Letters of Support / Collaboration

NEON can provide researchers and educators with Letters of Support to accompany proposals that include the planned use of NEON resources.  

Please note that researchers typically do not need letters of support for using publicly available NEON data and resources off the  or NEON website. All NEON data are鈥痜reely available from the鈥疦EON Data Portal along with protocols and other supporting documentation.鈥� 

Requesting the Correct Type of Letter

Ensure you are requesting the correct type of letter:鈥� 

  • Using existing NEON resources (e.g., data from the NEON Data Portal, website, instructional videos, discussions or general support from NEON scientists, or general鈥疞etters of Support:
    • Request your letter by completing and submitting the form below.
    • Please allow a minimum of two weeks to process your request. 
  • Proposed research project requires access to NEON infrastructure, work within NEON plots, or the tower airshed: 
  • Requires requests from the NEON Biorepository: 
  • Includes NEON scientists or staff conducting part or some of the proposal work: 
    • Contact the NEON scientist or staff member regarding collaboration and the necessary budgetary information (if needed) prior to filling out the below request form. 
    • Begin working with the NEON scientist or staff member at least six weeks before a proposal deadline. 
    • Once scope of work is clearly defined with the NEON scientists or staff member, request a letter by completing and submitting the form below.

Request Your Letter of Support 

The Letter of Support/Collaboration will be written for/to the Principal Investigator.
The Principal Investigator鈥檚 institution which the Letter will be written for/to. 
For example: NSF, NASA, DOE, University, etc. 
Must start with format "https://..." to be accepted.
Please allow a minimum of 2 weeks to process your request
This should match the title of the proposal you will be submitting. This title will be used in the Letter of Support. If you change your proposal title after submitting this form, it is your responsibility to notify us of any needed changes. 
This should detail the work you are requesting NEON to perform, or the resources you are requesting to access/use. If seeking collaboration with NEON scientists or staff, please include their names and expected number of hours included in the proposal. You should have already contacted that individual(s) regarding the collaboration.
If you propose visiting or working at any NEON sites, please include a list of the four-letter site ID’s or site names. Site ID’s and names can be found here.  
Have you contacted the site host(s) for the necessary permits/permissions?
The NEON Research Support Services Site Access Information spreadsheet, available on this page provides information about which field sites are open to additional non-NEON research activities.
One file only.
2 MB limit.
Allowed types: , docx, doc, pdf, odt, txt.
Upload an example file that shows the required format you need for the Letter of Support
If you need to include any supporting materials, please combine into a single document and upload here. 
One file only.
2 MB limit.
Allowed types: gif, jpg, png, tif, txt, rtf, html, odf, pdf, doc, docx, pptx, xls, xlsx, xml, zip.
Please enter the name(s) of NEON scientists or staff that you have been working with. We will contact this person if we cannot get a hold of the Principal Investigator or Requestor.