Our Approach
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is a Federal government office established to coordinate work on climate change research across 13 federal agencies. USGCRP produces and publishes authoritative assessments of environmental change, including the Climate Science Special Report, The Impacts of Client Change on Human Health in the United States, and most notably, the National Climate Assessment. Straughan’s role is to help oversee the scientific integrity of these USGCRP reports and support the provision of climate information to decision-makers. Because of our work, users of USGCRP reports can easily access a great deal of information about the science of the reports, including the organizations responsible, the source of the data, and related content.
Straughan has played an integral role with two of the Interagency Working Groups for USGCRP. Straughan’s work with the Climate Data and Tools Working Group and its place in the broader Federal climate adaptation community has promoted and strengthened efforts to improve access to relevant climate information. Straughan also helped scope and launch the Sustained Assessment Working Group, which is charged with developing recommendations on enhancing the usefulness and sustainability of USGCRP climate assessment activities and products.
Straughan participated in rebuilding the technology of the Global Change Information System to enable great quality and usefulness for future climate assessments.
Check out the Fifth National Climate Assessment released in November 2023.
