What is a NOAA Cooperative Institute?

A NOAA Cooperative Institute is a partnership between a research university or other research organization, and the various line offices within NOAA, particularly the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), sustained by a cooperative agreement. Cooperative agreements are grants awarded on a competitive basis when the work projected requires substantial involvement between the parties. The dynamic and on-going interactions between the partner universities and NOAA research laboratories are key to the purpose and success of the OAR Cooperative Institutes. Guided by individual steering committees composed of NOAA scientists and university faculty members, staffed and administered by university faculty and scientists, Cooperative Research Institutes are reviewed every five-years and funded by Congress through NOAA.

The Partners
OAR conducts the research that leads to NOAA environmental products and information services. Research focuses on enhancing understanding of environmental phenomena such tornados, hurricanes, climate variability, solar flares, changes in the ozone, El Niño/La Niña events, fisheries productivity, ocean currents, deep sea thermal vents, and coastal ecosystem health. NOAA research also develops innovative technologies and observing systems. The NOAA Research network includes 12 internal research laboratories, 30 Sea Grant university and research programs, six undersea research centers, and a university research grants program administered through the Office of Global Programs. Beginning in the 1960's, based on successful collaborative research between the University of Colorado and NOAA labs in Boulder, OAR initiated the Joint Institutes program by establishing the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado. Since then, 13 OAR Cooperative Institutes have joined the NOAA research network. Through NOAA's academic partners, scientists, engineers, technicians, and graduate students participate in furthering knowledge of natural phenomena and environmental processes.

Partnership Payoffs
The CIRES-NOAA partnership fosters a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to the complex problems facing our nation's decision makers. Many talk about integrated research, but truly implementing it requires a unique combination of vision, leadership, innovative research environment, scientific expertise and the infrastructure necessary to help this synergy to emerge. CIRES and NOAA have indeed been creating these relationships and just recently created a new integrated scientific workplan to identify and support these interconnections. As with a rainforest, this environment takes a long time to create, and if dismembered even briefly, cannot be expected to return the following year. The understanding of long-term trends in carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and ozone thickness also requires sustained support over decades to discern their changes. The fact that the national and international call for policies based on solid science has never been greater speaks to the importance of maintaining and even stimulating this confluence of interdisciplinary capability and expertise.