Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) participants at the inaugural joint IAI-ASP Colloquium on "Policy Planning and Decision Making Involving Climate Change and Variability." The Colloquium brought together students and early career professionals from Latin and South America in September 2006. In support of the NSF strategic plan, NCAR is committed to expanding efforts to broaden participation from underrepresented groups and diverse institutions in all NCAR activities and to increase the diversity of our workforce. The NCAR Director and the NCAR Executive Committee have established the NCAR Diversity Fund to advance these efforts. We have made this commitment in our strategic plan and renew it each year in our annual budgeting process. We make this commitment in response to the national challenge in educating the next generation of scientists and in developing the workforce of the 21^st century.

The NCAR Diversity Committee finds that NCAR’s efforts to communicate with and obtain participation from the majority of the geoscience workforce has been successful. However, participation in the geosciences by people from underrepresented groups has been extremely low and has translated into low representation of these groups in the NCAR staff. Our commitment is to increase the diversity of our own staff and to contribute to the national effort to achieve greater diversity in the geosciences.

We undertake these efforts in concert with our sponsor and strategic partner, the National Science Foundation. NCAR contributes to national efforts to improve science literacy, inspire students, educate teachers, inform policy makers, and build a diverse workforce. Working with UCAR and our university and research partners, we will seek to establish and maintain partnerships that will help NCAR maintain and enhance our open and inclusive environment and will enable NCAR to more successfully communicate with, and publicize opportunities in the geosciences to individuals within underrepresented populations.