AUGUST 2025
Dear Colleagues,
I hope you have enjoyed the summer and had the opportunity to take some time to relax and recharge. It has been a busy time here at UCAR and NSF NCAR, as we hosted more than 130 interns and student visitors as well as participants in our annual Undergraduate Leadership Workshop. The summer culminated with the 2025 Summer Student Conference, in which students from 13 programs presented their research through talks, panel discussions, and poster sessions. It is deeply inspiring to see the talent and enthusiasm of the next generation of scientists, as well as the dedication of our staff and mentors who make the programs a success.
I am cautiously encouraged to see that the outlook for federal science funding has brightened somewhat in recent months. House and Senate appropriators are advancing bills that would moderate the cuts that had been proposed in President Trump's budget for next fiscal year, although the funding picture is still tight. The administration, for example, had called for cutting NSF by more than 50%, while the House bill contains a 23% cut and the Senate bill keeps funding flat. Similarly, whereas the president has proposed cutting both NOAA and NASA by about 24%, the House bill would cut NOAA by 6% and keep NASA funding flat, while the Senate version would keep funding roughly flat for both NOAA and NASA.
It remains far too early to predict the final funding numbers, as Congress and the administration need to negotiate both the top-line budgets as well as spending priorities. It should also be noted that next year's spending will be subject to the science priorities determined by each federal agency and congressional guidance. The House and Senate bills, however, serve as an important reminder that the president's budget proposal is just a starting point in the monthslong appropriations process. Apart from the administration's budget marks, this is shaping up to resemble a normal appropriations process for science agencies. I very much appreciate the bipartisan support in Congress for science funding, which I also observed on my visits to congressional offices in June, when I was in Washington, D.C.
We are revamping our government relations efforts as we focus more intensely on educating our nation's policymakers about the vital importance of advancing Earth system science for our nation. We have brought a team of outside experts onboard, led by Strategies 360, and are in the process of hiring a Government Relations Manager. The UCAR office in Washington, D.C., located next to Capitol Hill, continues to serve as a staging ground for multiple scientific community visits to engage policy stakeholders, including Hill visits for UCAR leadership during our June Board of Trustees meeting in Washington. We are also coordinating closely with such organizations as Friends of NOAA and the Coalition for National Science Funding as we all work together to highlight the central role that research plays in our society.
As part of our efforts, we have engaged with consultants to put together a major campaign called "Research Works" that highlights how our work is helping specific populations, ranging from farmers and military personnel to communities at risk from hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. It demonstrates the importance of our partnerships with the federal government and academia, as well as with businesses ranging from car manufacturers to insurers to aerospace companies. By showing how we are translating research into solutions, our message to Congress is that Earth system science research is critical to public safety, economic competitiveness, and national security. For more about the campaign, see the Research Works website.
We are also inviting UCAR member representatives to participate in visits to congressional offices, either in the nation's capital or in home districts. This is enormously important because members of Congress and their staff are far more likely to take action when they hear directly from their own constituents. Our government relations team is helping to schedule these meetings and to provide training about creating messages that focus on local impacts and how your university is benefitting those who live in the surrounding area. Moreover, UCAR has some funding available to send member reps to Washington. Member reps who are interested in participating in this vital initiative should contact Aneka Finley Erhart in our Governance and University Relations office at afinley@ucar.edu.
We will be building on these efforts at our annual Members Meeting in early October. The meeting will feature an in-depth workshop on communicating with policymakers, as well as presentations and discussions about other timely topics, such as identifying sources of non-federal funding, supporting students in a changing political environment, and the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in education and research. I hope to see many of you there.
I am very pleased to share the new NSF NCAR Strategic Plan, which will guide the center's research and development efforts through the end of 2029. It focuses on four themes: building national resilience, understanding the Earth system, empowering the scientific community, and inspiring our scientific future. My heartfelt congratulations to NSF NCAR Director Everette Joseph and the many others, both internal and external, who worked on this important document.
Finally, I want to congratulate the participants in two successful NSF-funded field campaigns that involved NSF NCAR collaborating with principal investigators and partners across the Earth system science community.
The In-situ Collaborative Experiment for the Collection of Hail In the Plains (ICECHIP) field campaign, which took place this spring, was the first major U.S. hail field campaign in over 40 years. It resulted in detailed observations of hailstorms and the collection of more than 10,000 hailstones for analysis, which will lead to better forecasts of a hazard that cost $35 billion last year. This summer, the Greater New York Oxidant, Trace Gas, Halogen, and Aerosol Airborne Mission (GOTHAAM) campaign is studying atmospheric chemistry above the New York metropolitan area in order to better understand the sources and evolution of air pollution in that heavily populated region.
These projects are just two recent examples of the enduring importance of Earth system science in contributing to the safety, health, and economic vitality of our nation.
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Boreas Penguin
UCAR Chief Penguin
UCAR, UCP and NSF NCAR
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