Breaking Barriers to “Big Earth Data”

Dr. Elizabeth "Eli" Holmes received the prestigious Earth Science Information Partners Martha Maiden 2026 Award in January. Dr. Holmes' 25-year career at NOAA Fisheries demonstrates a deep commitment to advancing open science, fostering collaboration across agencies, and inspiring the next generation of scientists.

At NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center , Dr. Holmes creates a bridge to apply fisheries and ocean data to solve conservation problems. For example, turning data from fisheries observing systems into actionable information via publicly available models can improve population status assessments, harvest models, and forecasts of imminent threats such as harmful algal blooms. She has developed innovative quantitative tools such as statistical algorithms that support population trend assessments and conservation efforts for species, like endangered Pacific salmon.

Education and training are her passions and the center of her devotion to data accessibility. She has been heavily involved in organizing, teaching, and mentoring at earth science events. She is an affiliate faculty for the University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.

In recent years, she has focused on making "big earth data" accessible to the wider fisheries community. "Big earth data" refers to the massive, complex datasets that describe Earth's systems. These include oceanographic and climate data from remote-sensing satellites, mooring buoys, and underwater gliders that drive models providing forecasts of climate, ocean conditions, and more. She has organized more than 10 different ocean hackweeks and taught more than 500 career scientists.

"Dr. Holmes' work strengthens scientists' ability to produce transparent, reproducible, and accessible science, hallmarks of scientific integrity and public trust," said Corinne Bassin, head of data solutions at Schmidt Ocean Institute, who nominated her for the award.

Building Open Science Infrastructure

Dr. Holmes notes that data is not useful if people can't access it or don't know how to use the toolsets needed to work with it. Dr. Holmes has dedicated her career to open access and making data, statistical tools, and algorithms accessible to biologists and oceanographic and atmospheric scientists.

Dr. Holmes recognized a critical gap in NOAA's capacity for open-source tools. She led NOAA Fisheries' Open Science initiative to support making scientific data and models (including source code) publicly available without delay. This aligns with NOAA Fisheries requirements to provide public access to influential scientific information, which is critical for informing public policy and private sector decisions. The initiative supports our scientists and developers in using modern, open-source tools that encourage collaboration. Interdisciplinary work is essential for addressing complex marine resource management challenges.

Career Accomplishments

Dr. Holmes' scientific contributions are rooted in the protection of endangered species and the modernization of fisheries science.

Species Recovery and Assessment

Her research focuses on the population dynamics of threatened and endangered species, including Pacific salmon, Steller sea lions, and Southern Resident killer whales. She has generated models key for understanding the extinction risk of listed Pacific salmonids, which inform their required status reviews.

Fisheries Forecasting

Eli has authored several open-science books, such as Applied Time Series Analysis for Fisheries and Environmental Science and Fish Catch Forecasting with R , which serve as essential references for scientists.

Quantitative Tool Development

She developed the Multivariate Autoregressive State-Space R package, which has become a standard tool for analyzing complex environmental time-series data.

Dr. Holmes serves on multiple teams such as:

• NOAA Public Access to Research Results and Gold Standard Science Working Groups
• NOAA Software Governance and Licensing Policy Integrated Project Team
• NOAA Generative AI Working Group
• National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Innovation Hub

She formerly served on the Interagency White House Subcommittee on Open Science.

"Eli identified common needs to execute NOAA Fisheries Open Science vision not only across NOAA's line offices, but also with other federal agencies like NASA and U.S. Geological Survey," said Jeremy Rusin, acting science director of NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center. "Dr. Holmes helped accelerate the work of NOAA scientists and reduce barriers that prevent them from adopting Open Science, and integrating ocean climate data into their models."

"We are in a new era of rapid discovery. We can do things we never could before, have data we never had before, and the ability to ask questions of these data," said Dr. Holmes. "It is a very exciting time to be in the sciences because of these enhanced capabilities and evolution of the use of AI."