The Transition Puzzle: How Operational Meteorologists Can Champion Social Science R2O

Operational meteorologists often tell social scientists, “we're interested in social science and we know social science research exists, but we don't know how to implement the results.” Forecasters are right! The application of social science findings can be tricky. While NOAA continues to make great strides in funding Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science (SBES) research, what remains a puzzle is how we successfully transition social science results across the operational meteorology community. While there is no “one size fits all solution” to transitioning SBES research into application, there are key puzzle pieces to enhance a successful transition. One key piece is having SBES operational meteorology champions.

This presentation will highlight a few recent examples of successful social science transitions and illustrate how public and private operational meteorologists each play a vital role in the process. Rather than feeling puzzled, we hope to empower operational meteorologists to understand which puzzle piece they play.