RAL SEMINAR: Science for Policy and Policy for Science: Insights from the 2024 AMS Climate Policy Colloquium
1:00 – 2:00 pm MDT
Kim Fewless
Kim Fewless is an Associate Scientist II in RAL, and a RAL ambassador for the NCAR Convergence Science Program. She is currently supporting the Actionable Climate Science project and is soon to be busy with the PSIF ‘Water (Im) Balance’ project. While her academic training is primarily in Civil and Environmental Engineering, she has training and research experience spanning food-energy-water systems, climate change, and environmental policy. She has used both quantitative and qualitative methods to answer research questions about water resources. In addition to her position in RAL, she is a PhD student at Colorado State University and a trainee in the NSF Interdisciplinary Training and Research in Food Energy Water Systems (InTERFEWS) program. Her former career was as a classical musician, and she still plays cello when not researching, running, or parenting.
Science in service to society has always been part of RAL’s and NSF NCAR’s mission, and there is a growing interest in actionable and convergent science in support of that endeavor. Our work in actionable science includes better connecting climate and Earth System modeling to decision-making and policy, which requires a deep understanding of context. The AMS Climate Policy Colloquium (CPC), conducted in December 2024, took a deep dive into both ‘science for policy’ and ‘policy for science’: topics of critical salience to actionable and convergent science. The CPC covered a range of topics relevant to the funding and structuring of U.S. Science and Technology (S&T) research and the use of science in policy making. Insights shared by leaders/experts from the Executive Branch (e.g. the Office of Science and Technology Policy), Federal agencies (e.g. NOAA, USGS, EPA), Congress (staffing and research), lobbying organizations, and other institutions important to Federal S&T research (e.g. NASEM, AAU, AAAS) , revealed the roles of institutions, processes, politics, and communication in science policy. In this RAL seminar, key takeaways will be shared from the week of learning and engagement (across institutions and political spectrums) at the 2024 AMS CPC. You will learn a bit about the Federal budget process (and why you might be more interested than you think), why science policy may be difficult to understand, and how spending a week diving into these topics alongside fellow climate researchers and practitioners was relevant, insightful, and unexpectedly inspiring.