SciStarter — Citizen Science Project Directory & Observer-Credit Network
US-anchored federation directory + observer-onboarding platform + cross-platform credit tracker for citizen-science projects. **The live successor to defunct CitizenScience.gov** — usa.gov/citizen- science explicitly redirects participants here. Founded 2011 by Darlene Cavalier; hosted as an independent nonprofit with research affiliations at Arizona State University (School for the Future of Innovation in Society) and NC State University. NOT a unit inside ASU; legal status [UNVERIFIED] but described consistently as independent 501(c)(3)-shaped. 3,000+ projects listed; 450,918 participants across 140 countries during Apr 2026 Citizen Science Month (4.73M acts of science); production codebase `github.com/SciStarter/Circuit` (Vue) actively committed Jun 2026 — not a fossilized academic site. **Conforms to PPSR Core 2.0** (JSON Schema at scistarter.org/schema/Project); CitSci.org auto- syncs INTO SciStarter via its Project API. Two REST APIs: Project API (directory in/out, PPSR Core conformant) + Participant API (observer events for cross-platform credit tracking, 60+ projects). CC-BY-SA on project metadata. **Federation directory, NOT a data hub** — does not pass observations to GBIF / iNaturalist. Sibling of ECSA (eu-citizen.science), CSGP, and dormant Wilson Center ccsinventory. Recent runway signal: $2.6M Moore Foundation grant Mar 2026 (joint with ASU, Libraries as Community Hubs) + America 250 partnership + NSF DRL-1516703 / NSF #1845241 + IMLS + NOAA Museum of Science subgrant. Low DOGE exposure (ASU is state-school, Moore/America 250 are private; inherited NSF/IMLS/NOAA risk). Concentration + bus-factor risk is real — Cavalier is founder + CEO + ASU professor; single point of failure replaces the dead federal hub. Cavalier is the warm peer of Anne Bowser (NatureServe CEO); both co-attended PPSR Core foundational workshop (Wilson Center 2017).
| Provider | SciStarter (independent nonprofit; Arizona State University research affiliate) |
|---|---|
| Type | citizen |
| CNR score | 68 |
| Origin | https://scistarter.org/ |
| Provider URL | https://pages.scistarter.org/about/ |