Fostering Public Awareness and Understanding of Atmospheric and Related Sciences
SERE's public websites provide a vast amount of information on current activities, findings and information of interest to the general public. In addition, many of SERE's programs enhance the public's awareness and understanding of science through outreach, publications, posters and public talks.
Climate Affairs
Climate Affairs provides a research and educational template to encourge as well as foster a truly multidisciplinary education and training activity. The "Affairs" template requires the following component fields: science; impacts, both on societies and on ecosystems; politics, domestic and international; policy & law; economics relating to benefit/cost assessments; and ethics & equity, which means looking at the ethical aspects of climate-society-environment interactions. CCB is fostering this template primarily for undergraduate but also for graduate education and training. While a direct linking of science and policy is considered to be multidisciplinary, it leaves out other important considerations such as climate ethics and equity issues. The program seeks to educate educators and train trainers on how to bring multidisciplinary aspects of climate into their disciplinary curricula for undergraduates and graduates.
This CCB-fostered notion has been expanded from Climate Affairs to encompass Water Affairs, El Niño Affairs, Coastal Urban Affairs, Desert Affairs, and several others within China. CCB held an international workshop during December 2006 in Hanoi, Vietnam (with funding from the World Meteorological Organization's Hydrology Program and NSF) primarily for hydrologists in South and Southeast Asia to introduce them to the multidisciplinary notion of Water Affairs. Detailed information is available at the website at www.ccb.ucar.edu/waf/.
CCB also presented the notion of Climate Affairs at COP12 (the 12th Conference of Parties) for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Nairobi, Kenya, in November 2006. The inauguration of a new center for Marginal Land Affairs in China's Heilongjiang Province took place during FY07.
The program continues to expand and be used in educational activities around the world. CCB's Director, Michael Glantz, continues to be invited to numerous conferences and workshops to introduce stakeholders to the notion of Climate Affairs. Attempts to serve as a catalyst to the development of climate, water, and/or weather programs will be continued during FY08 and FY09.
Collaborators include Khairulmaini bin Osman Salleh, University of Malaya; Claudio Caponi, WMO; Asim Zia, ASP postdoctoral fellow; Elsa Galarza, Universidad del Pacifico, Peru.
This program over time has received funding from NSF, with additional funding from the World Meteorological Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Global Programs. Seed funding from NSF was instrumental in bringing this program into existence.
International Undergraduate Conference on Climate, Water, and Weather
During FY07, a collaboration between SERE's CCB with the East China Normal University (ECNU) in Shanghai, China, culminated in the formation of an International Center for Coastal Urban Affairs, which will focus on sea level rise, among other climate, water, and weather-related issues that will face many coastal urban areas with expected changes in climate. At the outset of this Center's activities, there will be a focus on megacities on the coast.
As a first step in building interest in the Center, ECNU and NCAR are co-sponsoring a unique conference in July 2008 to bring undergraduates from universities around the world to share discussions, hear keynote speeches, and attend symposia on the science, technology, and education issues that surround climate, water, and weather. The rationale for convening such a conferences is as follows: Undergraduates from a wide range of physical and social sciences and from the humanities will be involved within a few years of graduation in making decisions about the future of their organization's environmental (especially climate change) impacts. The conference is designed to broaden their environmental vision of what they can accomplish as they enter the workforce. A planning meeting will be held in March 2008 in Shanghai to work out final details of the conference.
NSF will partially fund the conference through its support of CCB. The ECNU is providing funds for this activity as well, as is China's CAST (Chinese Academy of Science and Technology) Other sponsors are currently being sought.
Heads Up! Early Warning Systems for Climate, Water, and Weather
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| Cover of the book, edited by Michael Glantz, published by Tsinghua University Press, 2007. |
As a followup to CCB's prototype meeting on early warning systems held in March 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand, during FY07, CCB produced an edited book on early warning systems. Many early warning systems are in operation today to warn the general public, governments, and businesses about impending climate, water, and weather-related hazards, and these were compiled and defined in this publication. It was initially produced for distribution at the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) International Conference on "Secure and Sustainable Living: Social and Economic Benefits of Weather, Climate, and Water Services," held in Madrid, Spain, in March 2007. The edited book contains information about early warning systems to inform the general public about ways to make early warnings of potential threats to society and the environment more useful, usable, credible, and reliable. The book is available from CCB upon request.
The National Science Foundation continues to fund this research and capacity building activity through its support of the SERE Laboratory.
Fostering the Next Generation of Women Scientists
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| Girl Scouts at NCAR is designed and implemented by postdoctoral fellows and UCAR's Office of Education & Outreach to get girls excited about science and to motivate them to consider a career in science. Two events were held in 2007, in May and September. |
The first Girl Scouts at NCAR event entitled, "Weather and Climate: The Two Go Together" was held at NCAR in October 2004. The event was conceived and implemented by two ASP postdoctoral fellows who wanted to get girls excited about science and to motivate those girls to consider a career in science. The fellows partnered with UCAR's Office of Education and Outreach and developed a program based upon research which demonstrates that girls benefit from:
- An informal, single-sex learning environment
- Role models
- Hands-on inquiry-based activities
- Non-competitive, fun atmosphere
With the help of multiple female NCAR scientists who lend their support, the Girl Scout Event at NCAR provides a perfect learning environment to bring science to girls, while giving the girls an opportunity to earn a badge from the Girl Scouts.
In FY2007, two postdoctoral fellows, Andrea Sealy and Rebecca Anderson, took over the event planning and implementation. Two Girl Scout events were held on May 5, 2007 and on September 29, 2007 . Both events included movies of female scientists, talks by female scientists, hands-on activities with take-home workbooks and at the May event, a weather balloon launch.. The May event drew 51 Girl Scouts and the September event hosted 58, a record. The event always scores high remarks from the girls and the adults who participate. Some of this year's comments included:
“Salt can make ice melt”
“It was so fantastic it cannot be described”
“Glaciers have changed over time”
“Light is more than one color”
“Weather is cool”
“Hot water stays up top and cold water stays on the bottom”
“Glaciers reflect more sunlight that it absorbs it”
The adult volunteers' comments included:
“Great role models for the girls to see. Thank you”
‘The activities held the girls' interest, not once did any of our girls ask when this would end or complain about boredom'
Because ASP postdocs have two-year appointments, the future of this event will always hinge on new volunteers taking over every one to two years. The current organizers are looking for new fellows to make this event happen in 2008.
The Girl Scouts at NCAR Events are funded by the NSF.