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Genene Fisher | Impact of Policy on Space Weather Services and Science

457 views · Published 13 November 2015 · 41:13 · Indexed 28 October 2026

Channel: Michigan Engineering · 2015 · Science & Technology

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Nelson W. Spencer Lecture
Sponsoring Department:  CLaSP

Dr. Fisher, Executive Officer at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction

Space weather impacts technology we rely on everyday: satellites, GPS, aviation, and electric power grids. Rapid advances in space-based technology and widespread dependence on these systems have made society more vulnerable than ever to space weather.  Changes in policy have led to increasing use of polar routes for aviation, increasing dependence on GPS, and an increasing vulnerability as the power grid becomes more interconnected—all which have resulted in a greater need for improved space weather forecasts and services. To respond to these changes, NOAA has implemented new forecast capabilities and products to better meet the needs of its diverse customer base. This presentation will discuss the role policy decisions have had on space weather services and science; how NOAA is working with industry, academia, and agency partners on preparing and responding to space weather events; and some challenges that still remain for the future.

Dr. Genene Fisher is the Executive Officer for the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service (NWS). She is responsible for a broad spectrum of scientific, financial, and administrative activities for NCEP’s nine centers which provide national and global operational weather, water, climate, and space weather products and services.  In the NCEP Office of the Director, Dr. Fisher oversees strategic planning, financial management, personnel management, policy, and interagency and international issues.
 
From 2011-May 2015, Dr. Fisher served as the NWS Senior Advisor for Space Weather. In this position, she advised NOAA leadership and federal agency executives on space weather technical and policy issues in preparation for domestic and international strategy and policy formulation. She integrated space weather operations into agency policies and procedures and expanded space weather activities within NWS HQ. She also served as the co-chair for the U.S. National Space Weather Program Committee on Space Weather.
 
Prior to joining NOAA, Genene spent ten years as a Senior Policy Fellow at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Policy Program, where she focused on science policy issues and societal impacts of weather and climate. Genene worked closely with industry on how to integrate space weather information into operations. She routinely met with policy makers to highlight the importance of atmospheric and space weather science and offered recommendations on how to reduce adverse impacts to user systems. She successfully expanded space weather activities within the AMS, resulting in the formation of the formal Space Weather Committee and the annual Space Weather Conference. At the AMS, she also developed science policy curriculum material to educate the next generation of scientists in the policy process and taught science policy courses as an adjunct professor at several universities.
 
Genene received a PhD in Atmospheric and Space Science and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan. She also has a B.A. in Planetary and Space Sciences from Boston University.

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