Grand challenges for integrated USGS science — A workshop report

Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long history of advancing the traditional Earth science disciplines and identifying opportunities to integrate USGS science across disciplines to address complex societal problems. The USGS science strategy for 2007-2017 laid out key challenges in disciplinary and interdisciplinary arenas, culminating in a call for increased focus on a number of crosscutting science directions. Ten years on, to further the goal of integrated science and at the request of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), a workshop with three dozen invited scientists spanning different disciplines and career stages in the Bureau convened on February 7-10, 2017, at the USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Department of Interior, and the Nation in general, have a vast array of information needs. The USGS meets these needs by having a broadly trained and agile scientific workforce. Encouraging and supporting cross-discipline engagement would position the USGS to tackle complex and multifaceted scientific and societal challenges in the 21st Century. Crosscutting Issues In workshop discussions, numerous crosscutting issues emerged related to completing well-integrated, interdisciplinary science within the Bureau, and to the importance and difficulty of communicating and delivering science information and products to those who can benefit from them. We want to deliver the right products to the right people at the right time. As we address the grand challenges, we should strive to build internal capabilities, processes, governance, and tools that will continue to improve our ability to deliver trusted and useful science to the Nation. Possible Next Steps We identified possible next steps for each of the grand challenges, but further work will be required to define clear research goals and project strategies. Each grand challenge is well suited to be a topic of a "design charrette," an intensive, collaborative planning effort focused on generating concepts (designs) for solutions to the grand challenge. Workshop participants were enthusiastic about pursuing multiple grand challenges in parallel, creating opportunities to learn through experience and experimentation about the most effective ways to work together to foster integrated science.

A review of common natural disasters as analogs for asteroid impact effects and cascading hazards

“…(Morrison et al 2002, p.750). In 2017, the US Geological Survey identified the need for, and the potential of, an integrated system that could be used to monitor, characterize, and forecast the increasing number and intensity of extreme climate events and identify the increased stress on both human and ecosystem resiliency (Jenni et al 2017).…”

U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration 2017 Workshop Proceedings

“…The workshop year marked the end of the USGS science strategy for 2007-2017(U.S. Geological Survey, 2007. Although a new strategic plan has not been released, the recent report of the USGS Council of Senior Science Advisors (COSSA), entitled "Grand Challenges for Integrated U.S. Geological Survey Science-A Workshop Report" (Jenni and others, 2017), provides a preview.…”