Virtual organizations are increasingly central to the science and engineering projects funded by the National Science Foundation.

The goal at VirtOrg2008 was to help address this knowledge gap. This workshop presented the opportunity to learn what is required to make virtual organizations successful with contribution from the attendees about their experiences and challenges. It also helped to establish new connections that will help in research and education projects in the future. The workshop featured talks by virtual organization veterans from academia and industry, developers of virtual organization technologies, social scientists with years of experience studying what makes virtual organizations succeed, and NSF Program Directors.

Dr. Linda Hayden, Director of Elizabeth City State University's Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research (CERSER), presented a poster detailing her work with the NSF funded Cyberinfrastructure TEAM (CI-TEAM) and PolarGrid projects. She was able to share the projects interaction with various areas such as the local community, K-12 students, undergraduate researchers, and graduate researchers.

VirtOrg2008 is sponsored by the National Science Foundation's Office of Cyberinfrastructure which has identified virtual organizations as a fundamental element of its infrastructure plans.

http://www.ci.uchicago.edu/events/VirtOrg2008