This spring, the NSF Unidata Users and Strategic Advisory committees voted to approve a new organizational structure for the bodies that provide the Program with advice and guidance. Beginning with meetings in the fall of this year, the existing committees will be combined into a Community Advisory Committee that will welcome members from academia, the commercial sector, federal scientific agencies, charitable organizations, and beyond.
What the New Advisory Committee Structure Looks Like
NSF Unidata's new Community Advisory Committee will consist of 15-20 members drawn from the realms of academia (both educators and students), U.S. federal science agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. The Committee's role will be to provide feedback and advice on NSF Unidata's projects, services, and overall direction. Serving as a conduit between NSF Unidata staff and the ESS community, the Committee will ensure that the program remains community-driven, technologically current, and aligned with the needs of educators, researchers, and data users.
The Community Advisory Committee will have several standing subcommittees, first among which will be a Strategic Advisory Subcommittee made up of educators from academic institutions engaged in ESS education and research. This Subcommittee will have the primary responsibility for providing strategic advice to the NSF Unidata Director and staff. The Subcommittee's focus will be on trends in scientific research, education, and technology that are relevant to NSF Unidata Program's efforts to meet the needs of the ESS community and to achieving NSF Unidata's high-level vision.
Other subcommittees (standing or ad hoc) will focus on Program activities such as awards, outreach, and assessment of program activities. Steering committees can also be empaneled to provide technical or other guidance to specific projects. By design, these subcommittees and steering committees (with the exception of the Strategic Advisory Subcommittee) will also be open to individuals who are not currently serving on the Community Advisory Committee.
Details can be found in the Community Advisory Committee Charter.
Why Change the Advisory Committee Structure?
For most of the NSF Unidata Program's existence, it has relied on guidance from individuals associated with U.S. colleges and universities, along with representatives of federal agencies including NOAA, NASA, and USGS. Individuals serving on the Users Committee were charged with determining the attitudes of the user community toward the Unidata program, soliciting suggestions for additions to the data streams and software products, and facilitating the exchange of ideas among users on the Unidata Program and its systems. Those serving on the Policy Committee (renamed Strategic Advisory Committee in 2013) were charged with making recommendations to the Unidata Director on policies, activities, and objectives, and, by providing a "Big Picture" perspective, helping the Unidata Program better understand data and technology trends within the university Earth Systems Science (ESS) community. In addition, a variety of shorter-lived steering committees provided Program Center staff with help and guidance related to specific projects or technical efforts.
While the dual-committee structure served the Unidata Program admirably, in recent years committee members and Program Center staff noticed that:
- The activities of the two primary committees had become more similar, and in fact many members spent time serving on both, but that opportunities for interaction between the committees were less frequently available.
- There was an increasing desire for information about the commercial efforts within the ESS technology sphere that overlapped with, or complemented, the efforts of the Unidata Program.
These realizations led to the conclusion that combining the Users and Strategic Advisory Committees into a single group might be beneficial, especially if that group could also welcome representatives from a wider array of organizations. Working with staff from the Program Center, committee members drafted a new committee charter over the past several years. The charter was discussed extensively at a joint meeting of the two committees in the fall of 2026. After incorporating minor changes that came out of that meeting, the new committee charter was adopted by a joint session of the two committees this spring.
How You Can Get Involved
The NSF Unidata Program benefits greatly from broad community participation. Here are some ways community members can participate in guiding the Program's activities:
- Nominate someone (maybe yourself?) to serve on the Community Advisory Committee. We are looking for individuals from the private sector, non-governmental organizations, academia, and elsewhere with interest and expertise in making ESS data widely available and usable. Nominations for committee membership can be made using the Advisory Committee Nomination Form.
- Share your thoughts on the NSF Unidata Program with us at community_services@unidata.ucar.edu.
The Community Advisory Committee is working on creating additional avenues for community involvement, including defining ways to suggest creation of or volunteer to serve on Steering committees, make suggestions directly to the committee, or otherwise participate in NSF Unidata's community process.
We're excited for this new phase of the Unidata community project!
https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/news/reimagining-nsf-unidatas-advisory-committees
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Boreas Penguin
UCAR Chief Penguin
UCAR, UCP and NSF NCAR
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