About This Plan
This document is the strategic plan of the Research Applications Laboratory (RAL), one of five laboratories in the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). It describes RAL’s mission, vision, broad goals and priorities for the next ten years. This plan is used by RAL scientists and managers in the ongoing process of program development and provides the basis for more detailed program and budget decisions that occur on an annual basis.
In the process of creating this plan, RAL managers, scientists, engineers, and administrators participated in a series of NCAR-wide activities to establish the broader institutional goals and objectives for NCAR. This strategic plan continues and extends the previous plan written in 2000, incorporating new streams of information and guidance. It is well aligned with the strategic plans of NCAR and NSF; the more detailed description here complements those plans, and clearly shows how RAL contributes to the goals of the parent organizations. The plan builds on RAL’s demonstrated success in executing efficient procedures for technology transfer, on the experience of its staff over the past twenty-five years, and on advice provided by its Advisory Committee (see Section 7).
This plan is not meant to be a comprehensive description of the entirety of RAL projects and activities; rather, it attempts to show our overall direction, an overview of major ongoing efforts, and a description of emerging areas that are expected to grow in importance over the next five to ten years. Much more detailed descriptions of the items addressed here – and of many other RAL research, technology transfer, education, and service activities – can be found on the RAL web site and in the RAL Annual Report. While this plan is not comprehensive, it is, on the other hand, not written in the lean terms often associated with strategic plans. It may be regarded as our best statement of our strategic outlook – where we are trying to be in 5-10 years, given our vision, mission, and the environment in which we live and work – combined with an assessment of what the program will be accomplishing in the next few years based on what is being done today. To aid the reader, a list of acronym definitions is included at the end of the document.
About the Research Applications Laboratory
The RAL Mission
• To support technology transfer that expands the reach of atmospheric science
• To conduct directed research that contributes to the depth of fundamental understanding
• To foster the transfer of knowledge and technology for the betterment of life on Earth
The Research Applications Laboratory represents a focused activity in directed research and technology transfer within NCAR. Although NCAR as a whole is largely funded by its Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) sponsor, the National Science Foundation (NSF), RAL receives most of its funding from other sources such as domestic and international government agencies and private companies interested in exploiting the latest advanced weather technologies. The RAL mission is stated succinctly at right:
RAL’s mission contributes directly to the overarching goal expressed in the NCAR and NSF strategic plans:
Helping the United States to uphold a position of world leadership in transfer of science and technology and new knowledge to society
RAL has progressed from its origins as a small research program in the Advanced Technology Division of NCAR in the late 1970s to a full-fledged laboratory in NCAR in 2005 with five of its own divisions as show below. This has been a remarkable transition and growth over a 25-year period and has been the result of a) an evolving, eclectic staff of physical scientists, mathematicians, and engineers dedicated to addressing societal needs by transferring advanced weather technologies focused on safety, capacity and efficiency for operational decision makers, b) societal demand for these types of technologies, c) and senior managers within NCAR who had the foresight to see the relevancy of this type of work within the institution and thus support it.
Successful execution of the diverse RAL program requires not only scientific expertise but a broad range of engineering skills. Software engineers, system, civil, chemical, aeronautical, electrical engineers, as well as applied mathematicians are critical. This multidisciplinary expertise has been a hallmark of the RAL program, and fundamental to its success.
RAL has played a significant role in the recent re-organization of NCAR. The Laboratory staff from the Director on down are called upon to contribute their expertise to the other elements of NCAR to assist in a) management of NCAR via the NCAR Executive Committee, b) major NCAR scientific initiatives, c) new institutes created as part of the re-organization, and d) integrative and collaborative initiatives across other laboratories and divisions to transfer RAL skill sets and expertise focused on administration, program development, project management, and science and technology.
At the highest level, RAL is managed through its Executive Committee, which is comprised of the five Program Directors, the RAL Administrator, and the RAL Director and Deputy Director, as shown in the organization chart above. This management team reviews this Strategic Plan annually and makes necessary adjustments to ensure that the laboratory’s direction is optimally established relative to a rapidly-changing world (see Section 3). Most of the work of the laboratory is organized and carried out by a project management structure. Many of the staff work on multiple projects, and thus aspects of matrix management are required. A great deal of authority and responsibility are assigned to a large number of middle-level project managers who direct the on-going work, and who are held accountable for it.