NASA Open Science Gateway
A cloud-based platform to streamline geoscientific research workflows.
Project overview
NASA’s Open Science Gateway (OSG) is a cloud-based platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that supports geoscientists throughout their research journey, from data collection to publishing results.
As a UX designer at Indiana University's cyber-infrastructure research division, I collaborated with NASA Earth scientists to create a north-star concept for the platform.
Timeline
3 months (Jan-Mar 2023)
Team
1 UX Designer
1 UX Researcher
1 Project Manager
3 Developers
Role
UX Designer
Tools
Figma
Microsoft 365
Platform
Web application
Status
Shipped
Contribution
Primary research
Concept ideation
Prototyping
High-fidelity designs
Additional background
This is a joint project between Indiana University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and other partner universities, funded by the NSF (National Science Foundation).
Problem context
Geoscientists had complex workflows, often juggling multiple tools, datasets, and applications that slowed their progress.
Our PM, who is also a research professor at IU, shared stats showing how fragmented tools, manual processes, and collaboration issues affected research efficiency and output quality.
42%
Time spent on data management
Scientists spend nearly half their time managing data across platforms instead of conducting research.
380 hours
Lost annually
Research teams lose hundreds of hours to manual data conversion and report generation each year.
67%
Project delays
Two-thirds of teams report delays due to collaboration barriers and lack of centralized tools.
28%
Document consistency
Only about a quarter of research projects maintain consistent documentation across their lifecycle.
Core challenge
How might we streamline the scientific research workflow so that geoscientists can spend less time managing tools and more time advancing their research?
Solution highlights
Unifying fragmented research tools into a single workspace, enabling scientists to focus more on discovery and less on process.
Unified project management
Comprehensive project dashboard
Integrated simulations
Real-time collaboration
Intuitive report generation
Research
Geoscientific research was completely new to me, so I collaborated with a UX researcher and interviewed 5 scientists, asking them to explain their research process.
Observing how these scientists identify and approach research problems, the tools they use, and their methods for finding relevant datasets to build hypotheses answered many of our questions and helped us identify existing gaps.
From the interview data, we identified five key problems contributing to the challenges scientists faced.
supervised_user_circle_off
Collaboration challenges
Remote collaboration over the cloud is difficult, with poor task accountability.
draft
Difficulty in generating reports
Researchers lack an intuitive tool for creating and sharing insights.
public_off
Less to no automation
Converting raw data for simulations is time-consuming and manual.
Synthesis
We then worked with the developers and PM to pinpoint specific areas for improvement in a typical research workflow.
We identified four main stages that scientists typically go through. For each stage, we mapped out their processes, pain points, and included questions or relevant quotes from the interviews to spark discussion. This provided a solid foundation for generating clear design opportunities.
Ideation
For each of the 4 stages, I proposed a workflow improvement and created task flows to clearly communicate my ideas to the team.
These flows provided a clear understanding of the scope of work, including the number and types of screens needed for the MVP solution.
Once we agreed on the function, I began designing the form, starting with simple wireframes.
I held frequent critique sessions with the developers and PM to review and iterate the designs until we reached a consensus on layout and functionality, leaving aesthetics for later.
Let's connect!
Final solution
An open-source, cloud-based platform that simplifies and expedites geoscientific research using automation, project management, and real-time collaboration.
Unified project management
Projects overview
The project overview page organizes complex research initiatives into scannable cards that surface key details about each project's resources and team. The layout prioritizes quick comparison across projects while maintaining easy access to actions and filters scientists need most.
Project creation
A project creation modal streamlines the process of starting new research initiatives by breaking it into logical steps of naming, describing, and building a team. The design maintains simplicity while providing smart features like email suggestions to speed up the collaboration process.
Project details
This project details screen combines high-level project metrics with detailed insights and real-time activity tracking. The layout prioritizes data visualization while maintaining easy access to project controls and team collaboration features.
interactive simulations
Simulation creation overview
Users can run complex environmental models in real time. They can adjust parameters, observe immediate changes, and track the progress of their simulations through live updates. The system would automatically gather high-value isights and present them in a sequential manner.
VEDA datasets integration
Researchers can access and integrate NASA's VEDA datasets into their research workflows. With options to upload personal datasets and filter through validated, high-resolution datasets, researchers can curate datasets for simulations quickly, reducing the complexity of sourcing and managing research data.
Workflow automation
Users can upload raw data and the platform would automatically process the file to prepare it for further analysis. This automation removes the need for scientists to manually clean, format, or validate data.
Simulation dashboard
The simulation dashboard merges technical monitoring with scientific insights, allowing researchers to track both computation progress and emerging research findings. With the layout, I tried to prioritize real-time data while maintaining context of the broader research goals.
real-time collaboration
Collaborative report creation
With real-time editing features, multiple collaborators can draft, edit, and finalize research reports on shared projects. Each team member's contributions are visible, and version history ensures transparency.
Kanban task management
The dashboard includes a high-level project tracking with detailed task management, allowing scientists to both monitor overall progress and manage day-to-day research activities from a single screen.
Activity feed
Activity feed allows team members to see updates like newly uploaded datasets, assigned tasks, and simulation progress. This ensures that all collaborators are aligned and can make immediate contributions, improving the overall workflow and decision-making during research projects.
intuitive report generation
Seamless integration of insights
Scientists can compile and publish reports directly within the platform. They can insert insights, charts, and images from the simulations or datasets into their reports simply by dragging them into the document. They can also choose to either insert a detailed analysis or an executive summary.
Testing & impact
We presented the final designs to the geoscientists we initially interviewed and received mixed responses.
Observing how these scientists identify and approach research problems, the tools they use, and their methods for finding relevant datasets to build hypotheses answered many of our questions and helped us identify existing gaps.
Positives
autorenew
Automatic data conversion.
group
Cross-team collaboration management.
pie_chart
Simulation metrics and key insights gathering.
Suggested improvments
apps_outage
UI is too busy; most of the secondary options can be hidden in menus.
quiz
Adding guided tutorials for first-time users.
discover_tune
Provide more flexibility in how much detail users need to provide for certain simulations.
iframe
Not all simulations will have the same process. Need to provide templates for different kinds.
format_shapes
Would like to see more control over the format and content of the report.
Next steps