The national academies of sciences, engineering, and medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert advice on some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and the world.…

This is a $750,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) over a five-year period from 2017 to 2022. The purpose is to partially cover the expenses associated with the activities and operations of the Polar Research Board (PRB), which serves as the U.S. National Committee to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). The PRB provides expert advice to NASA and other agencies on issues related to the Arctic, Antarctic, and cold regions in general, helping to advance NASA's strategic goals around Earth science and environmental change. The contract does not have a set-aside designation. The NAS, an independent, non-profit organization, has historically provided various research, analysis, advisory, and technical support services to federal agencies through prime and subcontract awards.

The national academies of sciences, engineering, and medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert advice on some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and the world. Our work helps shape sound policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering, and medicine. The polar research board (PRB or board) is the focal point for providing advice on issues related to the arctic, antarctic, and cold regions in general. The PRB serves the nation at the international level as the U.S. National committee to two international nongovernmental polar science organizations, the scientific committee on antarctic research (scar) and the international arctic science committee (iasc). The activities overseen by the board will help advance NASA s strategic goals overall and in particular objective 2.2: advance knowledge of earth as a system to meet the challenges of environmental change, and to improve life on our planet. Our board has traditionally been most directly engaged with NASA s cryospheric sciences program, but our efforts also relate to NASA s earth sciences program more generally. We serve NASA by organizing discussion forums on topics IT suggests, examining issues relevant to its mission and goals, and standing ready to conduct specific, ad hoc activities to meet requests including community consensus building, examination of new research frontiers, program reviews and evaluation of relevant technologies, assistance in setting priorities and identifying research opportunities, and analyses of controversial and nationally important topics. In the coming years, the PRB expects to serve the nation by addressing priority issues either requested by agencies or identified by the board s members, and by continuing to facilitate U.S. Participation in iasc and scar, and seeking ways to make these organizations valuable to U.S. Interests. Through all of these means, the PRB will help NASA to effectively leverage and increase the impacts of its investments in polar science. This proposal requests a total of $750,000 over a period of five years from the national aeronautics and space administration (NASA) to partially cover the expenses associated with the activities and operations of the PRB from june 1, 2017 to may 31, 2022.