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University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

MINUTES
UCAR Board of Trustees Meeting

7 October 2002
Fleischmann Building

8 October 2002
Center Green Campus
Boulder, Colorado

The duly convened meeting of the UCAR Board of Trustees was held at the Fleischmann Building and the Center Green Campus in Boulder, Colorado. Present for all or portions of the meeting were:

Council and Corporate Officers:

National Science Foundation:

UCAR, NCAR, UOP:

Others:

1. WELCOME, AGENDA REVIEW, AND CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

The Board convened in Regular Session. Chairman of the Board Otis Brown welcomed the Trustees and guests. He reviewed the agenda, reminded meeting participants that the meeting would continue tomorrow at the new Center Green campus, and asked for adoption of the agenda. It was moved, seconded, and passed to adopt the agenda as presented.

Chairman Brown thanked NSF for the approval to move ahead with the purchase of Center Green. He also applauded UCAR management for their round-the-clock work on developing a strategic plan for space needs at UCAR. This has been an intensive process, Brown said, but the end result satisfies not only the NSF management review recommendation to create a strategic space plan but also meets the short, medium and long-term space needs of this organization.

There was one follow-up item from the June meeting: David Skaggs asked about insurance on the HIAPER aircraft. Jack Fellows reported that UCAR has investigated this in detail with NSF and concluded that appropriated funds cannot be used to insure HIAPER without Congressional authorization.

2. SECRETARY'S REPORT

Secretary Ron Smith presented the minutes from the 12-13 June 2002 Board of Trustees Meeting and asked for approval. It was moved, seconded, and passed to accept the secretary’s report as presented.

3. TRUSTEE-AT-LARGE BYLAW AMENDMENT

At the June Board meeting, the Trustees passed a resolution recommending that the number of Trustees-at-Large be increased by three over the next three years, starting in 2003. It was moved, seconded, and passed to recommend that the bylaw amendment language be adopted by the Members.

4. TREASURER'S REPORT

Treasurer Barbara Feiner, in reviewing the consolidated statement of funding and expenditures for the eleven months ending 31 August 2002, reported that overall UCAR is financially healthy. Because of large projects like HIAPER and the Mesa Lab refurbishment, funding growth appears more significant that it actually is. The biggest growth in the UOP budget comes from the $18M COSMIC contract. Feiner also reviewed UCAR’s general fund revenues and expenses as well as the investment portfolio. Even though overall, there is a 3% decline in investments, our total return on investments has consistently surpassed projections over the past year. Feiner also reported that UCAR is moving forward to secure bond funding for the new Center Green property. It was moved, seconded, and passed to accept the Treasurer’s report.

5. NSF REPORT

Cliff Jacobs, Head of UCAR and Lower Atmospheric Facilities Oversight Section, ATM/NSF, reported on the FY03 budgets for NSF, which will be delayed since Congress has not passed the VA-HUD appropriations bill. In the meantime a Continuing Resolution is in place. Jacobs also discussed the timeline for the 2003-2008 cooperative agreement proposal to NSF for UCAR’s continuing management of NCAR. He explained that the 2008 cooperative agreement most likely would be competed and emphasized that this decision is not a judgment on the quality of NCAR’s science or UCAR’s management, but a policy decision by the National Science Board that affects all NSF-sponsored labs. Jacobs said that after close to 50 years of uninterrupted management of NCAR by UCAR, the NSF feels that it is prudent to compete.

6. UCAR PRESIDENT’S REPORT

UCAR President Richard Anthes reminded the Trustees of his detailed written report (found at http://www.ucar.edu/governance/meetings/oct02/ucar_report.pdf ) and then briefly discussed UNAVCO’s transition to a private corporation, the space planning process to date as well as work to be done in the upcoming months. He talked about the cooperative agreement proposal to NSF, and presented examples of scientific work representing useful technology transfer and service to society: the wildfire fire simulations, a rescue from the Antarctic ice, and observing precipitable water vapor in a hurricane using GPS technology.

7. NCAR DIRECTOR'S REPORT

NCAR Director Tim Killeen referenced his report on NCAR activities (found at http://www.ucar.edu/governance/meetings/oct02/ncar_report.pdf ). He reviewed some of NCAR’s major activities including the NSF 2001 review and UCAR/NCAR’s response, space planning, NCAR's strategic initiatives, the NCAR Advisory Council, the new Bluesky advanced computer system and the HIAPER aircraft project. Killeen briefed the Trustees on staff changes in his office, discussed mentoring activities within NCAR, visits by graduate students, undergraduates and master teachers. He reviewed budget plans for FY2003 and then highlighted several science and facility projects.

8. HIAPER UPDATE

Krista Laursen, HIAPER Project Director, briefed the Trustees on the current status of the HIAPER aircraft and the planning process being undertaken to outfit it for the research community. External workshops and interim reviews are planned to involve the community on both the engineering components and the instrumentation.

The Board convened in Executive Session from 3:45 –5:30 pm. (The minutes are kept in the corporate offices.)

Tuesday, 8 October

9. ADVOCACY DISCUSSION & LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

April Burke, Lewis-Burke Associates, reported on the status of FY03 appropriations for the various federal agencies. She said that there is a strong push to include science in the new Homeland Security Department. Burke also reported on the widespread difficulties students and scientific visitors are experiencing in securing visas to come to the U.S. She related how the OMB metrics could negatively impact the FY04 budget request as the budget deficit grows and Congress looks for areas to cut domestic spending. Burke also discussed possible election impacts.

Cindy Schmidt, Director of UCAR Office of Government Affairs (OGA), reminded the Trustees that her office's activities this past year are highlighted in Anthes’ report. She described ongoing efforts on behalf of the USWRP and the Weather Coalition. Working in concert with other organizations, OGA continues to educate Congress on scientific issues being addressed by our research community. She passed out awards to Kelvin Droegemeier and Soroosh Sorooshian for their outstanding advocacy efforts this past year.

10. UOP DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Jack Fellows, UOP Director, announced that Mohan Ramamurthy (U of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign) has been hired as the new Unidata director; the National Digital Science Library and the Digital Library for Earth System Education have both received five-year funding; COMET has a new website built to enhance services to the community; and Unidata has a new community web portal. After reminding the Trustees that his complete report can be found at http://www.ucar.edu/governance/meetings/oct02/uop_report.pdf , he introduced Bill Kuo, Director of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) program, and Karyn Sawyer, Director, Joint Office for Science Support (JOSS). Both briefed the Trustees on recent activities in their respective programs.

11. EDUCATION AND OUTREACH UPDATE

Roberta Johnson, Director of the UCAR Office of Education and Outreach (EO), iterated the three areas highlighted in the EO Strategic Plan: (a) support students and professionals from pre-K through postgraduate level; (b) foster an informed public through science literacy; and (c) promote the involvement of diverse and historically under-represented populations in the geosciences. She then gave examples of activities that have occurred in each of these areas in the past year. The Trustees were enthusiastic about the progress being made.

12. MEMBERS’ MEETING PREVIEW

Jack Fellows reviewed the Members Representatives meeting agenda and summarized the plans for the forum on public, private and academic partnerships. The results from the forum will be summarized in an article to be published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. AMS is also planning a forum at their annual meeting in February on this topic.

13. UNSTRUCTURED DISCUSSION

Chairman Brown thanked the Trustees and UCAR Management and staff for all the accomplishments of this past year, including the strategic space management plan, the purchase of Center Green, the completion of the cooperative agreement proposal to NSF, and the major addition of new computing resources for the community.

14. ADJOURN

The Board adjourned at 10:15 am.

End of Minutes

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