RTN-118

Guidelines for Rubin Liaisons to the Science Collaborations

By:

• Melissa L. Graham
• Tesla Jeltema
• Jeffrey L. Carlin
• Greg M. Madejski
• Christina L. Adair
• Yumi Choi
• Gloria Fonseca Alvarez
• Shenming Fu
• Sarah Greenstreet
• Andrés A. Plazas Malagón
• Christina C. Williams

Abstract

This document provides guidelines for Rubin Liaisons to the Science Collaborations. The Liaisons serve as a support contact, and advocate, and a two-way conduit for information to and from the SCs, with a focus on the scientific application of the Rubin data products, pipelines, and services.

Introduction

This document provides guidelines for Rubin Liaisons to the Science Collaborations (SCs).

The Liaisons serve as a support contact, and advocate, and a two-way conduit for information to and from the SCs, with a focus on the scientific application of the Rubin data products, pipelines, and services.

These Liaisons are separate from the Survey Cadence Optimization Committee (SCOC), which has its own liaisons to each SC. They are also separate from liaisons maintained by Rubin EPO, Commissioning, and Survey Strategy teams.

The Liaison program is facilitated by the Community Science team (CST).

Role and responsibilities

Liaisons are long-term Rubin staff, typically members of the Data Management (DM) department. They have general knowledge of the Rubin data products, pipelines, and services, and a scientific background relevant to their assigned SC.

Time commitment

The default appointment length is two years, but can be extended.

The total expected time commitment is ~5% FTE per year (2h/week).

SC membership

Liaisons should be (or become) members of the SC, and have access to the collaborations documentation, tools, and communications.

Meetings

Liaisons should communicate regularly with members of the SC in order to share information (especially regarding any issues that potentially impact the SC, such as data releases, software updates, downtime), solicit feedback, and answer questions. The type of communication (e.g., email, virual meeting) is left to the SC chairs and Liaisons to optimize.

During these meetings, Liaisons should raise any issues that potentially impact the SC (e.g., upcoming data releases, software updates, downtime), solicit feedback, and answer questions.

Liaisons are not required to travel to attend in-person meetings of the SC and there are no extra travel funds allocated for this.

Liaisons are also encouraged to attend the virtual biannual Users Committee (UC) meetings because their discussion topics focus on the scientific utility of the Rubin data products, pipelines, and services to the broader science community.

Liaisons are also invited to attend CST meetings or speak with the CST lead, as needed, to discuss issues or ask questions related to their Liaison duties.

Communications

Liaisons should monitor and respond to communications from the SC.

Email: Liaison’s email addresses will be provided to the SC chairs. The Liaisons should request to be added to any SC email lists.

Slack: Liaisons should join the LSST Discovery Alliance Slack space and any SC channels (as recommended by the chairs). It is recommended to have account settings that push notifications for direct messages and @-mentions in the relevant channels. Liaisons should also join the Rubin Observatory Slack space #community-science channel to communicate with the CST.

Forum: Liaisons should have an account in the Rubin Community Forum, and know how to respond to private messages. Liaisons should join the Forum group for the SC, if applicable.

Advocacy

Liaisons represent the perspective and needs of their SC as best they can in their day-to-day work as Rubin staff. For example, when developing pipelines, defining data products, or in staff meetings, it is the Liaison’s role to be the voice of the SC members as best they can. This advocacy proactively supports the SC.

Support

Liaisons should respond to, and follow-up on, all questions, feedback, or issues that are brought to their attention via any communication channel. This might include, e.g., pointing them to the right documentation or tutorial; finding out answers from other Rubin staff or in source code and reporting back; or raising an issue on their behalf with the appropriate product owner.

Questions that are beyond the Liaison’s expertise can be redirected to the Rubin Community Forum, where they will be followed-up by other Rubin staff (RTN-097). See these instructions for how to ask a question in the Forum.

Support that goes beyond >2h/week should be discussed with the Lead Community Scientist, who will incorporate the issue into the CST’s Jira workflow for issue resolution.

Appointment process

The CST Lead will facilitate the appointment process.

Assigning new Liaisons

First, the CST Lead will reach out to the chairs of each SC and take the names of any desired Liaisons. If the Liaison agrees, the process is complete.

If a SC does not have a particular person in mind, the CST Lead will solicit nominations or volunteers internally and provide the SC chairs with a short description of each potential Liaison. The SC chairs will choose, and if the Liaison agrees, the process is complete.

The SC chairs should ensure the new Liaison has access to any relevant Slack channels, email lists, and virtual meetings.

Changing the Liaison

The Liaison or the SC can initiate the process to identify a new Liaison at any time by contacting the CST Lead.

Auxiliary information

Role of the CST

The Community Science team (CST) facilitates the Liaison program by helping the SCs chairs identify their Liaisons, and helping the Liaisons in their advocacy and support work.

Science Collaborations’ Federation Charter

The Rubin Observatory Science Collaboration Federation Charter formalizes the nature of the Science Collaborations and their relationship to Rubin Observatory. It makes several statements that define what the Liaison program should deliver.

Section 3 (version July 23, 2021) states that “The Science Collaborations have the right to direct communication with the Rubin Observatory Data Management team (DM, or equivalent bodies in the future phases of the Observatory) via a designated liaison facilitated by the Rubin Observatory Community Engagement Team (currently Community Science Team, CST).” It also states that “Each Rubin liaison to the SCs should participate in the activities of the SC. They should participate in the relevant SC meetings, within reason, and report on DM, construction, and Rubin operations activities to the SC at least quarterly, at a cadence agreed-upon with the SC.”

The guidelines in this document are designed to fulfill these statements from the Charter.

Precursor DM Liaison Program

During Rubin Construction there were Data Management (DM) liaisons identified as points of contact between the Science Collaborations and the construction-era DM team, as described in internal documentation in Confluence (the DM Community Communications page).