Strategic Guidance for the National Science Foundation's Support of the Atmospheric Sciences (2007) / Chapter Skim
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4 Modes of Support and Key Activities
4 Modes of Support and Key Activities
Pages 101-135
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From page 101... ...
, small centers, large national centers, cooperative agreements to support facilities at universities and other locations, NSF-wide initiatives, interagency programs, and field programs -- is described and their strengths and limitations are evaluated. GRANTS The Division of Atmospheric Sciences (ATM)
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From page 102... ...
For university faculty members, this amount normally includes up to two months of summer salary; support for graduate students, undergraduate students, or both; miscellaneous expenses such as travel, computing, and page charges; and institutionally determined fringe benefits and indirect costs. Over the past 10 years, 570 graduate students, on average, have been supported by ATM research grants each year, which is over half of the graduate students enrolled in atmospheric science departments (Jarvis Moyers, personal communication; NSF, 2006)
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From page 103... ...
0 MODES OF SUPPORT AND KEY ACTIVITIES Research grant proposals All ATM proposals 60.0 50.0 Percent proposals funded 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 1994- 1995- 1996- 1997- 1998- 1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- 2003 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Research grant proposals All ATM proposals 1,600 1,400 Number PIs applied 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0 1994- 1995- 1996- 1997- 1998- 1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- 2003 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 FIGURE 4-2 Top: Percent of proposals funded. Bottom: Number of proposals received.
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From page 104... ...
Note: Fiscal Year 2007 solicitation has been postponed while NSF reevaluates this program. The Geoscience Education program aims at initiating or encouraging innovative geoscience education activities.
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From page 105... ...
SBIR and STTR grants, which receive about 2.7 percent of the NSF's extramural research budget, have funded the development and demonstration of a number of innovative instruments currently used in atmospheric research. An increasing fraction of NSF grants are for multiple PIs collaborating on a larger-scale project (see Figure 4-3)
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From page 106... ...
Likewise, the increasing complexity and frequent multidisciplinary nature of atmospheric science measurements -- including laboratory experiments, ground-based and airborne field measurements, and advanced research instrument development and testing -- often require collaboration of two or more research groups to be addressed effectively. Atmospheric field measurements often need to be performed at one or more remote sites, may require complex logistics involving site access or mobile measurement platforms, usually require the simultaneous
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From page 107... ...
Also, there is a great deal of science collaboration between NCAR scientists, who are frequently unfunded co-PIs on grants, and PIs from universities or the private sector in the conduct of their research, including field programs. This mode of core grant support has benefited the atmospheric sciences in several ways.
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From page 108... ...
ATM does not track how many grants are awarded for high-risk proposals, either through the regular grant process or through the discretion of the program directors, or the outcomes of the high-risk research that is funded. Some high-risk projects that are of limited duration and of modest cost are supported through the SGER program.
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From page 109... ...
program and ATM supports some centers from core funds. Box 4-2 lists atmospheric science centers established over the past 15 years along with the science problems they are addressing.
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From page 110... ...
Indeed, each center in the atmospheric sciences that has already "graduated" has continued to operate in some form with
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For example, CISM holds a two-week summer school that provides broad-based exposure to space weather in the entire Sun–Earth system, which has proved to be very successful (Simpson, 2004)
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From page 112... ...
is co-funded by the Chemistry Division and the Atmospheric Science Division and focuses on chemical reactions at air/condensed phase interfaces, an important emerging topic in atmospheric chemistry. EMSIs are funded at about one-third the level of STCs or ERCs.
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From page 113... ...
The initial planning for NCAR called for half of the scientific staff to be from the atmospheric sciences with the remainder being from disciplines such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, and engineering. This disciplinary composition has evolved since 1959 as demanded by new research avenues in the atmospheric sciences.
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GUIDANCE FOR NSF'S SUPPORT OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES BOX 4-4 Overview of NCAR Organization, Activities, and Facilities NCAR Organization: Computational Information and Systems Laboratory, which houses the Institute for Mathematical Applications in the Geosciences and the Scientific Computing Division. Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL)
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From page 115... ...
MODES OF SUPPORT AND KEY ACTIVITIES • Water Cycle Across Scales • Weather and Climate Impact Assessment Science NCAR Activities: • Community model development, maintenance, support, analysis, and dissemina tion, e.g., Community Climate System Model (CCSM) , Whole Atmosphere Chemis try Climate Model (WACCM)
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From page 116... ...
These scientists collaborate in large research programs involving many institutions as well as with scientists who visit NCAR through various fellowship programs. In the initial conception, NCAR was to be involved in only basic research in "recognition that there is need in atmospheric research for work to progress on a broader basis than that which is possible under the constraints imposed on applied research and development responsive to operational requirements" ("UCAR," 1959, p.
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From page 117... ...
UCAR is a not-for-profit consortium of 70 universities that grant doctorates in fields related to atmospheric science. At its inception, UCAR Because of the way the original was consisted of a president who oversaw NCAR with the help of a small staff constructed it was faster and more accurate and the advice of a Board of Trustees, who figure with our graph making program to recreate the were elected from among the two member representatives from each of the UCAR universities.
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From page 118... ...
GUIDANCE FOR NSF'S SUPPORT OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES BOX 4-5 UCAR-Activities Besides NCAR The UCAR Office of Programs, whose portfolio includes • Unidata, whose function is "providing data, tools, and community leadership for enhanced earth-system education and research" • The Joint Office for Science Support (JOSS) , which arranges logistics for international conferences and complex field programs, helps conduct the field program, and archives the field catalog and data (note that on October 1, 2005, part of JOSS will move from UCAR to NCAR)
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From page 119... ...
Even so, the fundamental rationale for a large national atmospheric sciences center outlined in the Blue Book still remains valid. The national center continues to serve important objectives of the atmospheric sciences community, as articulated in its stated vision: "It is NCAR's mission to plan, organize, and conduct atmospheric and related research programs in collaboration with the universities and other institutions, to provide state-of-the-art research tools and facilities to the atmospheric sciences community, to support and enhance university atmospheric science education, and to facilitate the transfer of technology to both the public and private sectors." The capabilities of each sector have increased tremendously since that time as have the myriad challenges and opportunities in the atmospheric sciences and allied fields.
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These mandates are broadly in agreement with NCAR's existing mission. Over the past decades the atmospheric sciences community has thought a lot about the role of the large national center and these mandates attempt to encapsulate the collective view about what its goals should be.
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. These facilities provide scientists with instrumentation necessary to conduct cutting-edge science, are frequently utilized in field programs, and serve to meet educational objectives.
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Upper Atmospheric Facilities: Upper Atmospheric Facility: SuperDARN Radar Network, operated by Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR) is a modular, mobile radar Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the University of Alaska, facility for studying the upper atmosphere is located in Canada and Alaska, and is and observing space weather events.
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, but costs in excess of the resources of any individual ATM program or section. The first two projects to be supported by this account are the AMISR and the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC)
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FIELD PROGRAMS Organized field programs that provide atmospheric observations designed to study specific processes continue to be integral to atmospheric research. Major field programs supported by ATM during the past decade are described in Table 4-4.
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TABLE 4-4 Recent Large ATM Field Projects (over $1 million in facility deployment costs) Estimated Support from NSF Description of Field Program Grants The first Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-1)
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From page 126... ...
was conducted in FY 2001 to $5.5 address processes that determine the nature of deep convection in and near million the East Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone; the evolution of the vertical structure of the atmospheric boundary layer; and how sea-air coupling affects ocean mixed-layer dynamics and sea surface temperature in the East Pacific warm pool. NOAA and Mexico also provided research facilities.
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From page 127... ...
The campaign brought together observations from ground stations, aircraft, and satellites. MIRAGE-Mex was organized by NCAR-ACD on behalf of the atmospheric sciences community and included support from NOAA, DOE, and Mexico.
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As the atmospheric sciences have become more complex, conducting field programs has presented new challenges for ATM in determining how to support these efforts, including: . Increased demand for facilities.
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It is becoming increasingly difficult to access older data from the standard observing network and from field programs because changing technology and analysis packages make these datasets more difficult to analyze. Even when the data are readily available, there are no standardized plotting/analysis software packages available.
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. However, NSF's new procedures for reviewing field programs (NSF, 2005a)
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From page 131... ...
ATM has not yet clearly articulated mechanisms for supporting field programs that require continuous, longer-term (i.e., up to multiyear) deployment and observations not available from operational monitoring networks.
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From page 132... ...
• Numerous projects through UCAR Education and Outreach (funded by NASA) • Summer colloquium for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers Cooperative • Provide facility for graduate and undergraduate research agreements for • Provide venue for REU programs (MIT Haystack, Arecibo, CHILL university and Radar)
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From page 133... ...
Thus, highly talented students may be unaware of career opportunities in the atmospheric sciences or of many possible applications of training in the atmospheric sciences to other careers. While there is not a shortage of applicants for graduate studies, it is not clear that a sufficient number of top students are being attracted to the field (Vali et al., 2002)
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Graduate Fellows • 4 NASA predoctoral fellowships • Protégés contributing to the scientific community • 67 oral presentations at national or regional conferences or meetings • 122 posters at national or regional conferences or meetings • 12 refereed, protégé co-authored published papers from SOARS® research The significant national investment in an excellent university infrastructure, a large national center in the atmospheric sciences, and other laboratories and institutions also warrants increased efforts to engage more extremely bright students in the atmospheric sciences. In particular, NCAR offers numerous exciting opportunities for aspiring scientists.
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From page 135... ...
Better communicating the potential career opportunities afforded by a degree in atmospheric sciences, both within the field and in other careers that require strong analytical and technical skills, may also attract students to the field. Likewise, lectures given at minority-serving institutions, liberal arts colleges, and junior colleges can help find and attract talented students who would not otherwise know about the opportunities in the atmospheric sciences.
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