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Cooperative Institutes

Visit the NOAA Cooperative Institutes website for more information.

Through these programs, NOAA Research provides the research and technology development necessary to improve the agency’s weather and climate services, solar-terrestrial forecasts, and marine services. These activities provide the scientific basis for national policy decisions in key environmental areas such as climate change, disaster reduction, air quality, non-indigenous species, and stratospheric ozone depletion.

Individual Cooperatives

Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research (CIFAR)

University of Alaska Fairbanks

Conducts ecosystem and environmental research related to Alaska and its associated Arctic regions, including the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Chukchi/Beaufort Seas, and Arctic Ocean. CIFAR continues to facilitate the developed long-term collaboration between NOAA and the University of Alaska begun under the Cooperative Institute of Arctic Research in 1994, within which targeted research, technology, education and outreach can be developed and sustained.

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

CINAR conducts research and activities under six main themes: Ecosystem Forecasting, Ecosystem Monitoring, Ecosystem Management, Protection and Restoration of Resources, Sustained Ocean Observations and Climate Research, and Education and Outreach.

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Princeton University

Formerly the Cooperative Institute for Climate Science at Princeton University (CICS-P), the Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System (CIMES) at Princeton University is a NOAA Cooperative Institute sponsored by NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). CIMES conducts research on earth system sciences.

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University of Maryland, College Park

The Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies (CISESS) was established in July 2019, as a continuation of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (CICS-M). CISESS is a national consortium of academic, non-profit and community organizations with leadership from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of North Carolina (UNC) System through North Carolina State University (NCSU). This partnership includes Minority Serving Institutions as well as others with strong faculties who will enhance CISESS’ capability to contribute to NOAA’s mission and goals.

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University of Michigan

Hosted by the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment, CIGLR, formerly Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research (CILER), consists of a Research Institute and a Regional Consortium that is a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), universities, non-governmental organizations, and businesses. Research focuses on achieving environmental, economic, and social sustainability in the Great Lakes.

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University of Miami

The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) was established in 1977 in the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). CIMAS serves as a mechanism to promote synergisms between University scientists and those in NOAA. CIMAS research is largely partnered with NOAA Research, NOAA Fisheries, and recently with NOAA Satellites and Information Service. CIMAS scientists collaborate primarily with scientists at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and the Southeast Fisheries Science Center, both are located on Virginia Key in close proximity to the CIMAS/RSMAS campus.

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The University of Oklahoma

The Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO), formerly Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), is the largest research center at the University of Oklahoma, employing more than 215 researchers, support personnel and students. CIWRO was established in 2021, and extends cooperative programs between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and OU that have existed continually since 1978. CIWRO connects the scientific and technical resources of OU and NOAA with the goal of improving the basic understanding of weather and transitioning that understanding to operations to produce better forecasts that save lives and property.

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Colorado State University

The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) was established in 1980 at Colorado State University (CSU). CIRA was originally established as a mechanism to promote synergy between University scientists and those in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). CIRA has since expanded and diversified its mission to coordinate with other Federal agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Forest Service, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Defense (DoD).

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University of Colorado

The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) has been a world leader in environmental sciences since its 1967 establishment at the University of Colorado at Boulder. CIRES promotes collaboration among scientists in 13 university departments and programs, NOAA Research, NOAA Satellite and Information Service, and the National Weather Service. CIRES is the oldest and largest of NOAA’s cooperative institutes. CIRES carries out research in six theme areas: Advanced Modeling and Observing Systems, Climate System Variability, Geodynamics, Integrating Activities, Planetary Metabolism, and Regional Processes.

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University of Hawai’i at Mānoa

On October 1, 2021, the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR) was replaced by the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (CIMAR). JIMAR was established in September, 1977, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UHM). The principal NOAA lab with which CIMAR collaborates is the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) on Oahu Island, Hawai’i. Since 1988, JIMAR has been part of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) within UHM. CIMAR will continue as part of SOEST, and aspires to improve upon the important collaborative and supportive functions between NOAA and UH that were entrusted to JIMAR.

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Scripps Institution of Oceanography

CIMEC was established on July 1, 2010 as the successor to the Joint Institute for Marine Observations (JIMO) based at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which ran from 1991-2010. CIMEC expanded the reach of JIMO beyond SIO, with its strengths in long-term observational programs such as California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) and Argo (a global array of drifting, profiling floats), to create a more formal partnership with University of California Davis (UC Davis), UC Santa Cruz, and, by way of the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS), with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). Also, in response to NOAA’s workforce and research needs, CIMEC brought into the fold a new partnership with California State University Los Angeles (Cal State Los Angeles) with its program strengths in conservation genetics and its capacity as a minority-serving institution, as well as Humboldt State University, as home to one of the most well-respected fisheries programs in the country and as an active member in the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CenCOOS).

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John M. Wallace Hall

Since 1978, CICOES’s (formerly JISAO) research has been at the forefront of investigations on climate change, ocean acidification, fisheries assessments, and tsunami forecasting. CICOES has seven core research foci, including: climate research, environmental chemistry, seafloor processes, marine ecosystems, protection and restoration of marine resources, tsunami observations and modeling, and ocean and coastal observations.

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Mississippi State University
Science and Technology Center

NGI conducts high-impact research and education programs in the Northern Gulf of Mexico region focused on integration of the land-coast-ocean-atmosphere continuum; integration of research to operations; and integration of individual organizational strengths into a holistic program. The goal is to measurably contribute to the recovery and future health, safety, resilience and productivity of the region through sustained research and applications in a geospatial and ecosystem context.

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