Social
science, capacity building, and societally relevant work at NCAR & UCAR
NCAR Research Linking Weather, Climate, and Society
The
National Center for Atmospheric Research closed the Center
for Capacity Building (CCB) in August 2008 because of persistent budget
issues (see
related news release).
NCAR continues to invest in both the social sciences and capacity building
through its Institute for the Study of Society and Environment and numerous
initiatives across NCAR and UCAR. The following overview provides links
for exploring some of these efforts.
Institute for the Study of Society and the Environment
ISSE is NCAR's focal point for the integration of the physical, environmental,
and social sciences, with 17 scientists and support staff, plus numerous scientific
visitors and graduate students. ISSE conducts interdisciplinary research on
the complex interactions between people, the atmosphere, and the environment.
The institute also develops information and tools to help decision makers and
managers cope with weather and climate risks. More
about ISSE >
Examples of cross-cutting collaborative projects based in ISSE include:
Collaborative Program on the Societal Impacts and Economic Benefits
of Weather Information
NCAR's Societal Impacts Program is a dedicated focal point for assembling,
coordinating, developing, and synthesizing research and information on
the societal impacts and economic benefits of weather information. More
about SIP >
Weather and Climate
Impacts Assessment Program
WCIASP integrates the physical, environmental, and social
sciences to make scientific knowledge about weather and climate more
accesible to decision makers. The focus is on critical
gaps in weather and climate knowledge, such as integration of uncertainty
analysis across all parts of the climate change problem. More about
Weather and Climate Impacts Assessment >
Weather and Society Integrated Studies
WAS*IS integrates social science into meteorological research and practice
through workshops and projects that help foster new relationships and
propogate new tools and concepts for more effective socioeconomic
applications and evaluations of weather information and products. More
about WAS*IS >
Advanced Study Program
Several ASP postdoctoral researchers have devoted their two-year NCAR
fellowships to work that helps vulnerable members of society. For example:
Mercy
Borbor Cordova investigated air
quality in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where
she made connections and shared results with the community and local
government to try to improve conditions there. Mary Hayden is studying
the interaction
of local climate with the transmission of dengue fever and working with people in Puerto Rico and the U.S.-Mexico border region
to reduce the transmission of this mosquito-borne virus. The two researchers
are now collaborating on a dengue pilot project
in Guayaquil.
Several
other researchers are focused on helping to provide better guidance
to people living in Africa's Sahel. For example, farmers and herders
in the semi-arid Sahel region of West Africa will gain from efforts
to better understand the large swings in rainfall they must deal with
during the growing season and from year to year. More
about the Advanced Study Program >
NCAR Collaborations with UCAR
NCAR scientists also devote time and energy to UCAR's
efforts to build capacity and exchange knowledge in support of societal
needs across the United States and around the world. Many of these programs
focus on supporting and developing the capacity of researchers
from underrepresented groups and in developing countries. The following
are a few noteworthy examples:
UCAR Community Building Program
This program works to expand the community of researchers focusing on
weather, climate, and society to include more institutions serving
students from groups that are underrepresented in the sciences. These
efforts go hand-in-hand with opportunities to serve diverse and
currently underserved communities. More
about the Community Building Program >
Examples of cross-cutting collaborative projects based in the Community
Building Program include:
UCAR Africa Initiative
This effort focuses on building sustainable partnerships between NCAR
and UCAR and African institutions to pursue research and applications
for the benefit of the African people. More
about the UCAR Africa Initiative >
Planning
for Seven Generations: Indigenous & Scientific
Approaches to Climate Change
This groundbreaking 2008 meeting brought tribal leaders and young scientists
from the American Indian, Native Alaskan, and other indigenous communities
together with climate scientists. During three days the lively exchanges
focused on finding opportunities for the two perspectives to share
strategies for understanding, adapting to, and mitigating climate change,
with a particular focus on American Indian Lands. More
about Planning for Seven Generations >
SOARS: Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and
Science
SOARS bridges the undergraduate
to graduate school experience for culturally diverse students interested
in the atmospheric and related sciences by providing
educational and research opportunities, mentoring, career counseling and
guidance, and financial support. SOARS has become a model for mentoring
programs across the country and was recognized by the White House in 2001
with the Presidential
Award for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.
More about SOARS >
GLOBE Program: Global Learning
and Observations to Benefit the Environment
Based at UCAR, the multiagency GLOBE Program is a hands-on science
and education program for primary and secondary students, teachers, scientists,
and community members around the world who study and research the dynamics
of Earth's environment. In partnership with NASA and NSF, the international
GLOBE network has reached more than a million students in over 20,000 schools
located in 110 countries since its inception in 1995. NCAR scientist Margaret
LeMone serves as the program's chief scientist. More
about the GLOBE Program >
Partnerships and Technology Transfer
In addition to the kinds of activities outlined above, NCAR and UCAR
continue to focus on transferring
the knowledge, tools, and technology emerging from our research in
the physical, environmental, and social sciences. Our founding principle
of science in service to society permeates all our activities, from basic
inquiry to technology transfer.
Our focus
on and commitment to community models and community data services
is designed to promote the broadest possible use
of weather and
climate information for the benefit of society. You'll find links to
some of these services below.
Related Links
Articles
Forecasting
System Provides Flood Warnings to Vulnerable Residents of Bangladesh (news
release, August 2, 2007)
NCAR
to partner with World Bank in Latin America and the Caribbean (Staff
Notes, March 2007)
Applying
WRF to West Africa (Staff Notes, March 2007)
Connecting
the dots: Earth science partnerships
between South and North America (UCAR Quarterly,Winter
2006-2007)
Research, Technology, and Support
NCAR Research: Climate,
meteorology, societal impacts, pollution/air chemistry, Earth system,
Sun and space weather
NCAR Technology & Support: Research
expeditions, modeling, cyberinfrastructure, applied mathematics,
facilities/instrumentation, data, tech transfer
NCAR Research Applications
Laboratory: Research, development, and tech transfer solutions
for aviation , national security, numerical weather prediction, hydrometeorology,
surface transportation, verification, and societal impacts. RAL is
home to the Institute for
the Study of Society and Environment.
UCAR Programs: Community
projects, community support, education and training, data services
and software
Community Models
Weather Research
and Forecasting Model
Community Climate System
Model
More Community
Modeling at NCAR
Community Data and Data Services
COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3: Constellation
Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate
UCAR Unidata Program
Community Data Portal
and More Data Sets
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