.

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More Information:

Bob Branciforte, MLIS
Creative director, College of Communication & Information
The Florida State University
Bob.Branciforte@cci.fsu.edu or 850-644-3391