MSU researcher to lead NSF advisory committee
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EmailMSU forestry professor David Skole was named chair of the National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education (AC-ERE).
MSU forestry professor David Skole was named chair of the National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education (AC-ERE).
This standing committee provides foundation-wide advice on all matters related to environmental science, engineering and education. It reports directly to the director of the foundation and is the only advisory committee that does. The AC-ERE oversees programming on climate change, environmental observatories, sustainability, ecosystem dynamics, cell function, atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, political or economic institutional processes, coastal ocean processes, population biology and physiological ecology, Earth system history, coupled human-natural systems, etc.
Specifically, the advisory committee’s role is to:
--Provide advice, recommendations and oversight concerning support for the NSF's environmental research and education portfolio.
- Be a base of contact with the scientific community to inform NSF of the impact of its research support and NSF-wide policies on the scientific community.
- Serve as a forum for consideration of interdisciplinary environmental topics as well as environmental activities in a wide range of disciplines.
- Provide broad input into long-range plans and partnership opportunities.
- Perform oversight of program management, overall program balance, and other aspects of program performance for environmental research and education activities.
Skole served as chair several years ago and most recently has served the AC-ERE as a committee member.
Skole is also being reappointed as a member of the National Academies Standing Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space (CESAS). This committee advises the U.S. government on science in which space-based observations are central components, and principally oversees science programs in NASA, NOAA and USGS. The group is being asked to prepare the next decadal survey, which will chart the next decade of research and space missions for those agencies.
The scope for CESAS includes programs that develop a scientific understanding of the Earth system and its response to natural and human-induced changes in order to enable improved prediction of climate, weather and natural hazards for present and future generations.
Skole’s research focuses on climate change, carbon markets and greenhouse gas reduction all over the world. His work is funded at MSU by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and MSU AgBioResearch, US-AID, NASA and the Governor’s Climate and Forest Fund.
