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Constituent Relations

Constituent Relations

Supporting NOAA's Services

NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet the Nation's economic, social, and environmental needs. Our services touch at least $3 trillion of America's economy every day.

NOAA research is at the center of all NOAA services. Our research helps improve weather forecasts and enhances navigation and aviation safety, as well as a variety of coastal services. From remote sensing to climate research and ocean exploration – our world-class scientists conduct research that contributes to public safety, healthy ecosystems, and a robust economy. Today, NOAA's research team is working with partners to build concepts for Earth-system modeling that will help answer some of our most pressing questions about the planet and how we can build disaster-resilient communities.

Maintaining an active constituent relations program ensures that OAR and NOAA leadership communicate effectively and often with their most important customers.

Collaborating for Greater Success

OAR has developed three tenets for success. We are committed to conducting and sponsoring preeminent research, providing maximum value to society, all within a culture of transparency. The OAR Executive Leadership Team prepared “Collaborating for Greater Success,” pdf highlighting strategies and tactics to meet these three goals. We are now in the process of developing metrics to measure our success and we welcome your input. Please send your comments to oar.communications@noaa.gov.

Constituent Roundtables

Constituent involvement is essential to OAR's success as we strive to define our priorities and align them with the NOAA Five-Year Research Plan. The purpose of this series of Roundtables is to solicit input from key constituents to ensure OAR's priorities reflect the needs of our current and future partners and customers.

Providing Vital Forecasts for Commerce & Transportation Roundtable (October 7, 2007)

NOAA supports the nation's commerce and transportation activities by providing information for safe, efficient, and environmentally sound transportation. Dr. Richard Spinrad, Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research brought together a diverse group of high-level constituents to provide input on NOAA’s research priorities to improve our ability to safely and efficiently move goods and people around the country and the world.

Severe Weather Research Roundtable (November 7, 2007)

The nation relies on NOAA’s data and information services to provide the right information, in the right format, at the right time so they can make the right decisions. Dr. Richard Spinrad, Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and Dr. Jack Hayes, Assistant Administrator for Weather Services, brought together a diverse group of high-level constituents to provide input to ensure NOAA’s research priorities will enable us to ensure NOAA is able to provide the observations, sophisticated forecast models, and state-of-the-art technologies our partners and customers will require in the future.

Extended Continental Shelf Roundtable (October 2, 2007)

Given the potential of the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) to expand the exclusive sovereign rights of the United States over natural resources and marine scientific research on and below the continental shelf, NOAA and its interagency partners are working to identify the benefits of delineating the U.S. ECS, and the technological components required. The purpose of this Roundtable was to solicit input from key leaders to ensure NOAA and its interagency partners ECS mapping efforts reflect the needs of our partners and customers to provide maximum value to society. Five common themes emerged during the roundtable - data collection, governance of the interagency process, partnerships, outreach and education, and the benefits of U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Great Day in the Great Lakes, NOAA 200th Anniversary Stakeholder Roundtable (Sept. 8, 2007)

NOAA’s Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Team, led by Dr. Stephen Brandt, Director, NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, sponsored a high-level stakeholder roundtable as part of a day-long NOAA 200th Anniverary celebration at the John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL. Tim Keeney, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere; Mary Glackin, Assistant Administrator for Program Planning and Integration; and Dr. Richard Spinrad, Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; were joined by stakeholders representing states, cities, tribes, industry, recreation and academics from the region for an intellectual exchange centered around NOAA’s Environmental Services in the Great Lakes.

Earth System Modeling (Aug 2, 2007)

The Earth's physical parts work together as one system, so it is important that research incorporates characteristics of the atmosphere and the oceans, as well as water in all its forms and features of ecosystems. To this end, Dr. Richard Spinrad, Assistant Administrator for NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and Dr. Alexander (Sandy) MacDonald, Deputy Director of Laboratories and Joint Institutes, led a roundtable on Earth system modeling at the University of Colorado in Boulder. A diverse group of constituents addressed the needs of Earth system models and modelers, as well as users of these valuable predictive tools.

Environmental Data & Information Services Roundtable (July 10, 2007)

The nation relies on NOAA’s data and information services to provide the right information, in the right format, at the right time so they can make the right decisions. Dr. Richard Spinrad, Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and Mary Kicza, Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services, brought together a diverse group of high-level constituents to provide input to ensure NOAA’s research priorities will enable us to provide the high quality data, sophisticated models, and scientific knowledge our partners and customers will require in the future.

Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Management (May 24, 2007)

In the coming years, integrating NOAA’s understanding, monitoring, and predicting of environmental change will be necessary to address the increasing complexity of ocean and coastal conservation and management issues. The purpose of this Roundtable was to solicit input from key leaders in the field to ensure OAR's priorities reflect the ocean and coastal ecosystem management needs of our current and future partners and customers. Four themes emerged from the Roundtable discussion – connectivity, attention to transitioning, the value of models, and the value of monitoring and observing systems.

Global Observations – Local Decisions, Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) (April 13, 2007)

More than 70 countries, the European Commission and more than 40 international organizations are supporting the development of a global Earth Observation System that, over the next decade, will revolutionize the understanding of Earth and how it works. Dr. Richard W. Spinrad, Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and NOAA Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) Timothy Keeney hosted a Constituent Roundtable in Spanish Fort, AL, to gain valuable insight as NOAA continues to develop GEOSS as an integrated system of systems.

Advanced Undersea Technologies Roundtable (March 13, 2007)

Undersea technologies allow researchers to examine, explore and study the oceans in new and inspiring ways. The purpose of this Roundtable was to solicit input from key leaders in the field to ensure OAR's priorities reflect the future undersea technology needs of our current and future partners and customers. This roundtable was held at OAR’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, WA. Dr. Eddie Bernard, PMEL Director, led participants on a tour of the laboratory following the roundtable discussions.

Building NOAA’s Weather & Water Social Science Program Roundtable (February 1, 2007)

Constituent involvement is essential for NOAA to develop a successful Weather and Water Social Science Program. This program will improve NOAA’s ability to analyze and effectively demonstrate the value of weather and water research, products and services. The purpose of this Roundtable was to solicit input from key leaders to ensure the Weather and Water Social Science Plan priorities reflect the needs of our current and future partners and customers and to ensure our efforts provide maximum value to society.

Participants will have the opportunity to review and comment on a draft of the Weather and Water Social Science Program Plan in the Fall of 2007. If you are interested in reviewing the draft plan, please contact OAR Communications.

Boston Roundtable (September 20, 2006)

This roundtable was the first in the series and was held at the headquarters of the American Meteorological Society. A wide range of topics were addressed during the discussion, including mission growth, partnerships, transitioning research to operations, education, and infrastructure. Participants focused on topics of interest to the Boston area.