CAPS is a Primary Collaborator in a new NSF Engineering Research Center

OU has netted another extraordinary win in research funding with the recent award of an Engineering Research Center by the NSF. OU has teamed with the University of Mass. at Amherst (which serves as the lead institution for this ERC) in the newly established Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA). Other collaborators are included from Colorado State University and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez.

The mission of CASA is to develop a new paradigm in weather sensing systems by incorporating a suite of radar technologies in a high-resolution collaborative network that automatically reconfigures its scanning strategies to achieve optimal sampling of a given weather event. The official location of the Center is at the U. of Mass, which has an excellent program in radar remote sensing systems engineering. CAPS expertise in high-resolution numerical modeling and data assimilation will help to identify the optimal configuration of the proposed radar system to provide a volume of observations that will result in significant improvement in the capability to detect and predict the evolution of high-impact, localized weather.

Dr. David McLaughlin at the University of Massachussetts and Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier of OU/CAPS, who respectively serve as CASA Director and Deputy Director, have co-led this massive effort. The entire process has involved nearly two years of strategizing, coordinating, and proposal writing. From an initial submission of 120 letters of intent, the NSF sequentially narrowed the number of contenders through a process that involved the submission of a pre-proposal, full proposal, and finally an invitation to participate in a site visit. Only 3 groups were eventually chosen by the NSF to receive an ERC award this competition round.

CAPS is leading this effort at OU; however, this project is definitily a group effort and involves scientists and educators from several entities at OU including the Oklahoma Climate Survey, Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, and Mathematics. The entire budget coming to OU over 5 years is $5.5M. Upon successful NSF review, this award has the possibility for an additional 5-year extension.