This award to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) defines the manner in which UCAR will manage the National Center for Atmospheric Sciences, a Federally Funded Research & Development Center (FFRDC) of NSF, in order to conduct and support research in atmospheric sciences and related fields.
Intellectual merit:
The NCAR mission is to support, enhance and extend the capabilities of the university community, nationally and internationally; to understand the behavior of the atmospheric sciences and related systems and the global environment; and to foster the transfer of knowledge and technology for the betterment of life on Earth. To fulfill this mission NCAR will: a) Build, operate and maintain broadly accessible, shared observational facilities, computational infrastructure and databases; b) Ensure quality data stewardship and curation; c) Enhance the ability of the community to collectively explore, develop and extend its ideas; d) Facilitate the definition, construction and use of community models; e) Enable the education and development of diverse human capital for the nation's science and engineering needs; f) Attract, support and advance a quality, diverse scientific and technical staff and provide for their continued training and career advancement as befits a national center; g) Foster interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research; h) Address challenging scientific problems that require long term focus and integration across global, regional and local scales; i) Ensure the application of the best scientific understanding to recognized and emerging problems of interest to society; j) Integrate research and education in an increasingly interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary arena; k) Transfer developed technology to the U.S. Government and the private sector as appropriate; l) Conduct other activities as the awardee and NSF mutually agree upon.
Broader impacts:
As manager of the operation of NSF's strategic partnership with NCAR, UCAR will include the nation's university researchers in the full range of NCAR's scientific activities, support the education of graduate students in the atmospheric and related disciplines, and enhance the research endeavors of participating university faculty. Kindergarten to postgraduate educational activities will provide source materials and training opportunities for the integration of research and education at all ages and levels. Outreach programs specifically targeting underrepresented groups will assist them in pursuing careers in the sciences. Research and educational infrastructure needs of interest to the atmospheric and related sciences such as supercomputers, research radars, satellites, instrumented aircraft, and educational networks will be developed and deployed in support of university and government research programs. The results of NCAR research will be broadly disseminated in the scientific literature and presented in scientific meetings, and contribute to the nation's understanding of environmental issues, their societal impacts and enable informed policy and decision making.
