The 88th Annual Meeting this year provides myriad opportunities to consider the social, political, and institutional implications of the atmospheric and related sciences. They are discussions about connectivity, application, communication, learning lessons from our past work and Hurricane Katrina. They push us to think of our science beyond the walls of academia: where it fits, where it's going, how it might better reflect societal needs.

But what of the social, political, and economic research itself? Where is it going? What does it contribute? And how might it contribute more? That is the goal of this 'State of the Field' panel. As the final session in the Third Policy and Socio-Economic Research symposium, it will invite the community to reflect on its own work: on the previous four days, and the state of the field writ large.