Director's Message

Peter Backlund, Interim SERE Director

	Peter Backlund, Interim SERE Director

The Societal-Environmental Research and Education (SERE) Laboratory houses the Advanced Study Program (ASP), the Center for Capacity Building (CCB), a new entity created in 2005, and the Institute for the Study of Society and Environment (ISSE).

Through its three components, SERE promotes inter- and multidisciplinary research activities, engages in human and institutional capacity building and research related to climate/ environment/ societal interactions, and develops and sustains partnerships between NCAR scientists and their colleagues in universities and other institutions. SERE supports undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate education and lifelong professional development activities.

SERE's primary focus is on two of the NCAR strategic goals: increasing societal resilience to weather, climate, and other atmospheric hazards, and cultivating a scientifically literate and engaged citizenry and a diverse and creative workforce. The research, outreach and educational activities in the SERE Lab contributed to almost every one of the NCAR strategic priorities in these two areas during FY2006.

SERE also plays an important role in pursuing NCAR's strategic goal of improving understanding of the atmosphere, the Earth system, and the Sun. ISSE research and computer modeling are contributing to improved understanding of the effects of climate change on ecosystems, and ISSE scientists, in collaboration with RAL and EOL, are making important strides in investigating the interactions of the atmosphere, the broader Earth system, and human society.

In addition, it is important to note that SERE's ASP postdoctoral fellows contribute to research activities under all five NCAR strategic goals. These two-year appointments encourage the development of young scientists in the field of atmospheric science, direct attention to timely scientific areas needing special emphasis, and help NCAR and the community prepare for the future through the professional development of early career researchers. Approximately 10 new appointments are made annually for positions throughout the five NCAR Labs. Advances in these areas will be reported on separately within the NCAR Annual Report.

Accomplishments

In FY2006, SERE diversified and broadened our research, education and outreach activities, resulting in a number of successful endeavors. SERE has forged new relationships with researchers and institutions in Central and South America, while maintaining our strong ties to our North American, European, and Asian counterparts.  Through the FY2006 expansion of Climate Affairs regional centers in China and the creation of a Spanish website on El Niño Affairs, the Center for Capacity Building has helped to broaden NCAR's reach.

Supported by special funding from NSF, the ASP continued its collaboration with the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) by hosting an inaugural two-week colloquium for students, professionals, and researchers from North and South America.  This was one of nine national and international workshops and colloquia organized by SERE in FY2006 to bring together scientists, stakeholders, and researchers from around the globe from a broad set of backgrounds to assist in crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries. ASP also selected the first two IAI-ASP postdoctoral fellows during FY2006. A new ISSE Deputy Director, Paty Romero-Lankao, was hired in July from Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City, bringing new expertise in sustainability science, urban environments, and human impacts on the carbon cycle to NCAR.

The second biannual Colloquium on Science and Health was organized by ISSE and held in Boulder 16-22 July 2006, and exposed graduate and postgraduate students to methods for integrating climate change, climate variability and public health research. It included presentations, opportunities for students to discuss integrated work with leaders in their respective fields, and gain hands-on experience with analytic tools.

SERE also made significant enhancements to our educational activities through ASP's launch of a new Graduate Student Visitor program and expansion of its Faculty Fellowship Program. The new Graduate Visitor Program provides support to graduate students in pursuit of their thesis research for three- to twelve-month periods. The Center for Capacity Building expanded its Climate Affairs Program during FY2006 to include two more centers in China and held an international, interdisciplinary workshop for Southeast Asia with support from NSF and the Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research. More on all of these programs can be found in this report.

FY2007 Plans

In FY2007, research will continue into a variety of climate/environment/societal interactions, including analyses of regional modeling results in and further development of the scenarios in the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP), validation of model projections of climate extremes and extreme events, and evaluation of the implications of future changes in hydrology for water system planning and management. ISSE scientists will also continue to collaborate with scientists in California to stay on the forefront of California's climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

ASP will continue the core elements of its program, including monthly seminars, bi-weekly research reviews, and monthly socials, along with the annual research planning sessions and ongoing mentoring that postdoctoral fellows receive. CCB will continue the development of several interactive museum exhibits that concentrate on climate-society interactions and will promote the further expansion of regional climate affairs activities by means of workshops and presentations at the UNFCCC COP-12 meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.

In summary, SERE continued to carry out a host of challenging, innovative projects, programs, and research activities during FY2006. This Lab Annual Report provides summary information and highlights, but does not embrace the entire scope of our research due to space limitations. I encourage readers who desire additional more detailed information to visit the SERE website.