Center News
Science Policy Assessment and Research on Climate Proposal
The Center spearheaded preparation of a grant proposal under the National Science Foundation’s Decision Making Under Uncertainty program. The proposal recognizes that society’s strategy for responding to and preparing for climate change in the face of ongoing uncertainty hinges upon the relationship between science policy decisions and climate policy decisions, a relationship that has never been systematically examined. The proposed project— Science Policy Assessment and Research on Climate (SPARC)—will help fill this gap through a focus on four interconnected areas of science policy decision making where uncertainty strongly influences how knowledge is made available to society for responding to climate change, namely:
- how climate research agendas are developed and implemented (Project on Reconciling Supply and Demand)
- how specific issues are prioritized given the multiple causes of global environmental change (Project on Sensitivity Analyses)
- how model output uncertainties are interpreted (Project on Model Characterization)
- how the framing of science and policy priorities in the face of uncertainty is influenced by human values (Project on Values and Uncertainty).
The 5-year, $7 million proposal involves 16 researchers from the University of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, University of Denver, National Center for Atmospheric Research, American Meteorological Society, and University of California-San Diego.
University of Colorado to Offer Graduate Certificate in Science and Technology Policy
In recognition of society’s growing need for persons with expertise at the intersection of science, technology, and decision making policy, the University of Colorado at Boulder recently approved a new Graduate Certificate in Science and Technology Policy, which will be coordinated by the CIRES Center for Science and Technology Policy Research. A parallel certificate is being offered at the Colorado School of Mines, and students will have an opportunity to take classes at both campuses.
The program is currently soliciting applications for its first cohort of students. The application deadline is Friday, November 14, and a decision on acceptance will be made by Friday, December 19. All University of Colorado-Boulder graduate students are eligible to apply.
University of Colorado faculty members participating in the program are from a variety of departments, institutes and programs, including Geography, Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Studies, Law, Health Sciences, CIRES, INSTAAR, Interdisciplinary Telecommunications, Computer Science, and Journalism.
The certificate program, which will enroll its first cohort of students for the spring 2004 semester, will require completion of 18 hours of approved coursework including three proposed new courses (“Science and Technology Policy”, “Science, Technology and Society”, and “Methods of Policy Analysis and Research”) as well as three additional courses from a list of approved electives.
For more information about the program and application process please see the certificate program website or contact Roger Pielke at pielke@colorado.edu or Carl Mitcham at mitcham@mines.edu.
Center’s Newly Designed Website Now Online
The Center’s website underwent a facelift last June. Our webmaster, Mark Lohaus, redesigned the site to make it cleaner, more attractive, and easier to navigate. The home page now features an up-to-date listing of upcoming events, announcements, highlighted publications, and recent media references to the Center. Visitors can quickly access the Center’s most popular projects, including current and past issues of Ogmius, through a list of “quick clicks” on the right side of the home page. The site continues to provide information about the Center, a complete list of Center publications, and resources for the media. Please visit the new site.
Center’s 2002-03 Annual Report Now Available
The 2002-03 Annual Report for the Center is now available online. For a hard copy please contact ami@cires.colorado.edu. The report summarizes activities and developments at the Center over the last year which include a symposium on science technology, and security, a study of the effectiveness of municipal water restrictions during the 2002 drought, publication of Bob Frodeman’s book Geo-Logic, approval of a graduate certificate program in science and technology policy, receipt of an NSF grant to study competing scientific understandings of the Amazon’s role in the global climate cycle, initiation of several internship programs, and the addition of staff. The report also includes a complete list of 2002-03 publications and talks by Center staff.
Natural Resource Law Center’s 24th Annual Water Law Conference
The Western Water Assessment cosponsored the Natural Resource Law Center’s 24th annual water law conference entitled “Water, Climate and Uncertainty: Implications for Western Water Law, Policy, and Management” on June 11-13, 2003 in Boulder. The conference brought together over 150 scientists, water managers, policy makers, and attorneys to discuss the connections between science, policy, and law in the context of global climate change. Three of the Center’s staff members participated. Martyn Clark moderated a panel that addressed the question how seriously to take climate models, projections, and probabilities. Bobbie Klein presented a poster summarizing her project with Doug Kenney, “Use and Effectiveness of Municipal Water Restrictions During Drought in Colorado.” Roger Pielke participated in a panel discussion that attempted to tie the conference’s themes together.
GCCS Summer Speaker Series
The Global Climate Change and Society (GCCS) 2003 session brought three distinguished speakers to Boulder to address various aspects of global climate change:
- Professor John Robinson of the Sustainable Development Research Initiative and Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia spoke about the relationship between climate science and sustainability on July 14 and 15.
- Professor Bruce Foltz of Eckerd College’s philosophy department addressed the philosophical and theological dimensions of global climate change on July 21 and 22.
- Vicki Arroyo, Director of Policy Analysis for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change spoke about the environmental impacts of climate change, economics, and domestic policy issues on July 28 and 29.
New Directions Conference at Penn State University
The New Directions in the Earth Sciences and the Humanities and Real World Experiments Programs sponsored a conference at Penn State University October 9-11, entitled “New Directions in Interdisciplinary Research: A Conference in Real World Experiments.” The conference sought to further goals shared by ND and RWE: develop tools for the planning and implementation of scientifically reliable and socially robust approaches of environmental design; identify the specific contribution of the humanities to environmental solutions; and make scientific information more pertinent to society.
The outcomes achieved include: improving the usefulness of public science; providing new venues for citizen and stakeholder participation in environmental decision making; gaining insight into the nature of interdisciplinary research and dialogue; and expressing the human dimensions of our relationship with the environment.
Visiting Fellows at CIRES - Applicants Wanted!!
The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) under the sponsorship of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is offering up to six one-year Visiting Fellowships at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
This is open to scientists with research interests in the areas of the new CIRES Research Themes and includes science and technology policy research.
Awards may be made to Ph.D. scientists at all levels and faculty planning sabbatical leave. Recent Ph.D. recipients and those affiliated with minority institutions are especially encouraged to apply. Selections for this Visiting Fellows Program are based in part on the likelihood of interactions between the Visiting Fellows and the scientists at CIRES and the degree to which both parties will benefit from the exchange of new ideas. To further this goal, priority is given to candidates with research experience at institutions outside the Boulder scientific community.
The program is open to scientists of all countries, and appointments can begin at any time during the year. Salary is commensurate with qualifications, current salary and cost of living considerations. The Fellow will be eligible for benefits, office space, telephone and computer facilities, and a small moving and start-up allowance.
Visiting Fellowships are potentially renewable for a second year, provided supplemental funding is available.
For more information http://cires.colorado.edu/visfell/vf.html.
Report on Center Graduate Research Assistants Internships
This past summer two of the Center’s Graduate Research Assistants interned in fields related to science and technology policy.
Genevieve Maricle, a Graduate Research Assistant for the Center and Western Water Assessment, interned with the House Science Committee staff. The House Science Committee drafts and approves legislation that establishes policy for certain areas of science including climate change. Genevieve studied the decision making processes of the committee to determine what information the research community could provide that would facilitate those processes. She also contributed to specific legislation relating to climate change policy such as identifying the needs of users of climate change science.
Jessica Lang, another Graduate Research Assistant for the Center and Western Water Assessment, interned with the City of Westminster water utility department. Jessica studied how municipal water managers make decisions about water supply and demand in order to identify how climate information could be useful to water managers, and assisted water managers in developing strategies for decision making in the absence of scientific certainty.
