"With CIROH based in Alabama, the GCOOS partnership with CIROH enhances the long-term valuable relationships GCOOS has with the entire state of Alabama," said Dr. Sara Graves, GCOOS Board Member and Director of the Information Technology and Systems Center (ITSC), University of Alabama System Board of Trustees University Professor and Professor of Computer Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. "GCOOS, as a NOAA/IOOS Regional Association for the five states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, is of increasing importance with the many challenges facing our region. As a long-time GCOOS Board member from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, it is a pleasure to be associated with CIROH and GCOOS for the benefit of Alabama and the region."
The consortium led by UA assists NOAA’s vision of a water- and weather-ready nation. CIROH will advance water research in support of NOAA’s Office of Water Prediction and reinforce the work of the National Weather Service and National Water Center through collaboration across the scientific community in four broad research themes:
- Water resources prediction capabilities;
- Community water resources modeling;
- Hydroinformatics;
- Application of social, economic and behavioral science to water resources prediction.
“I am proud to be spearheading this unprecedented Cooperative Institute, which will not only create a consortium of institutions that will leverage their individual prowess to address today's most pressing water issues, but also usher UA forward in its status as an emerging and leading water research institution," said Scott Rayder, AWI executive director.
CIROH will create curriculum programs across its consortium members and partners to prepare the next generation of water professionals. Local-to-national scale workforce training programs will translate CIROH advances into practice. Extensive outreach and engagement will connect CIROH to stakeholders, helping communities build resilience to water-related risks.
Dr. Steven J. Burian, AWI director of science and professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, will serve as the executive director of CIROH.
“We now begin the real work of coproducing research with NOAA and other partners that will benefit society and provide learning opportunities for students for years to come,” said Burian. “The research innovations delivered by the Cooperative Institute will improve forecasts of floods and droughts, increase efficiency of water resources management, protect water quality and empower stakeholders to make confident and timely decisions.”
CIROH’s 14 consortium members include: The University of Alabama; Brigham Young University; Colorado School of Mines; Tuskegee University; The University of Alabama in Huntsville; University of Arizona; University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa; University of Iowa; University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; University of Saskatchewan; University of Utah; University of Vermont; and Utah State University.
In addition to GCOOS, consortium partners include: Baron Weather Inc.; Coastal Carolina University; Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrological Science Inc.; Dauphin Island Sea Lab; Jupiter Intelligence; New Mexico State University; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; The Pennsylvania State University; RTI International; Stevens Institute of Technology; University of California, Davis; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and University of South Carolina.