BEN NORTON

Master of Science in Geology

2008, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

Bachelor of Science in Geosciences

2005, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Independent

Roles: Museum informatics and digitization consultant, data curation specialist, and subject matter expert

Client Projects: Data Analysis & Documentation Consultant for the iSamples Project and National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Co-PI for the SwissCollNet Project, GeoModule (Integrating Geoscience Collections into Specify Software), a collaboration with the Swiss Natural History Museums in Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Lausanne, and the Specify Software Consortium to extend the Specify Software platform to support earth science collections.

Biodiversity Information Standards/Independent

Roles: Collaborative group co-convener and core contributor, maintenance group member, chair of the Technical Architecture Group, member of the executive committee, data publishing and linked data consultant

Accomplishments: Developed multiple Python-based data transformation pipelines and publishing applications; Designed and developed a standards documentation generator using Python, released for community use; Authored best practices and usage guides; Provided data publishing and pipeline support to institutions across Europe and the United States; Expert review manager for Latimer Core; Co-convener and core member of multiple groups, including Mineralogy Extension, Minimum Information about a Digital Specimen, and Modelling Research Expeditions.

Ecosystem Planning and Restoration

Roles: Informatics consultant, full-stack developer, and geospatial and data visualization designer and developer

Accomplishments: Designed and developed a custom geospatial visualization and project management platform for data publishing, project management, and client communications; Developed custom spatial data and project metadata transformation pipelines using Python; Won an informatics contract with the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute; Served as subject matter expert in web-based and data-driven technologies.

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Roles: Head of data publication, curation, and preservation; Director of technological operations, including infrastructure, databases, systems, and website; Responsible for planning, development, management, and design of all web applications and websites; Project manager for cross-section technical initiatives and development projects; Collections manager; Webmaster.

Accomplishments: Designed and developed a data publishing platform, custom online collections portal and collections asset manager interconnected via a sophisticated API to enable data access and publication; Established first cross-collections data management protocols and institutional workflows for all collections; Curated and published all collections datasets; Created and implemented QA/QC techniques for collections data processing and analysis; Managed security, administrative, and legal policies associated with web-based resources.

Freelance

Roles: Full-stack web developer and designer, technology consultant

Accomplishments: Successfully self-managed the development and administration of multiple projects while consistently satisfying client expectations; client deliverables include custom websites and database applications. Clients: HOPE Research Institute (Phoenix, AZ), Ecosystem Planning & Restoration (Tomball, TX), Museum of Life and Science (Durham, NC), North Carolina Environmental Restoration Association (Raleigh, NC), and SAGE Patent Group (Raleigh, NC).

Global Climate Change and Environmental Sciences Unit, RTI International

Roles: Developed and maintained software, systems, and websites for environmental research projects; Investigated new software and technologies for research; Collaborated on technical documentation and support proposal processes.

Accomplishments: Created the user interface and data access layers of a web-based GIS watershed modeling tool and decision-support system, waterFALL; Built and maintained websites for environmental projects using multiple architectures; Applied interdisciplinary background to support a diverse set of ecological research projects.

Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Roles: Database manager, data publisher, curator, and web developer in the metadata and measurement data archives for the Fluxnet and AmeriFlux projects, a global and regional network of observation towers that collect both micrometeorological and ecological observations.

Project Management: Cross-team and cross-discipline communications, quality control, budget management, risk mitigation, project planning, privacy/legal policymaking, and project reporting

Data Curation and Preservation: Data modeling, metadata standards, data publishing, quality assessment and control, digital asset acquisition and management, semantic interoperability, extract, transform, load processes, and pipeline architecture

System and Application Development: Full-stack development, DevOps administration, API design and development, technical documentation

Design: UX/UI design and data visualizations

• Data Standards, Publishing, and Preservation – 14 years
• Museum Collections – 12 years
• Data Quality and Testing – 11 years
• Project Management – 11 years
• Knowledge Management Systems – 9 years
• RESTful APIs and Linked Data Infrastructures – 9 years
• Computer Vision and Large Language Model Integration – 4 years

• Member, Australian Government Linked Data Working Group (2025–Present)
• Member, Darwin Core Maintenance Group, TDWG (2025–Present)
• Consulting Member, iSamples Technical Committee (2025–Present)
• Co-convener, Standards Mapping Task Group, TDWG (2024–Present)
• Chair, Technical Architecture Group, TDWG (2024–Present)
• Member, Executive Committee, TDWG (2024–Present)
• Co-convener, Earth Sciences and Paleobiology Interest Group, TDWG (2024–Present)
• Co-convener, Modelling Research Exhibitions, TDWG (2023–Present)
• Core Contributor, Minimum Information about a Digital Specimen, TDWG (2023–Present)
• International Collaborator, CETAF Earth Science Group, CETAF (2023–Present)
• Review Manager, Latimer Core Standard, TDWG (2022–2023)
• Co-convener, Mineralogical Collections Extension to the Darwin Core Standard, TDWG (2022–Present)
• Core Contributor, Camtrap DP, TDWG (2020–2022)
• Chair, Technical Advisory Committee, Specify Collections Consortium (2019–2023)
• Technical and User Committee Member, Wildlife Insights (2018–2021)