George Mason University hosts the Virginia location of the Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies (CISESS), a multi-institution consortium dedicated to expanding our understanding of the Earth system and its interactions with the human society. CISESS is a $175-million, five-year agreement between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the 20-member consortium led by the University of Maryland (UMD) and North Carolina State University.
The Satellite and Earth System Studies (SESS) program at George Mason University forms a pivotal research and education branch of Mason’s Earth Science where our grand scientific challenge is to enhance our understanding of how the natural components of the Earth system—atmosphere, ocean, land, and biosphere—interact with human activities as a coupled system. The SESS program’s multidisciplinary team of scientists and experts at George Mason University engage in collaborative and transformative research activities to enhance NOAA’s and the greater scientific community’s ability to use observations and models to meet that challenge, advance NOAA’s science mission, and identify emerging science needs.