Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

NOAA Science Advisory Board Review of the Cooperative
Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

NOAA conducts Joint Institute reviews every five years to asses the overall quality and impact of their Cooperative Agreement partnerships. In 2002, NOAA's office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) tasked their Science Advisory Board (SAB) to conduct the review under the purview of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Their comprehensive review included public input and consisted of plenary sessions, interviews with management and oversight committees, and poster sessions to detail CIRES' scientific research. They specified four report sections, including science plan, science review, education/outreach, and science management plan. The executive summary below was was submitted by the review panel following their review, which took place September 24-27, 2002.

Executive Summary

A panel of seven scientists, appointed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Science Advisory Board (SAB), carried out a review of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder, September 24-27, 2002. The panel met with both the scientists and administrators in CIRES and the NOAA laboratories with which cooperative research occurs. This report presents the findings of the review. Discussed in this report are the strengths of the CIRES research efforts as well as areas of the CIRES program in which improvement and further study are recommended. The ongoing and planned research of the CIRES/NOAA groups is judged by the panel to be of the highest quality. The strong and useful interaction between CIRES and NOAA scientists and the success of their research efforts are facilitated by several favorable features of the relationship:

1. The excellent leadership of the CIRES administration and the strong support of the University of Colorado administration
2. The cooperative format of the current CIRES/NOAA research agreement.
3. The constructive catalytic role that CIRES plays in the NOAA research.
4. The unique position of CIRES/NOAA efforts to face crisis research.
5. The efficient use of government funding which the relation provides.
6. The unique strength of the Boulder area in the environmental science research institutions.
7. The education in environmental issues that CIRES provides teachers, students and the general public.
8. The diverse input in environmental problem solving which brings the full compliment of experts in the sciences and the non-science disciplines together to provide the decision makers with the necessary information to facilitate implementation of any planning and legislation that might be required to mediate and solve given science oriented problems related to the environment.

The panel identified some areas in the CIRES/CU/NOAA relationship which require some degree of attention:

1. The perceived and real differences in status of government employees and CIRES employees that often work side by side on mutual problems.
2. Traditional rigidity in the faculty structure that remains within the University of Colorado.
3. Considerations of contract versus grant research and the need to streamline the process by which work tasks are established and funds are transferred.
4. Extent of institutional support for CIRES.
5. Increasing needs for additional biological scientists in many of the CIRES research programs.
6. Improvement of the employee reward systems.
7. Importance of a proposed Environmental Technology Center within CIRES.

Final Report (PDF, 300 KB)
November 6, 2002

Review Panel

Dr. Vera Alexander,
Science Advisory Board Member
Dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and Professor of Marine Science
School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Dr. Jack G. Calvert,
Chairman of the Review Panel
Senior Scientist Emeritus
NCAR
Knoxville, Tennessee

Dr. Wade R. McGillis,
Review Panel Member
Associate Scientist
Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Dr. William H. Prescott,
Review Panel Member
Geophysicist
U.S. Geological Survey
Menlo Park, California

Dr. Kelly T. Redmond,
Review Panel Member
Deputy Director and Regional Climatologist
Western Regional Climate Center
Desert Research Institute
Reno, Nevada

Dr. Walter F. Dabberdt,
Review Panel Member
Director, Strategic Research
Vaisala
Boulder, Colorado

Dr. Jerry Mahlman,
Review Panel Member
Senior Research Associate
NCAR/Advanced Study Program
Boulder, Colorado