The Role of Scientific and Professional Societies in the Enterprise

February 12, 2015

Bill Gail, 2014 American Meteorological Society President

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Abstract

The weather, water, and climate enterprise is described as having three sectors: academic, public, and private. Scientific and professional societies represent a critical fourth element. Societies act as intermediaries between the three traditional sectors, smoothing and enhancing the interactions to the benefit of the enterprise. In the US, AMS plays a central role in today's successful sector collaboration. This is accomplished through a number of mechanisms: explicit inclusion of all sectors in AMS leadership, meetings dedicated to improving sector interactions, chapters to promote local interaction, and more. Societies will be critical to the progress of meteorology as a whole in coming decades, and particularly to advances at the international level. Actions being taken by AMS will be central to this progress.