NASA Northeast Regional Applications Workshop October 26-28, 2000 Skaneateles, NY

General Information

The Regional Applications Center for the Northeast (RACNE) invites you to the NASA-RACNE Northeast Regional Applications Workshop, October 26-28, 2000.  Workshop participants will include key representatives from the 14-state region ranging from Minnesota to Maine and Indiana to New Jersey. A Steering Committee, comprised of at least one official from each of these 14 states, has designed an informative, intensive, and collaborative workshop.

Expect several benefits from attending the workshop. First, you will learn about emerging NASA satellite data and technology. You’ll learn about remote sensing programs in other federal agencies and about services from the private sector.  You will have the unique opportunity to learn about and help NASA design its new initiative to help SLT governments apply these data and technologies to practical problems and needs. You will meet, work with, and learn from other leading state, local and tribal officials who have been nominated to attend this unique event.

NASA hopes you will come prepared to describe your highest priority problems, and to tell us what you would want to see in a successful partnership between NASA, state, local, and tribal governments. You do not have to be a remote sensing expert. Come to share your ideas and concerns. Your input is critical to the success of these efforts, and NASA and RACNE aim to listen, and then to focus their efforts to meet your needs.

NASA's goals for the workshop are to familiarize state, local, and tribal officials with:

• NASA's earth systems program, and its current and future activities;
• where data, software and technical support can be found;
• who is using remote sensing information in the region and how they might collaborate with each other.

At the same time, NASA wants to gain a direct understanding from participants of:

• who the major geographic information users are and how they can best be reached;
• what the geographic and spatial information requirements are for each group;
• the current status of the use of remote sensing science and data;
• how NASA might help state, local, and tribal groups effectively use remotely sensed information over the next five years.

Location

The workshop will be held at Wm. Noah Allyn International Center for Training and Development in Skaneateles, New York, 35 minutes from the Syracuse airport.  Lodging is available in nearby Auburn, NY.  Auburn and Skaneateles are located in the heart of the beautiful Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.  Located nearby are prize-winning vineyards; natural areas such as Watkins Glen; historic attractions such as the Harriet Tubman Home and the Women's Rights National Historical Park.

Lodging

Lodging is available at the Auburn Holiday Inn, 75 North St., Auburn, NY, a short ride from the workshop location.   Request the NE NASA conference rate of $59 (plus 11% tax) per standard room, and be sure to mention the group reservation code of RAC.  Phone (315)253-4531, or (800)HOLIDAY.

Recreational Opportunities

Seneca Lake Winery Tour
The Finger Lakes Region produces 85% of all wine in New York State.   It is the second largest wine producer in the United States, with quality second to none.  A Saturday afternoon tour will stop at several of the region's fine wineries.   $65 fee.

Historic Sites Tour
Visit Underground Railway leader Harriet Tubman's home, the William Seward mansion-champion of purchase of Alaska from Russia, and Willard Chapel, the only complete religious interior designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. $15 fee.

Fort Hill Cemetery Walking Tour
Come join us for an evening with Auburn’s historical elite, like William Seward, Harriet Tubman, and Theodore Case. The walking tour begin at Bradley Chapel on Fort St., and winds through the Fort Hill Cemetery. Bring a flashlight.  $5 fee.