Citizen science engages ordinary people of any age who volunteer their time to participate in scientific projects, conduct experiments, and collect data in order to solve real-world problems and questions. Typically citizen science works as a collaboration between professional scientists and the public, and it helps contribute to a multitude of discoveries around the world.
Citizen scientists are involved in a variety of different fields including statistics, psychology, ecology, genetics, astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, and more. They work on projects such as water quality monitoring, wildlife censuses, non-native plant identification, and fossil excavations.
Below are a list of citizen science opportunities that you can pursue!:
Project Finders and Collections:
- CitizenScience.gov
- SciStarter
- Zooniverse
- Thriving Earth Exchange
- Integrated Digitized Biocollections
Organizations:
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- National Phenology Network
Specific Projects:
- Audubon Christmas Bird Count
- Celebrate Urban Birds
- NestWatch
- The Horseshoe Count
- Butterfly Counts
- EarthEcho Water Challenge (previously World Water Monitoring Challenge)
- Great Backyard Bird Count
- Monarch Larva Monitoring Project
- BudBurst
- Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network
- Galaxy Zoo
- Project FeederWatch
- eBird
- Eyes of the Reef Hawai’i
- Globe at Night
- FrogWatch USA
- iNaturalist