NASA scientists and UCLA administrators announced Wednesday the
creation of a new research institute to conduct in-depth research
of the relationships between local weather and global climate
change.
The Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and
Engineering is the brainchild of professors from UCLA’s
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and the Henry
Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, as well as
scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“(The joint institute) will give us the ability to better
understand ecological properties from a large to small
scale,” said Greg Pottie, associate dean of research and
physical resources at the engineering school.
The researchers will use satellite technology to collect data
about climate trends over the next several years, said Kuo-Nan
Liou, a UCLA professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and
director of the new institute.
He said using the technology on a regional scale is useful
because it allows for the study of factors that affect
people’s daily lives, and offers solutions that can be worked
with at a local level.
“(The) key to enhanced understanding of the climate and
environment … is to use satellite data on the regional scale
rather than (on) much larger scales,” Liou said.
This satellite technology will allow scientists to better
perform analysis and assessment on factors such as humidity and
precipitation, and the institute will eventually develop sensor
systems that will collect information on topics from contaminated
soil to plankton colonies.
The institute was first proposed in 2004 by scientists from UCLA
and JPL. Tentative plans for the institute were approved after a
March 2005 meeting.
According to a university press release, UCLA and JPL will each
contribute $300,000 annually to the new institute for the next
three years in start-up funding while researchers seek research
grants from outside agencies.
UCLA graduate students will also work with JPL researchers, who
will assist faculty and help teach courses at UCLA.
Several members of the UCLA administration, including Acting
Chancellor Norman Abrams, also attended the ceremony.
“The effect of global climate change … is a critical
research endeavor with profound implications on the lives of
Southern Californians and on public policy,” said Abrams, who
participated in the signing ceremony with JPL Director Charles
Elachi.
Other faculty from UCLA said they expect the two institutions to
have an effective collaborative relationship.
“JPL has tremendous resources in terms of satellite
technology, while UCLA possesses extensive modeling capabilities on
the regional scale,” Liou said.
Randall Friedl, JPL’s chief scientist, added that the two
organizations have collaborated in the past, as about 400 UCLA
alumni have worked at JPL.