The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program was established by the National Science Foundation in 1980 to study ecological processes operating on decadal-to-century time scales. Today, 27 sites located in diverse biomes generate a steady flow of high impact, team-driven science. Each year hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students work side-by-side with professional researchers and faculty members at LTER sites. At the same time, professional communities-of-practice and scientific synthesis efforts build interactions across sites.