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D
National Weather Service Offices
Collocated with Academic Institutions:
Summary of Questionnaire Responses
When Colocation Occurred: Colocation of National these does not appear to be correlated with how close
the NWS offices are to the campuses, although true
Weather Service (NWS) offices on or near the cam-
colocation seems to have provided clear benefits.
puses of universities occurred between 1993 and 1998
with the earliest being in State College, PA, around
Three of the five “On Campus Offices” (WFO Hono-
1993 (Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center [RFC]
lulu, WFO Raleigh, and WFO Tucson) report very
and Weather Forecast Office [WFO] State College)
extensive bidirectional interactions, while the other
and the most recent being WFO Fairbanks in 1998.
two (WFO Fairbanks and NHC Florida) report no
In some of these cases, interactions had already begun
“regular” interactions, with interactions being more on
prior to colocation, in the 1980s, and had progressively
an as-needed basis.
increased through COMET, internship, and other
programs.
Very strong, mutually beneficial interactions appear
How Close NWS Offices Are to Campus: F ive of to have developed at WFO Raleigh (North Carolina
State University). These include NWS-hosted intern-
the NWS offices interviewed are located on campus
ship courses offered for credit and with competitive
(National Hurricane Center [NHC] Florida, WFO
selection of students (the course was highlighted in
Fairbanks, WFO Honolulu, WFO Raleigh, and WFO
the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Tucson). Three offices are located adjacent or close to
in October 2005), monthly integration of students into
campus from a few blocks to a 25-minute walk (NWS
NWS activities and projects, participation of NWS
Albany, WFO Rapid City, and WFO Denver/Boul-
staff in the NCSU student chapter of AMS, collabora-
der). Five offices are located in the same city (Middle
tive projects funded through CSTAR and COMET,
Atlantic RFC, WFO Reno, WFO San Francisco,
and research meetings/workshops many times a year
WFO Seattle, and WFO State College)—though
to discuss successes and challenges of funded research,
technically on campus they are in a research park or
meteorological challenges for focus in future research
annex about one to three miles away. In cases where
proposals, data gathering efforts, etc. Beneficial interac-
there is lack of true colocation, this appears to be a
tions at WFO Tucson (University of Arizona) include
disadvantage, as discussed later.
research collaboration, communicating weather, water
How Successful Colocation Is with Regard to Regu- and climate issues to the community, and providing an
lar Interaction: The results here appear to be some- academic institution easy access to an operationally ori-
ented organization. Within any one year period, WFO
what varied but, overall, the responses indicate suc-
Tucson is usually involved in two research projects with
cessful sustained, regular, and beneficial bidirectional
faculty and graduate students, jointly conducts press
interactions at 9 of the 12 NWS offices. The extent of
95
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96 APPENDIX D
conferences on science issues and participates in three warnings); (5) access to unique datasets (imagery and
to five meetings associated with integrating advances high-resolution/ensemble model runs) that would not
in science into an operational setting. Similar benefits otherwise be available; (6) access to robust Internet
appear to be realized at WFO Honolulu (University connections; (7) being able to identify top students for
of Hawaii). recruitment; and (8) continuing education of NWS
employees. However the latter suffers from inadequate
Similarly the three “Near Campus Offices” report fairly funding support. Outreach is also improved by being
successful interactions. WFO Denver/Boulder reports able to take advantage of university outreach programs
multiple daily interactions ranging from weather brief- and career fairs. In the case of WFO Honolulu, the
ings to side-by-side work in the forecast operations collaboration results in Hawaii-specific research on
area, regular interactions such as project and science issues that would not be studied without University
presentations and participation in seminars and work- participation and resources.
shops at NCAR, UCAR, CIRES (University of Colo-
rado) and CIRA (Colorado State University) providing Again, the most extensive benefits appear to be at
strong educational experiences for NWS staff. NWS WFO Albany, WFO Denver/Boulder, WFO Raleigh,
Albany is engaged in active CSTAR grants, hosts 16 and WFO Tucson, these being the ones reporting the
University of Albany interns each year, employs two to most active and extensive interactions. In fact, WFO
three students per year, and benefits from University Denver/Boulder reports that one academic actually
conference facilities. The WFO Rapid City reports works a forecast shift once a month under the supervi-
participation in seminars, substitute teaching, a severe sion of a lead forecaster and often joins the discussion
weather spotter class by the WCM, collaborative of the forecast on other days. In another vein, Raleigh
research meetings, and the SOO serving on thesis and reports being able to take advantage of the NCSU
dissertation committees. recycling program to properly dispose of an estimated
one-half ton of recycled materials.
Three of the four “Same City” offices in Pennsylvania
How Colocation Impacts University Functions:
(Middle Atlantic RFC, WFO Reno, and WFO State
College) report extensive student engagement (some Colocation appears to benefit University functions at
leading to careers with the NWS) that provides “hydro- most of the locations, through (1) guest lectures and/
logic familiarization training” to meteorology students, or teaching provided by NWS staff; (2) participation
including some teaching. WFO San Francisco reports in collaborative research opportunities and grant pro-
limited interactions. WFO Seattle benefitted from posals—both directly and through letters of support;
and contributed to the collaboration with University (3) participation on student thesis committees; (4)
of Washington atmospheric scientists on the science participation in (and providing data and projects for)
of weather forecasting. This led to improvements in student term projects; (5) easier student/faculty access
the understanding of the local weather of the Pacific to radar/precipitation products; (6) internships, career
Northwest. University of Washington atmospheric sci- experiences, and employment opportunities provided
entists did a lot to improve weather observations locally to students; (7) input provided regarding faculty hires;
and WFO Seattle benefitted from this. and (8) ability of University to tout the nearby NWS
forecasting facilities and internship opportunities to
How Colocation Impacts NWS Functions: C o- help them recruit and retain top students. Conversely,
location appears to benefit NWS functions at most of it appears that numerous students at collocated Uni-
the offices, through (1) improved precipitation forecasts versities take advantage of NWS career opportunities.
during some heavy rainfall events; (2) feedback from
faculty; (3) student involvement in operational fore- Again, WFO Raleigh reports very extensive benefits
casting and data collection; (4) shared research projects from the close partnership including sharing of data
(resulting in more rapid integration of science findings and building of critical datasets used by the North
into NWS operations thereby improving forecasts and Carolina State Climate office (also collocated). WFO
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97
APPENDIX D
Tucson reports that colocation brings expertise in activities. WFO Rapid City would like to dedicate
applying research in an operational setting to the uni- more of an FTE to collaboration. The Middle Atlan-
versity. WFO Rapid City reports an interesting student tic RFC would like to offer paid student internships
volunteer program that is run as a course for credit. on a regular basis and provide more opportunities
In an interesting arrangement, rent monies paid by for Middle Atlantic RFC staff to take course work at
WFO Honolulu to the University of Hawaii are used Pennsylvania State University.
to support a full time Graduate Research Assistant, two
summer teaching assistants, six undergraduate student In a different vein, there can be difficulties related to
assistants and some operational costs. the nature of the facilities. For example, the experience
of WFO Honolulu indicates that colocation can raise
Other Benefits of Colocation: In general, colocation difficulties with regards to access to staff and visitor
offers excellent working facilities with good security, parking. This can cause security issues for shift workers.
an easy commute, a nice campus atmosphere, and an Meanwhile WFO Raleigh points out that in a facility
unparalleled opportunity for the NWS staff to interact directly-owned by NWS, the office is more able to solve
with the academic community. In many cases such facilities-related problems on its own or through pro-
colocation provided early access to advanced Internet viders of its choosing. In a facility leased from a campus,
connectivity, this being instrumental in the develop- facilities issues must usually be directed to campus
ment of operational research programs. WFO Rapid facilities personnel with more complex procedures to
City reports that the interaction helps keep the NWS be followed (work orders, facilities modification form
staff from becoming too internally focused. WFO Fair- completion and approvals, etc.) to get work accom-
banks reports that colocation enhances outreach and plished. Sometimes, apparently very simple work needs
facilitates collaborations that would otherwise be dif- to be completed by University personnel at a cost, due
ficult to accomplish. Further, students get unique access to the need to comply with state law and liability issues.
to the forecast office and staff, and are often able to gain On the other hand, when colocation is not directly on
insights into operational forecast decision making that campus, the lack of close proximity poses a real draw-
are not easily taught in the classroom. Active discus- back because it does not allow for the kind of valuable
sion/debate between forecasters and faculty during informal gatherings that are critical to true interaction.
significant weather events (such as tropical cyclones)
benefits both sides. WFO Denver/Boulder reports that A unique challenge appears to exist in regard to the
the ability of the WFO to provide input at early stages colocation of the NHC at Florida International Uni-
in the research-to-operations process helps to ensure a versity. In this case, the basic problem seems to be
better product for the National Weather Service and that the University foci do not include ones that are
the weather enterprise at large. WFO Raleigh reports directly related to what NHC or NWS does, so col-
that recruits note that the benefits of collaborative laboration has been difficult. This may point to the
research, professional development, educational oppor- need for more careful attention when pairing NWS
tunities, and/or increased activity or energy are impor- offices with Universities. The colocation of WFO San
tant reasons for their interest in the office. Francisco with the Naval Postgraduate School has also
been less than optimal. Interaction between the WFO
Challenges/Difficulties Reported with Respect to and the University has been minimal, and the location
Colocation: W hile challenges with respect to coloca- is very inconvenient. Most constituents and partners of
tion differ from site-to-site, one common theme is the WFO San Francisco are now a one to three hour drive
lack of sufficient funding to support the activities that away. The WFO reports losing interaction with the
benefit from colocation. In almost every case, more San Francisco media market since moving to Monterey.
benefits would likely accrue if more moneys and/or
F TEs could be devoted to university collaborative
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