Report from the University Relations Committee by Jon Ahlquist, Florida State University and Steven Businger, University of Hawaii he UCAR University Relations Committee (URC) held its fall meeting at NCAR during 8Ð9 November 1993. Management Reports UCAR president Richard Anthes commented on the five-year renewal of UCAR's cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation to administer NCAR. Two major changes distinguish the current agreement from previous ones. (1) To clearly implement its oversight responsibilities, NSF, rather than UCAR, will have primary responsibility for conducting the scientific review of NCAR. An anonymous peer review of the accomplishments and plans of each NCAR division and program will be conducted within the first three years of the agreement (FY 94Ð96). It will consist of a mail review followed by a panel review. NSF will select both the mail and panel reviewers. (2) NSF will have a greater role throughout the year in the NCAR planning process. In turn, NCAR and universities will participate more in planning for NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences (ATM). NCAR director Robert Serafin highlighted three items. (1) NSF/NCAR have acquired a Navy surplus C-130 turboprop similar in size and operating cost to the aging Electra but with clearly superior range and payload. Built in 1985 at a cost to the Department of Defense of approximately $35 million, it is in very good condition with only 8,700 hours of use. (2) UCAR, through its commercial arm WITI (Weather Information Technologies, Inc.), was awarded a $15.5 million four-year contract to develop the weather warning system for the new airport under construction in Hong Kong. (3) Earlier in the fall, the Federal Aviation Administration had notified NCAR that budget cuts forced termination of its nearly $10 million annual support to NCAR's Research Applications Program for aviation weather research. NCAR was successful in restoring much of the funding and in laying the groundwork for an improved long-term relationship. Radford Byerly, UCAR vice president for public policy and director of UCAR's Walter Orr Roberts Institute, described congressional sentiment that science has not delivered according to expectations. For example, climate change research has not yet delivered the policy- relevant information expected. William Bonner, director of the UCAR Office of Programs, reviewed the Visiting Scientist Programs; UCAR's short- and long-term data management efforts related to the National Weather Service's modernization; and Unidata's plan to replace satellite distribution of weather data with Internet distribution by August 1996. Integrated Planning Giorgio Tesi of NSF and Anthes explained the new integrated planning process, which has already begun. NCAR division directors and NSF program directors are discussing coordinated five-year scientific and facilities plans. These discussions will be augmented by significant community involvement to develop a long-range plan for NSF- supported atmospheric science research. The community involvement began at the annual UCAR Members Meeting in October, and a committee has been appointed to prepare the plan. The committee enthusiastically endorsed the concept of integrated planning and noted the following concerns: (1) the integrated planning committee to be formed should have disciplinary breadth; (2) the first draft of the integrated plan needs early and wide dissemination through e-mail and appropriate meetings; [Editor's note: In accordance with the URC resolution, a draft of the integrated plan will be available for review in mid-March; see page 7.] (3) balance should exist between planning for NCAR and planning for the NSF ATM grants program; and (4) existing plans appear to lock out new focused programs such as the U.S. Weather Research Program under reasonable budget projections (less than 10% increase). Review of the UCAR Members Meeting Timothy Spangler summarized the group discussions held at the October Members Meeting (see the Fall 1993 issue of this newsletter), and the committee made suggestions for the 1994 meeting. Tour of ATD The Atmospheric Technology Division of NCAR described their work to the URC and gave a tour of their facilities. Highlighted were advances in NCAR's observational capabilities (aircraft, radars, field observing equipment, and sounding equipment) over the last 15 years. NSF/NCAR's two newest aircraft, the C130 and the WB57, are particularly important. The C130 will be used principally for long- range, heavy-lift tropospheric research over remote oceans and continents to study chemistry, cloud physics, and land-ocean- atmospheric interaction. The WB57 has a higher maximum altitude (68,000 feet, or 21,000 meters) but has much lower payload capabilities than the C130. If NSF funding stays level, only two of three aircraft (Electra, C130, WB57) will be expected to operate in any given fiscal year. NCAR has one pilot with C130 experience and one with WB57 experience. COMET overview During 1994Ð97, UCAR's COMET program (Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training) will sponsor about 34 weeks of courses per year. "Distance learning modules" involving computer software and laser discs will reach many times more people than in-residence courses. The goal is to publish three to four distance learning modules per year with four to six hours instructional time per module. Modules are in use at about 20 universities, especially Penn State, Millersville, and Iowa State. Factors that limit extensive use of COMET modules at universities include (1) difficulty in integrating modules with existing curricula, (2) limited university funding to acquire computer systems and courseware, (3) varied faculty teaching styles, and (4) availability of other courseware. COMET director Spangler would like to see COMET-like modules developed for use with survey meteorology courses for nonmajors. He noted that 125,000 college students per year take meteorology survey courses, with 80% of those courses taught by people who are not primarily meteorologists. In the summer of 1994, COMET will sponsor a course on teaching mesoscale meteorology for schools that currently do not have a mesoscale offering. Fred Carr (University of Oklahoma) will be the lead instructor. Non-NSF funding URC member Dale Haidvogel reviewed his subcommittee's report. The subcommittee was charged with reviewing the proposals for non- NSF funding submitted by NCAR scientists from 1 April through 1 September 1993. Of the 41 proposals reviewed, all were judged to comply with criteria for non-NSF funding as currently formulated. Minor procedural changes and some changes to strengthen the treatment of criteria related to university collaboration and support were recommended. The subcommittee will meet once more to review another six months of non-NSF proposal activity at NCAR.