Accomplishments & Awards
CIRES research spans four decades of important discoveries, prestigious and presidential awards, national and international accomplishments.
Innovation
Internally Funded Research
CIRES funds about 10 creative research projects annually, through our Innovative Research Program. The program is designed to stimulate novel, unconventional, or fundamental research and to encourage collaboration. Since the program began in 1999, it has enabled dozens of CIRES researchers to break new ground, to gather critical data before applying for more conventional grants, and to cross disciplinary boundaries.
Interdisciplinary Research
CIRES employs an interdisciplinary approach to environmental science that allows our researchers to address questions of scientific and societal relevance, present useful results in meaningful contexts, and rapidly adapt to a changing world.
Discovery
Tracking the fate of Earth’s ice. An ice bridge connecting the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula to Charcot Island disintegrates, documented by CIRES scientists and colleagues. The event continued a series of breakups that began in 2008, and highlights the effect that climate change is having on the region. Read more
Faraway fires create hazy Arctic. Arctic springtime haze in 2008 was traced back to forest fires and agricultural burning in Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Russia. The soot-laden haze, which absorbs light, likely affects regional climate. Read more
Methane increase due to warmth, moisture. Unusually high temperatures in the Arctic and heavy rains in the tropics likely drove a global increase in atmospheric methane in 2007 and 2008 after a decade of near-zero growth, according to a new study. Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Read more
Collaboration
Visiting Fellows
Hundreds of researchers from around the world have conducted collaborative research with CIRES via the CIRES Visiting Fellowships Program. Previous CIRES Director (Susan Avery) and current Director (Konrad Steffen) began their CIRES careers as Visiting Fellows.
Visiting Lecturers
Every year, CIRES invites a handful of outstanding professionals to participate in our Distinguished Lecture Series, which began in 1998 to promote the global perspectives of well-known scientists, historians of science, science policy experts, science journalists, and others.
Decision Making
Initiatives such as CIRES' Western Water Assessment bring natural and social scientists together with legal specialists, policy makers, and stakeholders to address the concerns of people who use and manage environmental resources.
Education
Graduate Education
Since 1967, CIRES Faculty have supervised the research of hundreds of students who have earned Master’s and Ph.D. degrees and are now in environmental science and research positions in academia and industry, in the United States and around the world.
Education Outreach
CIRES has been reaching out to the education community since 1989. The work of our K-12 Education and Outreach Program has touched hundreds of teachers and students.
Investments in Staff
CIRES successfully fosters employee advancement through our Career Track and Outstanding Performance Award programs. CIRES created the CIRES Members' Council to act as an information and policy conduit between CIRES' leadership and the Institute's "Members," including associate scientists, research scientists, and administrative associates. (See Who works for CIRES and where?)
Established Centers of Excellence
CIRES' centers have sustained and successful records of high quality interdisciplinary science. CIRES' Center for Limnology promotes research and teaching related to inland aquatic ecosystems. CIRES' Center for Science and Technology Policy Research seeks to improve the relationship between societal needs, science, and technology policy. Our Climate Diagnostics Center develops and applies techniques to improve understanding of climate variation and change, and improves models used to analyze, predict, and assess climate. The Earth Science and Observation Center uses remote-sensing techniques to advance scientific and societal understanding of the Earth system. CIRES' National Snow and Ice Data Center, which celebrated its 33rd anniversary in 2009, is an internationally recognized source of data and research on Earth’s changing cryosphere.
CIRES around the World
Flying to the ends of the Earth. CIRES scientists and instruments took a roller coaster ride through Earth’s atmosphere on a high-tech airplane in 2009, to paint a three-dimensional portrait of greenhouse gases and other chemicals and particles in the air. The mission will help scientists better understand climate change, air quality, and ozone-layer depletion. Read more
Antarctic sea ice. CIRES Fellow John Cassano spent September 2009 in Antarctica, sending unmanned airplanes soaring over gaps in sea ice, to better understand the exchanges of heat and moisture between ocean and atmosphere. Read more
Undersea quakes. CIRES Fellow Anne Sheehan installed seismometers on the ocean floor near New Zealand, to map the region’s geological structure. Read more
