USCRP Leadership

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Pictured above: USCRP Leadership at the 2019 Federal Leadership Meeting from left to right (affiliation, role at USCRP):  Mary Cialone (USACE, Managing Director), Nicole Elko (ASBPA, Co-Executive Director), Hilary Stockdon (USGS, Co-Executive Director), Britt Raubenheimer (WHOI, Academic Team Chair), Leighann Brandt (BOEM, Federal Team), Julie Rosati (USACE, Co-Executive Director)

The USCRP leadership structure spans from key federal leadership to community outreach practitioners and is organized into Executive Directors; three operating teams – Federal Team, Stakeholder Team, and Academic Team; and the Program Office. Two key meetings guide program activities: a Federal Leadership Meeting and monthly USCRP meetings.

Executive Directors

USCRP Leadership includes three Executive Directors (EDs) representing the lead organizations: USACE Engineering Research and Development Center, USGS Coastal Marine Hazards Program, and the ASBPA. The EDs provide vision and strategic oversight to the various teams and program office. The EDs work together coordinating science planning, organizing meetings, developing workshops, and promoting funding opportunities.

Federal Leadership Meeting 

The USCRP’s Federal Agency Leadership meeting convenes the highest-ranking coastal leaders at each agency to provide organization-specific oversight, input, and steering for the USCRP. These federal leaders represent their organization’s coastal mission, priorities, and resource availability so that they can steer the USCRP during the meeting.  They provide high-level commitments from their agency that are required to sustain the momentum of the USCRP. These leaders seek to dovetail their agency’s highest federal priority coastal needs with the broader USCRP federal, academic, and stakeholder teams. They provide organizational priorities that are used to guide future USCRP academic funding opportunities. In turn, these leaders communicate USCRP activities within their respective organizations and recommend external contacts to foster future collaborations. 

The meeting also includes the USCRP Executive Directors and the chairs from the three USCRP Advisory Teams: Academic, Federal, and Stakeholder to communicate successes, challenges, and execute federal priorities as applicable.

Advisory Teams

Three advisory teams (Federal, Academic, and Stakeholder) advise the program as to their community (research, program, management) needs. Advisory team members may serve on USCRP Working Groups. Each advisory team elects a chair and co-chair.

Federal Team

The Federal Team consists of the go-to coastal person from each federal agency. The Federal Team defines federal research needs and identifies funding opportunities within each agency represented. This team creates engagement and affiliation between their agencies and the USCRP.

Stakeholder Team

As of the writing of this report, the Stakeholder Team membership comprises representatives from ASBPA and seeks to include future participation from national to regional-scale organizations and firms that represent stakeholders such as Audubon, Coastal States Organization, Association of Floodplain Managers, etc. The Stakeholder Team helps identify user needs based on input from across the coastal sector, such as local government officials, emergency managers, industry (e.g., coastal consultants) and NGOs, and provides guidance on communicating research effectively. The Stakeholder Team also advocates for federal coastal research funding.

Academic Team 

The Academic Team is composed of representatives from universities and research institutes with nationally recognized ocean or coastal-based science or engineering programs. This team role is to provide an academic voice and strengthen the communication among academics, USCRP federal agencies and stakeholders.  This team provides community-inspired direction on academic funding, existing programs, and graduate education thru communication with USCRP’s academic members.  The Academic Team also advocates for federal coastal research funding.

Program Office

The USCRP Program office handles communications, funding, operations, and working groups. A Managing Director oversees annual research funding opportunities. A Communications Director effectively communicates USCRP priorities and outcomes through defined external pathways (website, newsletter). A Program Office staffer assists with logistics and administrative duties. Working Groups are formed periodically to address active projects such as the current topical workshop or DUNEX.