IRIS and UNAVCO Polar Science and Technology Committee

Current Members

Committee Historical Members Overview

Committee Charge

I. Charter

I.a The Polar Science Technology Committee (PSTC), formerly the Polar Networks Science Committee (PNSC), is a committee constituted by the Boards of Directors of UNAVCO and IRIS with the goal of coordinating their efforts in polar instrumentation and polar observing networks. The IRIS/UNAVCO Polar Science Technology Committee is charged with the following tasks:

• To engage the science/research community in developing a sustainable vision for polar geodetic and seismic networks
• To coordinate input to IRIS and UNAVCO from the science/research community regarding polar, networks and facilities and to provide information to the research community on the polar instrumentation capabilities of the facilities. 
• To advise and engage IRIS and UNAVCO on initiatives related to technology and facilities for support of polar geodetic and seismic research.
• To provide advice on the technical and logistic challenges of polar-focused data acquisition, and to facilitate coordination between IRIS/PASSCAL and UNAVCO development efforts.
• To facilitate linkages between IRIS/UNAVCO efforts and other polar scientific communities.

I.b The PSTC will report to the IRIS and UNAVCO Boards of Directors. Each Board shall appoint four members of the committee with concurrence of the other Board.

I.c The PSTC will consist of eight members including a chair and a vice-chair, selected by the committee. Additional participants in PSTC meetings may include facility project managers, staff, and other key contributors or observers as deemed appropriate by the committee. Membership of the PSTC should represent a broad spectrum of the polar research community in geophysics and glaciology. It is expected that the chair and vice-chair positions will rotate between IRIS-appointed and UNAVCO-appointed members; if the chair represents one discipline the vice chair will be from the other.

I.d The PSTC chair and vice-chair will serve as primary liaisons between the PSTC, IRIS, and UNAVCO, according to their affiliations. It is anticipated that the PSTC chair and vice-chair's activities will include facility site visits and participation at relevant facility meetings. UNAVCO and IRIS may appoint a board liaison to the PSTC who may or may not otherwise be a member of the committee. If not a regularly appointed member, the liaison will serve in a non-voting capacity.

I.e The PSTC chair and vice-chair will communicate the findings and recommendations of the group to the Presidents of UNAVCO and IRIS and the Chairs of the Boards of Directors.

II. Working Assumptions

II.a PSTC members will represent the broad Polar geodetic and seismic communities in their respective fields. It is the responsibility of the PSTC members to gather input from their communities concerning their disciplinary needs.

II.b The PSTC will convene as needed in order to meet relevant goals and address timely matters.

II.c Meetings of the PSTC and any working groups formed by the PSTC will be recorded in minutes and action items. The minutes will be distributed to all members, cataloged by IRIS and UNAVCO, and the resulting action items will be available via UNAVCO and IRIS web sites.

III. Terms and Conditions of Membership

III.a PSTC membership term will be for 3 years. There are no restrictions on the number of terms a member can serve. Rotations of the original committee members will be staggered, but at least one member will be expected to rotate each year starting in 2009.

III.b Members of the PSTC shall be from IRIS or UNAVCO member institutions.

III.c In selecting members, attention will be paid to potential conflicts of interest. Members of the PSTC must fully disclose any conflicts of interest associated with the scope and activities of the PSTC, and members will be required to sign IRIS and UNAVCO conflict-of-interest statements.