UNOLS Office 2024-2028

The University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) is a consortium of 58 academic institutions with research and educational programs in the ocean sciences and dedication to the major shared-use facilities that support these programs. UNOLS Infrastructure is composed of a myriad of assets including ships and deep submergence vehichles, aircraft, and major instrumentation.

Institutions or federal agencies own these facilities and it is through the UNOLS system that the community has access to them. Support for the UNOLS Office is traditionally provided by six Federal Agencies: National Science Foundation/Division of Ocean Sciences and Division of Polar Programs, Department of the Navy/Office of Naval Research (ONR), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of the Interior/U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

This proposal is for the University Washington to host the UNOLS Office for a second term of five years from 2024 to 2028. Under the guidance and leadership of the UNOLS Office, much of the work is done through the volunteers from the scientific community who serve on standing committees. The UNOLS organization, founded in 1971, has played an important role in coordinating and improving the operations of the nation's Academic Research Fleet.

One of the important focus areas for UNOLS is to coordinate and schedule these national assets, to plan for the future, and to be able to identify and meet the scientific infrastructure requirements of the U.S. oceanographic research scientists, students and technicians. This enables the United States to make advances in science, education, and the public awareness of our natural environment.

One of the critical functions that the UNOLS Office performs, through broad community involvement, is to assist in prioritizing the resources within the available budgets to ensure the advancement of the field of oceanography. It is through the UNOLS efforts that the office is able to assist the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies with providing community feedback and input on the future direction of oceanographic research in the United States.

Through the various UNOLS meetings, workshops, reports, studies, and daily communication, UNOLS provides a conduit for open dialog between the agencies supporting this research and the scientific community being served. The NSF's mission to "promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense" are all aided by the UNOLS Office's ability to bring together the scientific minds to identify what are the science questions that need to be answered, and then to provide the safe platforms to conduct this important work.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.