Discussion of Statement of Intent for Data Analytics Call:

1. Discussion of Statement of Intent for Data Analytics Call: Climate and Environmental Data Science InstituteOctober 28th, 2013

2. Progress to Date • Discussion group started after announcement of data analytics topic • J. Johnson, E. Mosley-Thompson, M. Berliner, C. K. Shum, B. Sohngen, others • Sent emails reaching out to various climate related researchers • Organized open meetings on Oct 10 and 11 for theme suggestions • ~ 30 attendees • Notes from meetings distributed, questionnaire soliciting input distributed • Collected questionnaire inputs, thanks to everyone who submitted comments! • Preference for “umbrella” proposal emerged, along with concept of extending “large” space and time scale climate information to more local space/time scales • Follow up meeting to create draft SOI and refine • J. Johnson, E. Mosley-Thompson, M. Berliner, B. Sohngen, L. Thompson, D. Bromwich • An early draft was submitted on 10/15 for College of Engineering pre-review • Updated draft sent to all participants 10/21 • Some comments received • Additional (and final) comments solicited in this meeting

3. 10/21 SOI Draft • Proposes creation of “Climate and Environmental Data Science Institute” • Suggestion (Shum) to modify to “Climate and Environmental Change Data Analytics Institute” • Motivations: • Importance of climate and environmental change research and the corresponding social science for sustainability and adaptation • Vast amount of environmental, climate, and social science data • Need for cross-disciplinary teams to leverage data through expertise in scientific problem formulation, data processing, statistical analysis, physical and social science data assimilation, geophysical inversion/massively parallel computing, decision support and outreach • Pipelinefrom Data to Models and Prediction to Decision, including • the development and dissemination of efficient tools for accessing and sharing data; • the development and application of algorithms and data analysis methods to achieve full synergistic exploitation of environmental datasets to produce high quality, predictivemodels, including uncertainty quantifications; and • the transition of the results of (i) and (ii) into modeling and analytical platforms used for risk analysis, decision support, and policy assessment regarding energy and environment, health and wellness, food production and security, and other societal needs.

4. More from SOI • CEDS will first focus on two primary directions: • Climate Impacts and Policy Analysis • Text describes examples of sea level rise and public health issues • Suggestion (Shum) to revise to “Climate Change Impacts and Social Science” • Environmental Decision Support System for Ohio • Local and regional impacts are critical for policy- and decision-making. • Create a decision support system for applications in Ohio. Extensive, but usable “State of the State” system for decision support • Also provide outstanding training and education experiences

5. SOI Lists • Interested parties to date listed • Example collaborations that the writing team was aware of (need to be more specific) • Ice-core paleoclimatology • Sea-level rise • Remote Sensing Science • Uncertainty Management and Statistical Analysis • Suggestions to add “Climate Change”, “Global Water Cycle and Water Sustainability” and/or “Global to local scale weather forecasting” • Example projects and papers the writing team was aware of • Please give us additional info!

7. Review Process • Still TBD, but will involve both internal and external contributions • Internal committee is: • Carol Whitacre, Joe Steinmetz, David Williams, Lonnie King, Bruce McPheron, Mike Boehm • Review criteria: • Strength of the Big Idea within a significant area such that solutions will be transformational regionally and globally, will build on existing strengths to create a competitive advantage, and will move the University towards eminence. • Potential of the proposed new faculty to fill critical gaps and accelerate the success of the Big Idea. • Capacity of the team to implement and sustain the Big Idea. • Full proposal process TBD as well • Including any cost-sharing requirements (which are likely) • Key at this point is to create a compelling “big idea”

8. Process from Here • Writing team will create final draft to address comments received to date and inputs from meeting • Inputs so far from Craig Jenkins, Tim Haab, Ron Li, Dave Bromwich, Maria Conroy • Multiple suggestions (well taken) to modify text to better reflect policy and social science aspects of the team • Please provide any final information by COB tomorrow • Writing team will submit by Friday’s deadline