[Nsa] Qualifications for the NCAR Director and draft set of questions for candidates

[B.C. Low]

Dear Rick,

I do resonate with the inputs from Beth Holland.  There are two aspects 
that seem very important to me.  What we lay down as criteria and who 
happen to have applied for the position can be quite separate.  A search 
process can be very successful if the applicant pool is sufficiently 
rich for us to see the actual dimensions of these criteria through the 
real people who have applied.  From that perspective, I feel the 
following considerations are essential.

I would like to see an NCAR Director who is foremost an accomplished 
scientist, having done first class scientific work and being recognized 
for it.  The single central criterion for being a Senior Scientist at 
NCAR is scientific excellence, and the NCAR Director should meet that 
criterion at the highest level among us.  Such a Director will bring the 
scientific best out of us.

Beth's concern about scientific integrity is worth watching out for. 
Integrity is harder to practice than people are willing to admit and in 
the complexity of our evolved scientific community, we are actually 
easily challenged on it by the things we run into each day.  Having the 
talents and opportunity to have done first class scientific work is the 
base upon which an individual sees directly the value and motivation to 
practice integrity.  An NCAR Director of well known integrity can bring 
the best out of us on this count.

We of course want more than an excellent scientist for a Director.  He 
or she must have a broad vision of what our scientific institute is 
about; an understanding of how that vision might be realistic in the way 
things are; and, an outstanding set of demonstrable leadership and 
administrative abilities the job demands.  We cannot compromise on 
either counts, (a) scientific accomplishment and (b) community and 
administrative leadership.

Global Change is now accepted to be real by the world community.  There 
is a lot of hard core science to do and a lot of interaction with policy 
bodies and the public to conduct.  If we think all that is important, 
neither of the two counts can be compromised.  We also want someone 
young, in my opinion, so that our future is all wrapped up with the 
Director who too has a future to think about.  I would rather count on a 
demonstrable promise of a great leader.  I hope the Search Committee 
will have the good fortune of making a careful but bold recommendation, 
and you as UCAR President will have the privilege of making a bold but 
well calculated decision.

I recently sat down with a Director of an NCAR sized Institute and he 
happily spent 45 minutes talking about an MHD problem, coming into it 
cold but nevertheless giving it undivided attention.  That day, he was 
going to deal with a theoretical exercise about what he would do if his 
budget was to be cut by a sizable proportion.  Maybe he was dreading the 
rest of that day!  We want a Director who has not lost the scientific 
passion that brought most of us into this profession?

Regards and good luck to our search,
BC


























Rick Anthes wrote:
> Thanks Beth,
> We will be sure to include the questions you ask, though they are 
> certainly part of Q3 which I sent around:
> 
> 3. The NCAR program comprises a broad range of research areas and a 
> number of different community facilities. The research areas include 
> atmospheric sciences broadly defined, weather prediction, climate, 
> atmospheric chemistry, oceanography, solar physics and others, and the 
> facilities range from the development, provision, and maintenance of 
> observing and computing facilities, to developing community models. 
>  What do you think are the appropriate balances among the various 
> research areas and among the community facilities? As NCAR Director, how 
> would you go about evaluating the appropriate balances, and how would 
> you go about achieving them?
> 
> Regarding scientific integrity, I think that goes without saying as an 
> essential criterion--and someone at the NSA meeting mentioned this.   
> Like honesty.  If the search committee or I find out that this is 
> lacking in a candidate you can be sure we will disqualify the candidate 
> from further consideration.
> 
> Finally, regarding the criteria, I mentioned that they are very easily 
> derived from the duties and requirements.  For example, the first 
> requirement "demonstrated ability to lead on a broad intellectual front" 
> is a criterion--the search committee will be using this and the other 
> requirements as their criteria.
> 
> You can be sure we take your last point very seriously.
> 
> We have not had much input from the NSA about suggested names--there is 
> still time!
> Thanks again.
> Rick
> 
> Dr. Elisabeth(Beth) A. Holland wrote:
> 
>>Dear Rick,
>>
>>Thank you for the opportunity to provide input to the director search 
>>process.  I think it is important to provide a voice for the 
>>scientific leadership of NCAR.
>>
>>I have a few concerns based on your recent e-mail.
>>
>>First, during your meeting with the NSA, I thought we had come to an 
>>understanding that we, the NSA, would have the opportunity to review 
>>the criteria that would be used to evaluate the director candidates.  
>>I found the discussion concerning the need for an emphasis on 
>>scientific integrity particularly compelling.  Referring us to the web 
>>site, the description, duties and requirements does not address the 
>>values and criteria that will be used for selection, nor does it 
>>address the issue of scientific integrity.
>>
>>Second, I would like to see more focus on the candidate's view on the 
>>balance between conducting science and providing facilities. It is 
>>really important for the committee to get a sense of the candidate's 
>>vision for NCAR. I suggest:
>>1) What is your vision for NCAR's evolving role in atmospheric 
>>SCIENCES in the US and internationally?
>>
>>Among the particular questions I would include:
>>In your view, how should NCAR balance using external and core funds to 
>>pursue its mission?
>>What is NCAR's mission?
>>
>>I am ccing the NSA on this to invite their input and discussion.  The 
>>decision itself of who will be the next NCAR rests with you and the 
>>search committee.  I trust that you will choose a person who will lead 
>>NCAR to continue to  realize its tremendous scientific potential.
>>
>>Beth Holland
>>
>>
>>On Mar 16, 2008, at 9:59 AM, Rick Anthes wrote:
>>
>>
>>><Possible Questions2008.doc>
>>
>