The Next 5 Years

CUAHSI is currently preparing a renewal proposal for consideration by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The target date for submission of this proposal is August 2007.

The proposal will address the fundamental science in the recently released CUAHSI Science Plan, "Hydrology of a Dynamic Earth." Specifically the proposal will likely include:

  • community workshops to design intensive measurement campaigns aimed at testing the generality of understanding described in the science plan;
  • community workshops on the development of integrated hydrologic modeling platforms;
  • community workshops on the development of hydrologic literacy principles and the development of resources useful for teaching hydrology and for outreach;
  • user support for software developed by the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System; and
  • various travel grants for further development of the hydrologic community.

Because funding is limited, we need to prioritize which of these we pursue and, in some cases, identify leaders for these activities. We are requesting community feedback on two different topics:

Notices of Opportunity request applications from scientist who wish to collaborate in the renewal proposal where compensation will be offered.

Requests for Information seek only a statement of interest in a certain program to gage demand for various proposed activities. No formal application or review is requested; only an indication that you would be interested in applying at a later date for such a program.

The form of the response required is listed within each Notice or Request. In all cases, the deadline for response is July 2, 2007.

Thank you for your time in responding to these Notices and Requests. We need to know and value your opinion!

Respond to exdir@cuahsi.org
Notices of Opportunity Requests for Information
  • Leaders for Campaign Workshops
    CUAHSI is seeking senior scientists, as part of the development of environmental observatories, to help design and to lead community workshops that will evaluate the utility of short-term data-collection campaigns to advance hydrologic science. The workshop would focus on identification of collaborations that are possible using existing data and on identification of additional data that are necessary, both short-term campaign-style data and longer-term data that could be provided by observatories. The leaders of each topic are responsible for the development of position papers prior to the workshops and for a final workshop report.

    The topics for these workshops should be cutting-edge questions in hydrologic science and related environmental sciences that have important social implications. Examples topics could be the role of climate change on seasonal snowpacks in the hydrology of the Western United States or the role of hyporheic exchange on nutrient cycling across stream order in river basins. Topics must be sufficiently specific to lead to a credible campaign design and must benefit from community-level collaboration.
    • more information

  • Leader for Hydrologic Modeling Platform Workshop
    CUAHSI is seeking a senior scientist to assist in the design and to lead a series of workshops on the development of a community modeling platform that could support multi-scale hydrologic models (up to the continental scale). A key attribute of this modeling platform is its ability to support models of multiple portions of the hydrologic cycle (e.g., unsaturated zone, groundwater and surface water) for the development of comprehensive hydrologic models.

    The leader for these workshops will work closely with personnel from CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) project that has been evaluating technical aspects of different modeling environments and their compatibility with HIS data delivery systems. Issues to be considered include the effective design of a library of interoperable modules for alternative process representations, metadata requirements for such modules (including measures of uncertainty) and upscaling and downscaling of model parameters.
    • more information
  • Sabbatical Opportunity at Earth Observing Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research
    CUAHSI is considering requesting support for a visiting sabbatical scientist to work at the Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL), a unit of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), an NSF-supported research center located in Boulder, CO. NCAR has been expanding its research into the terrestrial hydrologic cycle and the EOL includes, among other groups, an in-situ instrumentation group which focuses on the atmosphere-surface exchange of energy and moisture and the spatial distribution of soil heat flux, temperature, and water, and a radar group which focuses on precipitation estimation. This is an outstanding opportunity for observation-oriented hydrologic scientists to work with an advanced instrumentation group in an intellectually stimulating environment. [more information]

  • Graduate Student Travel Grants
    CUAHSI is considering requesting support for graduate student grants as part of its renewal proposal to the National Science Foundation. The objective of these grants is to enrich the graduate training of hydrologists by exposing them to significantly different field environments than their primary study site or to provide an opportunity to work with research groups using significantly different modeling approaches. The intent is to enhance communication among different parts of the hydrologic science community and to improve the appreciation for different field settings and approaches to hydrologic science issues. [more information]

  • CUAHSI Visiting Scientist Project
    CUAHSI is considering requesting support for travel grants to allow hydrologic scientists to visit Washington, DC for up to one month. During this time, the scientist would present a series of lectures at government agencies such as the National Science Foundation, US Geological Survey, NASA, and NOAA.
    The purpose of this RFI is to assess demand for this project. Would you be interested in participating? Is one-month the right length for such a visit? Is a shorter or longer-term more desirable? Is travel and subsistence support adequate compensation or would salary support be required? [more information]
Respond to exdir@cuahsi.org