How is CIRES governed?

CIRES is governed by a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [ About NOAA ] and the University of Colorado at Boulder [ About CU ] and operates under various university policies and procedures, including a set of bylaws. To establish an institute in the University of Colorado, certain criteria must be met, including the ability to be a fiscally freestanding unit and demonstration that the uniqueness of the research is such that it cannot be done within the normal confines of existing academic departments. The latter criterion means in practice that research institutes at CU perform multi-disciplinary research that spans several fields. Because the institutes are not generally degree-granting units, the faculty in the institutes also have academic departmental affiliations.