State of the Federation Winter Meeting Washington, D.C. January 9, 2008

Introduction 2007 was a good year –The ideas that led to the creation of the Federation have been reaffirmed: More entities have joined More Federal agencies have joined the Federation Other Federal agencies have adopted the Federation model –Our situation has changed – for the better –We are planning for the future

Premise In 1995, after reviewing USGCRP, NRC recommended:* –“Responsibility for product generation, publication, and user services should be held by a federation of partners,” which would “utilize an open management approach in which key decisions are made with community leadership” and “encourage innovation and creativity through wide participation of the scientific, public, and private sectors.” *A Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth/Earth Observing System. National Academy Press, 1995, 96 pp.

NSF Cyberinfrastructure High Performance Computing (HPC) Data, Data Analysis, and Visualization Virtual Organizations for Distributed Communities Learning and Workforce Development

Growth: Participation Since 1998 –Entities Increased from 27 to 106 (and counting) –Members 400 (estimated) –Strategic Partners NASA Science Mission Directorate –Earth Science and Applied Science Programs NOAA –NESDIS EPA –Office of Research and Development

Growth: Scope Working Groups –Strategic Planning –Client-Side Technology Infusion Clusters –Technical Side Semantic Web Web Services Sensor Web –Issue Side Air Quality Water Management Carbon

“…fundamental improvements are needed in existing observation and information systems because they only loosely connect three key elements: (1) the raw observations that produce information; (2) the analyses, forecasts, and models that provide timely and coherent syntheses of otherwise disparate information; and (3) the decision processes that use those analyses and forecasts to produce actions with direct societal benefits.” Growth: NRC Decadal Survey* National Research Council Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond. Washington. 437 p.

Growth: Emphasis Issues surrounding climate change have been re-emphasized –Prediction of changes and likely consequences –Mitigation of anticipated consequences –Adaptation to those consequences that cannot be immediately mitigated All require improved linkages between knowledge and action as described by the NRC

The Future Strategic planning process –Survey of members about the direction, perceived strengths and weaknesses, and future directions of the Federation (done) –Meetings with Strategic Partners and other parties to determine their desires and expectations (e.g., NSF, USGS) –Draft of Strategic Plan to Executive Committee (May?) –Proposal to Assembly at Summer Meeting –Input from anybody at any time is welcomed!

Summary Interest in the ESIP Federation continues to grow –The impetus to create the Federation was on-target We are well-positioned to continue our success The challenges are to determine, through the planning process: –What we can do to better serve our members –What we can – and cannot – provide to our partners as we grow –How best to configure ourselves to deliver on that promise