NOAA Social Science Needs Assessment and the Integration of Physical and Social Science across NOAA

The 2009 Science Advisory Board's ad hoc Social Science Working Group articulated in its Integrating Social Science into NOAA Planning, Evaluation and Decision Making Report “the capacity of NOAA to meet its mandates and mission is diminished by the under-representation and under-utilization of social science.”

Recommendation 4.2 of the Report stated “NOAA should conduct a formal needs assessment to determine its needs for social science staff and research by program, and determine the appropriate mix of internal and external staffing to meet these needs.”

In response to the 2009 Report, NOAA produced the White Paper: NOAA, Society, and the Economy: An Assessment of NOAA'S Social Science Capability and Needs. The white paper articulates the degree to which NOAA's social science capacity is sufficient to meet its needs and where it needs to invest more resources and effort.

This presentation will highlight the current needs and gaps identified, as well as provide an aspirational vision of how social science could be fully leveraged to improve the capacity and capability of NOAA to meet its core mission goals and provide strategic information for more effective planning and budgeting.