1. 1 The Outreach Program The SOO Training Resource Center Two resources to improve your staff’s capabilities (and yours too!)

2. 2 The Outreach Program Purpose: To improve local forecasts and warnings by supporting applied mesoscale and synoptic-scale research and education. Important Component: Activities must foster professional interactions between operational forecasters and university faculty and students.

3. 3 The Outreach Program Programs: –Cooperative Projects: 1-3 years, ~$30k/year, submit in response to RFP (issued in Fall) –Partners Projects: 1 year, ~$7k, submit any time. Can be used to support workshops –Graduate Student Fellowships: Offered occasionally -- no decision on when next RFP will be.

4. 4 The Outreach Program Benefits: –Forecasters have access to academic expertise and gain broader perspectives of the science –Expertise is enhanced by the transfer from theory to practice--and vice versa! –Doing applied research bolsters morale and enhances careers –Mentoring students can lead to finding valuable, new employees 

5. 5 The SOO TRC Purpose: To support the SOO's training mission. Responds to a SOO-identified need for –A place to find out about materials other SOOs have already developed so that efforts aren't duplicated –An easy way to find out about what training methods and techniques work for other SOOs

6. 6 The SOO TRC Also intended as –A place to ask for information from other SOOs to help solve training problems –The means to build a stronger SOO community through better communication within the group

7. 7 The SOO TRC Three main parts: –Catalogue: SOO-submitted descriptions of training materials (not archived by COMET) –Forum: Online discussions of various topics related to training –Other Resources: Miscellaneous resources particularly helpful for new SOOs  Your contributions and suggestions needed!

8. 8 Save This One!! Outreach Program URL http://www.comet.ucar.edu/outreach/ TRC URL http://meted.ucar.edu/resource/soo/