Open Science Data Summit & Presummit
When: January 12-14, 2026
WHERE: Please join us at the University of Wyoming Conference Center
Pre-Summit Event: The Wyoming Geospatial Community Forum
Monday Jan 12th, 2026
Hosted by WyGISC and WYGEO catered towards geospatial professionals and policy makers, as well as consumers of geospatial data and end-user applications.
Wyoming Open Science Data Summit
Tuesday Jan 13th - Wednesday Jan 14th 2026
For creators and users of research data in higher education, government, industry
and non-profit sectors.
Both in-person events will bring together experts, researchers, and enthusiasts to
discuss the latest trends and innovations in the field.
Don't miss this opportunity to network, learn, and collaborate. Mark your calendars and join us for 3 exciting days!
Explore Discovery & Access, Policy & Governance, and Methods & Applications to advance FAIR and AI-ready data across Wyoming
Wyoming Open Science Data Summit
January 12–14, 2026 | University of Wyoming Conference Center | Laramie, WY
The Wyoming Open Science Data Summit convenes researchers, educators, data professionals, and policymakers to advance an open, collaborative, and AI-ready future for Wyoming’s research data ecosystem. The summit seeks to build a sustained community of practice—and a center of influence—for open science standards, governance, and capacity across the state.
Organized around three key themes—Discovery & Access | Policy & Governance | Methods & Applications—the event will explore how Wyoming can make research data more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). As artificial intelligence and data-driven methods transform the research landscape, the summit will focus on enabling high-quality, well-curated, and ethically managed data to serve as the foundation for innovation, policy, and decision-making.
Through panels, workshops, and facilitated discussions, participants will examine strategies for breaking down data silos, improving data stewardship, and safely sharing public data for greater transparency and impact. By bringing together faculty, students, government agencies, and industry leaders, the Summit aims to align Wyoming’s open science efforts with national and global best practices—fostering collaboration, accessibility, and AI-ready research across disciplines.
A Pre-Summit Event on January 12, the Wyoming Geospatial Community Forum, hosted by WyGISC and WYGEO, will spotlight geospatial data, applications, and policy issues relevant to Wyoming’s geospatial professionals and decision makers.
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Participant Involvement
Submit a Topic
Do you have a great idea for a topic to include as a session or an "Unconference" topic?
Vote for "Unconference" Topic(s)
Is there something you heard during the "Unconference" introduction that peaked your interest? Make sure it's included in the breakout sessions on Friday.
Provide Feedback
Did something in the event get you thinking about how we can improve or do you have new questions that you'd like investigated?
Why Open Science and Sharing Data Throughout Wyoming Matters: A Value Proposition
Open Science and Data Sharing matters for Wyoming constituencies because it creates
economic, social, and scientific benefits that directly impact communities, municipalities,
and agencies.
For Government and Communities: Better decision-making, based on data-driven governance. Local and state agencies can use open data to make informed decisions. Sharing data openly provides transparency to ensure policy decisions are based on verifiable, publicly accessible data that builds trust between government and it's citizens, and fosters civic engagement.
For Education: UW, Community Colleges, K-12, and beyond have well defined conduits for collaboration reducing duplication of efforts to accelerate advances in teaching and discovery. Students of Wyoming have open access to real-world datasets in their educational paths preparing them for more data-driven careers.
For Research: Researchers will have open and expanded access to research data to spur innovation and a competitive advantage.
For Wyoming's Key Sectors: Wyoming energy communities can leverage open science and data for sustained energy development, and resource management. Wyomings Agriculture and AgTech contribute $2.5 billion annually and is quickly adopting data-driven innovations like precision farming and crop science. Open data accelerates such advancements.
For the Greater Wyoming Community: Wyoming's rural nature is a double edged sword that can be leveraged to our advantage but if not taken into careful consideration can pose a threat to Wyoming's future development and sustainability. It's often said that Wyoming is a small town with long roads. We have made great strides to leverage the "small town" community connections of Wyoming and make our "long roads" a bit shorter by leveraging digital connections. Such efforts have improve data sharing throughout the state. To take this to the next level, we ask:
- Where are we today?
- What's the next step?
- Where do we want to be in 5 years? 10 years? 25 years?
Join us to be part of the next steps
Want to help out?
Have a great idea but participant involvment options above don't meet what you're looking for? Contact us with your inquiries or recommendations by e-mailing jhamerl2@uwyo.edu with any questions or inquiries.
