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2004 UCAR Members
Meeting Forum:
The Role Of The National Center In The
Future Of The Geosciences
As we all know, the environment for science and education
is changing rapidly. There are many challenges: increasing
financial stress on the university community and our sponsor
agencies, the complexities of management of large-scale projects,
the aging of the workforce, immigration issues, facility needs,
and others. There are also many opportunities. New scientific
questions (in biogeosciences, social impacts) are constantly
emerging. Interdisciplinary Earth system science is, by its
very nature, constantly evolving. There is increasing national
and international attention to an integrated global Earth
observing system and applications to societal needs (http://earthobservations.org/
) and the National Research Council is just beginning the
first ever "decadal study" for Earth Sciences (http://qp.nas.edu/decadalsurvey
). The UCAR community must meet these challenges and take
advantage of the opportunities, leveraging the capabilities
and national stature and status of its center and the enormous
intellectual resources of its membership.
Several recent events have occurred that are quite relevant
to these changes:
- 2004-2008 UCAR Cooperative Agreement. UCAR and
NCAR have undergone several years of external review culminating
in UCAR’s successful proposal to continue the management
of NCAR for the next five years (FY04-08). The Review Panel
noted the excellence of NCAR research and facilities and
the quality and appropriateness of UCAR's agenda, and its
management as vigorous contributors to the nation's atmospheric
science research and education. The Panel recommended that
UCAR consider:
- Realignment. Think about possible changes to NCAR
management structure in light of evolving research needs.
- Balance. Examine the appropriate balance between research
and community support and disciplinary and interdisciplinary
work.
- Metrics . Develop metrics that characterize the quality
and effectiveness of science and service programs.
As a result of the realignment recommendation, NCAR has considered
many alternative models and begun a significant reorganization--See
http://www.ncar.ucar.edu/directorate/Reorg/
.
In addition, we are working on defining a set of metrics
and, as a matter of course, we are maintaining program balance
at the forefront of our planning. However, all of these are
works in progress and we hope to engage the greater UCAR community
regarding these issues at this year’s meeting.
- National Science Board Actions. In May 2003, the
NSB approved UCAR's proposal to manage NCAR. The NSB also
recommended that the NSF initiate a process to engage the
broader atmospheric sciences community in a strategic review
of the mechanisms for the NSF Division of Atmospheric Sciences
(ATM) to support atmospheric and related research and education
in the future. NSF asked the NRC Board on Atmospheric Sciences
and Climate (BASC) to facilitate this study which should
be completed by November 2006.
The BASC Committee will meet in Boulder on 14-15 October.
The Heads and Chairs Meeting attendees will have a chance
to participate in an open session on Thursday evening, and
at a luncheon on Friday at noon.
- Next Cooperative Agreement (FY09-13). The
review for the next cooperative agreement to manage NCAR
will likely begin sometime in 2006 or 2007. During the most
recent review process, the NSF said that this agreement
will be competed for the first time. Over the past few years,
NSF has begun competing most of their large agreements,
and we are planning for a competition.
The presentations and panels on Tuesday and Wednesday at
the Members Meeting are intended to foster discussion of the
partnership between community members and UCAR. As part of
this discussion, we hope the meeting participants will come
away with a strong sense of the following:
- Broader knowledge of UCAR and NCAR: why they exist, their
place in the nation’s atmospheric and related sciences community,
and the expected benefits to all.
- An understanding of the competition and the meaning of
NCAR as an FFRDC: rationale, importance, process,
and potential long-term impact on our field.
- An understanding of how the community can participate
in the broad national conversation about the direction of
the atmospheric and related sciences.
The following questions may be helpful to stimulate your
thinking for the discussion at the Members Meeting:
- Emerging scientific issues. What role does the
national center play in addressing emerging scientific
questions (e.g. biogeosciences, social impacts, use of
new capabilities, such as digital libraries, HIAPER, and
information technologies)? What role does the broader
community play in deciding the direction and emphasis
of the national center?
- Community needs. What is the role of the national
center in addressing community needs? How does a national
center ensure community involvement in its work?
- Balances at a national center. What are the appropriate
balances between science and facilities, individual research
and team projects, between research and community support,
research and Education and Outreach?
- Budget realities. How will the budget outlook
for the next few years affect the direction of the national
center and of the university community?
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This page updated
2004-09-28 13:32
-07 by Michelle Flores
Contact: Susan Warner (303) 497-1655; swarner@ucar.edu
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