Scientific Steering Committee (SSC)

Updated September 2024

The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) will provide scientific leadership for the CESM project, including oversight of activities of working groups, coordination of model experiments, decision making on model definition and development.

Members

CESM Chief Scientist

Dr. David Lawrence, Chair (08/14/2023 - 08/13/2026)
NCAR-CGD Laboratory
P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000
Tel: 303-497-1384, Email: dlawren@ucar.edu

Admin Contact: Elizabeth Faircloth, Tel: 303-497-1253, Email: fair@ucar.edu

SSC Chair

Dr. Jon Petch 
Laboratory Director, NCAR-CGD Laboratory, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000
Tel: 303-497-1495, Email: petch@ucar.edu

Members (by virtue of their position)

Dr. Eric DeWeaver (NSF Representative)
National Science Foundation, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate and Large-Scale Dynamics
4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230
Tel: 703-292-8527, Email: edeweave@nsf.gov

Dr. Brian Dobbins (CESM Chief Software Engineer)
NCAR-CGD Laboratory, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000
Tel: 303-497-2170, Email: bdobbins@ucar.edu

Dr. Thomas Hauser (CISL Director)
NCAR-Computational & Information Systems Laboratory, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000
Tel: 303-492-3001,  Email: thauser@ucar.edu

Dr. Gretchen Mullendore (MMM Director)
NCAR-Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000
Tel: 303-492-3001, Email: gretchen@ucar.edu

Members (Expert Users)

Dr. Alistair Adcroft (06/01/2021 - 05/31/2025)
Program in Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University, 300 Forrestal Road, Sayre Hall, Princeton, NJ 08540-6654
Tel: 609-987-5073, Email: aadcroft@princeton.edu

Dr. Charles Koven (07/01/2020 - 06/30/2028)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd., MS 84-314, Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel: 510-486-6724, Email: cdkoven@lbl.gov

Dr. Christiane Jablonowski (06/01/2019 - 06/30/2025)
University of Michigan, Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Tel: 734-763-6238, Email: cjablono@umich.edu

Dr. Jessica E. Tierney (04/01/2020 - 03/31/2024)
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 E 4th St Tucson, AZ 85721
Tel: 520-621-5377, Email: jesst@arizona.edu

Dr. Ramalingam Saravanan (03/01/2021 - 02/28/2029)
Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, 3150 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843
Tel: 979-845-0175, Email: sarava@geos.tamu.edu

Dr. Mark Taylor (04/01/2020 - 03/31/2028)
Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, MS 1320 Albuquerque, NM 87185
Tel: 505-284-1874, Email: mataylo@sandia.gov

Dr. Nicole Lovenduski (06/01/2019 - 06/30/2025)
University of Colorado Boulder, Campus Box 450 INSTARR Boulder, CO 80309-0450
Tel: 303-492-5259, Email: nicole.lovenduski@colorado.edu

Dr. Sophie Nowicki (04/01/2018 - 03/31/2026)
SUNY Buffalo, Department of Geology, 413 Hochstetter Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260
Tel: 716-645-4335, Email: sophien@buffalo.edu

Arlene Fiore (11/11/2024 - 11/10/2028)
MIT, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Cambridge, MA 02139
Tel: 617-324-6712, Email: amfiore@mit.edu

 

Terms of Reference

Background: The Community Earth System Model (CESM) is a collaboratively developed earth system model used for many purposes, including investigations of past and current states, projections of future states, and subseasonal-to-decadal Earth system predictions. Universities, and other national and international research institutions, are key users of CESM and some are also key collaborators in the development of the model.  

 

The CESM core activity is the work to develop, evaluate, and support use of the CESM. This core activity is primarily funded and coordinated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) on behalf of NSF. Some efforts are carried out or funded externally to NCAR - these can be considered collaborative efforts and coordinated as such within this activity. 

 

The role of the SSC: The role of the SSC is to support the CESM Chief Scientist in making decisions where there are significant changes to the previously agreed outcomes or investments of the CESM activity. The SSC acts on behalf of the Director of NCAR who is delegating NSF resources to deliver the NSF activity. 

 

The SSC provides scientific and technical decisions and advice to support the CESM Chief Scientist, considering the available resources and skills available by staff involved in the CESM activity, the priorities of the community, key collaborations in the core activity and their understanding of broader science and technical priorities, nationally and internationally. 

 

The SSC is a key body for CESM core activity governance.  It will utilize the CESM Strategic Plan and any other prioritization documents to aid decisions. 

 

Membership: The membership of the SSC will be of the order of 12-15 people who have key responsibilities in investing in CESM, who are stakeholders in the delivery of CESM or related activities or who are key collaborators in CESM development or use. Those key investors and stakeholders (and the related activities) may be either internal or external to NCAR. They will have expertise in relevant science, software, or the management of large activities such as the CESM activity. Generally users of the CESM output or code will be expert in relevant areas and we will refer to these as Expert Users / Key Collaborators. 

  • The SSC will be chaired by the Director of NCAR CGD Laboratory on behalf of the NCAR Director. (NCAR resources invested in the CESM activity are delegated from the NCAR Director to the CGD Director and other NCAR Lab directors.)

  • The CESM Chief Scientist is a member of the SSC and sets the agenda of the SSC in discussion with the chair. The Chief Scientist can consult with all members for ideas for agenda items.

  • The CESM Chief Software Engineer is a member of the SSC.

  • The Director of the NCAR Computational and Information Systems Lab (CISL) is a member of the SSC as a critical contributor to the software delivery and computing resources of CESM.  Normally, at least one other NCAR lab director from MMM, HAO, or ACOM will be on the SSC, representing additional investment in the CESM Project.

  • The NSF may appoint a member to the SSC

  • Six to nine Expert Users / Key Collaborators will be members of the SSC as appointed by the Chair in consultation with the Director of NCAR and the CESM Chief Scientist.

 

The term of membership for Expert Users / Key Collaborators will be 4 years with one 4 year renewal possible if mutually agreed by the member, the Chief Scientist and the Chair. Members that are investing significant resources in the development of CESM will normally be role based and these roles will be reviewed annually.

 

Meeting length and frequency: As meetings of the SSC support CESM activity decisions, the frequency of meetings may vary but it is expected that the SSC will meet at least every other month and sometimes more frequently as needed.  The meetings will usually be 1 hour and virtual. Longer meetings may be scheduled in exceptional circumstances. A longer hybrid meeting will normally occur in conjunction with the annual CESM Workshop.

 

Decision making process: It is expected that generally items will be discussed and there will be an accepted decision across the group.  If no agreement can be found, the chair can escalate the issue to the Director of NCAR.