Outstanding Achievement Award for the IDV

Don Murray, Jeff McWhirter and Yuan Ho (Unidata) for the design, development, support and advancement of the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV) to foster education and outreach in the geosciences. The IDV has revolutionized the way educators visualize and analyze geoscience data and has transformed the learning environment by allowing students to easily access the same databases used by scientists and forecasters inside and outside the classroom. more>

Posted: January 7, 2009

2009 Unidata Equipment Awards

Under sponsorship from the National Science Foundation, the Unidata Program Center (UPC) announces the 2009 Unidata Community Equipment Awards solicitation. A total of $100,000, including UCAR overhead, is available for awards this year. Proposals for amounts up to $20,000 will be considered. The deadline date for submitting proposals is March 16, 2009. Notification of award status will be made by mid May, 2009.

• Are you interested in participating in the Unidata program?
• Do you need to purchase or upgrade your equipment to join the Unidata program or continue your participation?
• Do you have some special datasets or an innovative tool to contribute to the Unidata community?

If the answer is yes to any of the above questions, the Unidata Equipment Awards Program will be of interest to you. We are now soliciting proposals for computer equipment purchases from academic institutions engaged in teaching and research in the geosciences. See solicitation.

Posted: January 7, 2009

GEMPAK Transition

We call your attention to a letter sent today, 2 December 2008, to the GEMBUD e-mail list. The purpose of the GEMBUD note is to update the GEMPAK community on the transition of that package. The letter details all of the steps taken by Unidata to ensure that the process is orderly and least disruptive to GEMPAK users. You may wish to consult the web page that contains information about many aspects of the GEMPAK migration as well as a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section that provides answers to many of your questions. If you have any feedback on or input to the GEMPAK transition process, please send your comments to nawipsmigration@unidata.ucar.edu.

Mohan Ramamurthy, UPC Director (mohan@ucar.edu) Steven Businger, Chair, Unidata Policy Committee (businger@hawaii.edu) Gary Lackmann, Chair, Unidata Users Committee (gary@ncsu.edu)

Posted: December 2, 2008

Successful Review of the Five-year Proposal to Continue Funding of Unidata

Earlier this year, the Unidata Program Center (UPC) submitted a five year proposal "Unidata 2013: A Transformative Community Facility for the Atmospheric and Related Sciences" to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue and enhance Unidata's role as a foundational facility for the atmospheric and related sciences.

The core-funding proposal offered a bold vision and a realistic plan to extend a successful national facility that enables transformative advances in geoscience education, research, and outreach. The plan for achieving the vision was provided through six overarching themes that were shaped by pertinent scientific and education drivers, consistent with community trends and needs, and aligned with the NSF priorities:

1. Broadening participation and expanding community services
2. Advancing data services
3. Developing and deploying useful tools
4. Enhancing user support services
5. Providing leadership in cyberinfrastructure
6. Promoting diversity by expanding opportunities

The proposal builds on the successes of the present program, its capabilities and core competencies, and its unique niche in providing robust, reliable, and comprehensive data services and tools to geoscience users. While Unidata embarks on this plan to meet the evolving needs of a broad community, the program remains firmly committed to meeting its responsibilities to the core community of researchers, educators, and students in the atmospheric sciences. The quality of services that the core community has come to expect will be both sustained as well as enhanced by the new activities, partnerships, and the resulting synergies.

Following a successful review of the proposal, the UPC is now engaged in discussions with the NSF on the terms of the five-year award. As always, we will keep the community informed on the progress of our plans and activities as the program begins a new chapter in its successful history.

Posted: December 2, 2008