UM Professor Steve Running Appointed to NASA Advisory Council Committee

University of Montana Regents Professor of Ecology Steve Running http://www.cfc.umt.edu/personnel/Details.php?ID=1139 has been appointed to the NASA Advisory Council Science Committee and chair of the Earth Science subcommittee within that council. In the words of the NASA administrator in the appointing letter, "The Council reports directly to me and is the senior external advisory body … addressing important program and policy matters related to the U.S. civil space program."

Running chairs the Earth Science subcommittee, which will join other subcommittees in Astrophysics, Heliophysics and Planetary Science under the Advisory Council.

"My responsibilities as Earth science chair are twofold," he said. "First, I will lead our subcommittee in recommending priorities for new satellite missions, continuity of space-based Earth observations, Earth systems research, and information management of global datasets. Second, I will represent Earth science priorities within the broader NASA science goals, and advocate for critical Earth science objectives that fulfill national policy needs."

Running has taught at UM since 1979 and is an internationally recognized scholar in satellite-remote sensing data, global vegetation productivity, climate change and more. The appointment follows Running’s longstanding involvement as a team member of the NASA Earth Observing System, a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Science Advisory Board Climate Working Group, and as a chapter lead author for the Nobel Prize-winning 2007 Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

For more information on the NASA Advisory Council, visit http://science.nasa.gov/science-committee/members/.

Contact: Steve Running, Regents Professor, UM College of Forestry and Conservation, 406-243-6311, [email protected].