Science Perspectives
on the CCSP Strategic Plan

Dr. Bruce Alberts

"I highly commend Jim Mahoney for his insistence on soliciting the widest possible scientific input into the US government's important Strategic Plan for Climate Change Science. As our government sets national priorities for global change research, it is critical that it have access to leading scientists. I am of course especially pleased that he has asked the National Academies to conduct an open, high quality review of both the draft and revised versions of the Strategic Plan. Our committee chaired by Thomas Graedel of Yale University has already reviewed the draft strategic plan, working to provide constructive advice for its revision. This committee will continue to provide useful guidance to the Climate Change Science Program from a group of the nation's best scientists, and it will meet again this August to begin its review of the revised Strategic Plan."

Dr. Bruce Alberts
President, National Academy of Sciences
Member, National Academy of Sciences

(Available for comment through the NAS Press Office by contacting Bill Skane at 202-334-2138)

Dr. Richard Anthes

"This is an excellent document describing the importance of climate change and presenting a strategy for advancing our understanding of the climate system, how it varies, and how it changes. Among many important highlights are the emphases on improving the global climate observing system and on advancing models of the climate and Earth system. Enhancements in both areas are very much needed to accelerate progress on observing, understanding and predicting the climate system and using this information to serve society. I look forward to seeing how the Administration moves forward to implement this plan."

Dr. Richard Anthes
President, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)

(Available for comment at 303-497-1652)

Dr. Eric J. Barron

The Strategic Plan for the Climate Change Science Program is based on a clear vision and includes a set of objectives that are very responsive to the needs of the scientific community and the nation. The program is question-driven, and is dense with milestones, products and payoffs from the proposed research. This is an ambitious program that, when realized, will maintain U.S. leadership in climate and global change research. The report is directly responsive to the broad range of National Research Council reports designed to support and enable climate and global change research. The new emphasis on decision-support and on the communication of results, including their level of certainty, is to be applauded. Without a doubt, this investment in research will yield tangible benefits that help protect life and property, promote economic vitality, and enable environmental stewardship, as well as promote a greater fundamental understanding of the Earth system.

Dr. Eric J. Barron
Dean, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Distinguished Professor of Geosciences
Pennsylvania State University
Chairman, Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, National Academy of Sciences

(Available for comment at 814-865-6546)

Dr. William C. Clark

"This strategic plan for Federal government research on climate and global change constitutes a substantial step toward assuring that concerned decision makers working at the national and international policy level will have available the most useful possible science-based knowledge to support their deliberations. It is the product of a creative and commendable year-long process that has brought new levels of transparency, consultation, and responsiveness to the government's research planning process. While some pieces of the plan are still underdeveloped, and continued refinement will surely be necessary, the big question now is whether the program will be granted sufficient management authority and budgetary resources to achieve its goals. But this document is sufficiently specific about those goals, the priority actions and targets for achieving them, and the Cabinet-level accountability for success, that within two years it should be unambiguously clear whether this Administration has the political will to realize the scientific potential of this valuable and far-reaching effort."

Dr. William Clark
Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
Member, National Academy of Sciences

(Available for comment by contacting MaryAnne Baumgartner, at 617-496-7466)

Dr. Ellis B. Cowling

"My impression regarding the U. S. Climate Change Science Program's July 2003 Strategic Plan is very positive for the following reasons:

1. The research will be developed according to a structured plan that includes specific scientific and policy questions -- many of which have been provided in recent special reports by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council.
2. The Strategic Plan recognizes explicitly that the United States must join with other nations of the world in dealing with what is clearly a common problem of significance for all peoples of the world and is open to participation by all stakeholders including representatives from a wide range of universities and non-government organizations including industry, trade associations, and public interest groups in the US and abroad.
3. The Strategic Plan recognizes the appropriate and distinctive roles that should be played by scientists and engineers, policy analysts, decision makers, and professional communicators and that the proper role for scientists, engineers, and policy analysts is to provide responses to questions from decision makers that take the general form: "If this management option were selected, then that outcome would be expected." "If this other control option were selected then that other outcome would be expected." "If this" ... "then that.""

Dr. Ellis B. Cowling
University Distinguished Professor At-Large
College of Forest Resources
North Carolina State University
Director, Southern Oxidants Study (SOS)
Member, National Academy of Sciences

(Available for comment at 919-515-7564 or 716-357-2235)

Dr. Richard Hallgren

"The plan moves climate science in the right direction. It continues the areas of research of the GCRP and expands efforts in such areas as ecosystems, human dimension, sustainable global observation, and applied climate modeling. The proposed efforts to develop information to assist in the formulation of policy and/or management decisions to adapt and mitigate climate variability and change is very timely. The next major challenge is to develop detailed implementation plans and to obtain the substantial support required."

Dr. Richard Hallgren
Executive Director Emeritus
American Meteorological Society

(Available for comment on 7/24-7/25 at 202-737-9006, x413)

Dr. Henry Jacoby

"More than a dozen different federal agencies have some involvement with the threat of climate change, and research to understand it, so it is a daunting challenge to harness the considerable US intellectual resources in the design of an appropriate response. The CCSP Strategic Plan, itself a huge effort, is an essential and welcome step in that direction. It sets the stage for the next task, which is the coordination of research budgets in light of the Plan, and institutional realization of its vision of integrated decision support."

Dr. Henry "Jake" Jacoby
Professor of Management, Economics, Finance, and Accounting (EFA)
Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Co-Director, MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change

(Available for comment on 7/23-7/25 at 617-253-6609)

Dr. Charles F. Kennel

"As world-renowned oceanographer Roger Revelle once remarked, 'mankind has embarked on a great one-time geophysical experiment.' Although the outcome of mankind's climate change experiment is unclear, the potential consequences are profound and will impact every citizen on Earth. We at Scripps Institution of Oceanography are encouraged by this cabinet-level plan to accelerate research on climate change."

Dr. Charles F. Kennel
Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
Former Chairman, Committee on Global Change Research, National Academy of Sciences
Member, National Academy of Sciences

(Available for comments after Monday, 7/28, through Scripps Communications by contacting Mario Aguilera at 858-534-3624)

Dr. Berrien Moore

"I have read with care the Strategic Plan for the Climate Change Science Program. It is my view that both the Plan and the Process used in developing the Plan reflect a welcome and refreshing openness to confront the significant scientific issues posed by climate variability and change. The Goals and Priorities are appropriate and consistent with findings of the Committees of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences as well as the Third Assessment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change."

Dr. Berrien Moore
Director, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space
University of New Hampshire
Former Chairman, Committee on Global Change Research, National Academy of Sciences

(Available for comment by contacting Pam Wildes at 603-862-1766)

Dr. William K. Riley

Dr. William K. Riley
President and CEO, Aqua International Partners, L.P.
Former Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency

(Available for comment at 415-743-1542 or through his assistant, Eva Rasick, at 415-743-1549)

Dr. Karl Turekian

Dr. Karl Turekian
Director, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies
Silliman Professor of Geology and Geophysics
Yale University
Member, National Academy of Sciences

(Available for comment at 203 432-3188)