User Engagement: Institutional Evolution of Service to Research. What happened in NESDIS, and Why should you care?

As our planet undergoes dramatic climate and environmental shifts, communities in the U.S. and globally face an escalating series of challenges and disasters. These changes underscore an increasing demand for precise and timely environmental information, notably from satellite-based sources, to aid in decision-making and disaster preparedness. Against this backdrop, recent technological breakthroughs have paved the way for enhanced observation and data processing capabilities. This technological evolution has empowered the creation of more tailored products to serve user communities better.

Over the past few years, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) has embarked on a transformative journey to revolutionize its approach to user support. This entails a holistic understanding of both short-term and long-term user needs. To achieve this, NESDIS has established specialized functions, formulated user-centric policies, and adopted a proactive data collection and dissemination approach.

While our commitment to key and traditional users remains steadfast, our vision is to expand our outreach to a more diverse user community. The insights gleaned from these communities will not only influence the development of satellite assets and instruments but will also play a pivotal role in shaping our products and services.

This presentation aims to shed light on the pivotal changes and efforts spearheaded by NESDIS. Understanding these shifts is vital whether you're a collaborator, a potential partner, or a user. We invite you to join us to know what NESDIS has changed in policy, functional and resources for better engageing with users, and also share your insights, and learn how we can jointly navigate this evolving landscape to better serve and support you in these unprecedented time.