Instrument Development and Education in Airborne Science (IDEAS) NCAR/RAF IDEAS Project

The "idea" for the IDEAS program came from the annual UCAR Members' Meeting in the fall of 2000. A review of facility needs was conducted at this meeting, and one major discussion issue was that university faculty and students want more opportunities to participate in instrument development efforts. In particular, they wish to have the opportunity to access facilities that are not easily available to them, such as research aircraft, but are essential for testing new instruments they have or are developing. Previous UCAR Members' Meetings identified another need: to train students in observational science. There are few opportunities for students to fly on research aircraft and to actually participate in airborne measurements of clouds or other constituents of the atmosphere.

We welcome your ideas, suggestions and comments for future projects. Also, if you are interested in participating, please send us a message. (You can be brief here; we will contact you for details.)

Contacts:

Principal Investigator: Jeff Stith
Project Manager: Allen Schanot
IDEAS Web Site suggestions/ideas: Ron Ruth