The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has selected the University of Oklahoma to host NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CISHIWRO).
The mission of this cooperative institute is to promote collaborative research with NOAA to improve the understanding of severe and high-impact weather and to help produce better forecasts and warnings that save lives and property.
Craig McLean, assistant NOAA administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, said, “This institute will help NOAA achieve our mission to better understand and predict weather in order to save lives and protect property.”
The selection comes with an award of up to US$208m over the course of five years, with the potential for renewal for another five years based on successful performance.
The new cooperative institute will continue to address some of the major research themes that have been the focus of NOAA’s previous cooperative institute hosted by the University of Oklahoma, the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), as well as expand to include new research areas and collaborating institutions.
The five research themes include: weather radar and observations research and development; mesoscale and stormscale modeling research and development; forecast applications improvements research and development; subseasonal- to-seasonal (S2S) prediction for extreme weather events; and social and socioeconomic impacts of high-impact weather systems.
CISHIWRO, led by the University of Oklahoma, will comprised a consortium of graduate degree-granting institutions. These institutions include Howard University, The Pennsylvania State University, Texas Tech University, and University at Albany.