19th Symposium on Societal Applications: Policy, Research and Practice

Abstract Information

Abstracts are closed! The deadline was 31 August 2023 at 11:59 PM EDT.

Abstract Fee and Author Instructions
All presenters must also register for the meeting.

View the Program

The 19th Symposium on Societal Applications: Policy, Research, and Practice, sponsored by the American Meteorological Society and organized by the AMS Board on Societal Impacts, will be part of the 104th Annual Meeting to be held 28 January – 1 February 2024 in Baltimore, MD and online.  

Call for Papers

Papers for this conference are solicited on the following topics and sessions:

  • Federal Guidance for Open Science and Open Data: A Listening Session for Social Science Data
  • Strategies and Opportunities for Sharing Social Science Data
  • From Stormy Weather to Sunny Solutions: NOAA’s Integration of Social Science Research to Improve Products and Services
  • Risk Communication in the Weather Forecast and Warning Process
  • Engaging Vulnerable Populations and At-Risk Groups in Research and Planning
  • Inclusive Risk Communication: Understanding the Communities We Serve
  • Adapting to a Changing Climate: Identifying Research and Support Needs for Effective R2O
  • Other Topics on Societal Applications

Joint Sessions

  • Expanding and Enhancing Climate Information and Services: A Whole-of-Government Framework and Action Plan (joint session with 12th Symposium on Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise)
  • From Data to Decisions: An integrated Approach to Produce Actionable and Accessible Earth System Information (joint session with 40th Conference on Environmental Information Processing Technologies)
  • Requirements and Strategies to Support Resilient Infrastructure Planning and Design (joint session with 12th Symposium on Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise)
  • The Fifth National Climate Assessment: Innovations in the Assessment Process (joint session with 12th Symposium on Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise)
  • The Fifth National Climate Assessment: Key Themes and Scientific Updates (joint session with 12th Symposium on Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise)
  • Toward a Unified Monitoring, Measurements, Reporting, and Verification (MMRV) Framework for GHG Mitigation and Carbon Removal (joint session with 24th Symposium on Meteorological Observation and Instrumentation)
  • Climate Change, Extreme Weather, and Public Health (joint session with 15th Conference on Environment and Health)
  • Weather-Ready Nation: Measuring Progress and Value across the Enterprise (joint session with Weather Ready Nation)
  • From Data to Decision: AI at the Intersection of Meteorology, Climate, and Society (joint session with 23rd Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science)
  • How to utilize social science, social media, and technology to effectively convey danger to underprivileged and underrepresented populations before and during tropical cyclone events. (joint session with Sixth Special Symposium on Tropical Meteorology and Tropical Cyclones)
  • Advancing the warning paradigm - Leveraging the social, behavioral, and economic sciences (join session with Second Symposium on the Future of Weather, Forecasting, and Practice)
  • Effective weather communication to socially vulnerable and underserved communities (joint session with Second Symposium on the Future of Weather, Forecasting, and Practice)

Student Award Opportunities

Paper Award

Members of the Symposium for Societal Applications encourage students to submit their posters and oral presentations for consideration for awards granted by the Symposium for Societal Applications. A total of six awards will be distributed for oral presentations (1st ($125), 2nd ($100), 3rd ($75) place) and poster presentations (1st ($125), 2nd ($100), 3rd ($75) place and Honorable Mention ($25)). We especially encourage topics that speak to the goals of the Symposium and connect with the overall conference theme.

A subcommittee will evaluate presentations and recommend winners based on criteria that include (1) Quality of the research being conducted (e.g. research design, methods, reporting of results); (2) Relevance of research to the Symposium and conference theme; (3) Quality of oral or poster presentation design (e.g. clear slides, understandable graphics, readability of text); and (4) Communication skills (e.g. engaging the audience, pacing of presentation, ability to answer Q&As).

To be eligible for the presentation awards, you must be a full-time undergraduate or graduate student enrolled at a university at the time of abstract submission, and you also must be the lead author, personally presenting the work.

Travel Award

Program chairs organizing the Symposium for Societal Applications will also be granting two travel allowances ($195 each) for students or early career professionals. Interested applicants should submit a one-page statement describing 1) how attending the 2024 AMS conference would benefit their academic or professional career and 2) how their academic or professional career activities support the mission of the Board on Societal Impacts (BSI), which sponsors the Societal Applications Symposium. The BSI mission is described here. Applications are due to Jamie Vickery ([email protected]), Michael Michaud ([email protected]), Austin Harris ([email protected]) and Rick Smith ([email protected]) by Friday, 13 October 2023.

Conference Contacts

For additional information please contact the program co-chairs: Austin Harris ([email protected]) Michael Michaud ([email protected]), and Jamie Vickery ([email protected]).