# Presentation: 228044

## Review of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research  (CICOR) A Presentation to the NOAA Science Advisory Board

**Dr. Frank L. Kudrna**
**Chair, CICOR Review**
- November 9, 2005

## Outline

- Purpose
- Issue
- Overview and Background
- Major Findings of the Review
- Recommendations for CICOR and NOAA
- SAB Action

## Purpose

- To request the Science Advisory Board to approve the review committee report.
- To request the Science Advisory Board to consider the recommendations to NOAA

## Issue

- Review of CICOR
- Standards for review
- Competition of joint institutes

## Committee Membership

**Frank L. Kudrna, Ph.D.,** member of the NOAA Science Advisory Board, member of the Sea Grant National Advisory Panel and CEO of Kudrna & Associates Engineers.
**Michael J. McPhaden, Ph.D., **Senior Research Science and Director of Tropical Atmosphere and Ocean (TAO) Array Project Office at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Washington.
**Andrew A. Rosenberg, Ph.D., **Professor of Natural Resources in the** **Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire
**LuAnne Thompson, Ph.D., **Associate Professor**, **School of Oceanography,** **University of Washington
**Yochanan Kushnir, Ph.D., **(Ex-Officio Member),** **Director of the Cooperative Institute for Climate Applications and Research (CICAR) and Division of Ocean and Climate Physics Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University

## Overview of CICOR 

- CICOR was established in 1998 as a Joint Institute between NOAA and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and is operating under NOAA/OAR.
- The initial cooperative agreement was for a three-year period.  In 2001 a new five-year cooperative agreement was signed.
- In addition, CICOR maintains a relationship with Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory  (GLERL) their “host” in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami and the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle, and several other joint institutes including the Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research (CILER), the Joint Institute for Marine Observation (JIMO), the Joint Institute for Marine Atmospheric Research (JIMAR) and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS).

## Executive Summary 

- Impressive scientist and quality of science
- Strong relationship to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
- Rapid response HAB’s
- Limited Task 1 dollars and Recompetition
- Capacity building involving national and international collaboration
- Woods Hole education efforts
- Strong engagement to broader NOAA

## Recommendations for CICOR

- Even though CICOR, located at Wood Hole, is located at the same location with the Woods Hole Sea Grant Program, there is little direct connection to Extension Outreach.  It is recommended that CICOR and its NOAA partners consider a specific extension outreach element in each of its work orders and consider utilizing Sea Grant as an element of implementation.
- CICOR should continue to work in developing diversity within their program.
- CICOR should strengthen its strategic planning process to enable it to support NOAA.
- CICOR should seek greater and broader engagement of NOAA labs and other line organizations, especially broader engagement of the neighboring NMFS laboratory.

## Recommendations for CICOR, cont’d

- CICOR should strengthen its Fellows committee, both through greater scheduled engagements and through broadening the Fellows committee including increasing the number of MIT faculty among CICOR fellows.  The composition of the fellows committee should be flexible and based on NOAA’s strategic needs.
- CICOR should identify those program areas where additional Task I funding would be of benefit to NOAA.  Define specific funding requirements for those areas and develop a plan for how CICOR would utilize additional Task I funds.
- The coastal theme in CICOR is relatively underdeveloped relative to the Climate and Marine Ecosystems themes.  CICOR should seek ways to strengthen its coastal programs in support of NOAA mission goals.

## Recommendations for NOAA

- Even though Joint Institutes have a NOAA-wide relationship, they are perceived by some parts of NOAA as an OAR entity, and are not fully utilized by NOAA.  This perception is reflected in the wording of *Attachment 2 – Joint Institute Review Format*, which specifically refers to OAR but not the remaining portions of NOAA.  It was also notable that OAR and WHOI participants in the review regularly stated that CICOR was different from other JI’s because it is not co-locate with a NOAA laboratory, despite the fact that the NOAA Fisheries laboratory of 200 scientists is in Woods Hole Village. Clear guidance should be reiterated by the Administrator to clarify this issue and obtain full utilization of the Joint Institutes potential.  In addition, NOAA should expect interaction of CICOR with line offices other than OAR through joint planning and activities.  This should be an explicit consideration in future funding decisions.
- It is recommended that the external review team be provided with a performance summary of task assignments by NOAA funded partners indicating NOAA’s relative satisfaction with those assignments.

## Recommendations for NOAA, cont’d

- NOAA’s Joint Institute partners are greatly concerned about their future with NOAA.  In addition to the Federal Register announcement regarding new competition for Joint Institutes, clear communication by NOAA of the continued need for JI’s is critical.  NOAA’s funding of Task 1 activities was argued to be too small for the expectations of planning, capacity building and facility at education development.  NOAA should strongly consider reviewing its policy for establishing the level of Task 1 funding and what it expects from providing that funding, and whether this funding should be increased on a regular basis.  When NOAA begins its recompetition of the Joint Institutes it should carefully consider its request format so that it can continue valuable functions such as CICOR’s HAB activity, Jason support, support for ARGO floats and other unique functions performed by Joint Institutes.

## Recommendations for NOAA, cont’d

- The Science Advisory Board should annually review the guidance it provides (Attachment 2).  A definition of terms is very much needed.  For example, expressions as integrity, creativity, capacity building and efficiency and diversity were understood to mean different things by different members of our review team and clarification was not provided in the guidance.  Previous JI reviews have varied greatly in the report format.  It is strongly recommended that NOAA/Science Advisory Board provide a standard “template” to be utilized by review teams and provide consistency.
- NOAA does not have a process for input into their programming and budget activities by the Joint Institutes.  It is recommended that NOAA provide the Joint Institutes an annual opportunity to present “scientific intellectual issues” to the NOAA Research Council.  This would aid in achieving the NOAA Administrator’s goal of funding 50% of NOAA’s new research through the external community.

## Desired Outcome

- The Science Advisory Board approved the Review Committee Report
- The Science Advisory Board consider NOAA recommendations.