Institute Director. The Institute Director, a senior UC faculty member, will provide overall scientific leadership for the CICS and serve as the main point of contact between the Governing Board and the Committees that make up the Institute. The Institute Director will create for CICS participants an infrastructure that assures progress and quality are a central goal of the Institute. The Director's key responsibilities will be to make decisions regarding research direction and financial activities. Among the duties, he or she will help researchers identify potential collaborators, including researchers who are working along similar lines on other campuses or universities, and stakeholder groups, and ensure that effective avenues of communication exist, both within the CICS and between researchers, decision-makers, and other stakeholders. Every year, the Institute Director, as Chair of the Program Council, will be responsible for issuing a call for proposals consistent with the science and education agenda. With advice from the Program Council, the Director will recommend to the Governance Board the set of projects to be funded and will ensure that those proposals are consistent with the mission of the CICS.
The Steering Committee. The Steering Committee will be made up of representatives from UC, its partner institutions, and renowned external experts. Together with the Stakeholder Committee (described below), the Steering Committee will act as a science advisory group and develop and publish an annual research and education agenda consisting of short-term and long-term topics. It will oversee budget allocations to those research and education areas. The committee will be appointed by the Governing Board and will develop a 3-5-year Strategic Plan, in partnership with the Stakeholder Committee; progress toward strategic goals will be reported annually, and will be accompanied with a 3-5-year content update. The Steering Committee will also serve as an ad hoc review and advisory group that the Institute Director may call upon from time to time to deliberate on policy matters, or to comment on how specific CICS efforts align with strategic priorities.
The Stakeholder Committee. The Stakeholder Committee will be composed of representatives from advocacy groups, ratepayers groups, environmental organizations, utilities, and related industries, and appointed by the Governing Board. The Stakeholder Committee, jointly with the Steering Committee, will serve in the role of key advisors, influencing the shape and content of both the strategic plan and the annual science and education agenda. Members of the Stakeholder Committee will also serve as an ad hoc review and advisory group who may be asked by the Institute Director, from time to time, to deliberate on policy matters.
The Program Council. The Program Council, comprising disciplinary research and campus representatives from the UC academic community, will be responsible for overseeing annual program progress toward the scientific and educational agenda. Several members of the council will be assigned to each of the primary program areas, and they will monitor and assess the success of each of the programmatic areas by reviewing periodic reports and conducting meetings. Periodic meetings of the Program Council will allow the members to discuss the progress made in each area and to identify cross-cutting themes, activities, and results. The Program Council will also ensure that the links between scientists and stakeholders are well established so information flows continuously between the two.
Another major role of the Program Council will be to oversee the proposal funding process. This includes (1) issuing the periodic call for proposals; (2) identifying and enlisting potential reviewers of proposals; (3) convening review panels to rank project proposals; and (4) recommending to the Institute Director the annual list of projects to be funded under each program. The Institute Director will make the final recommendation to the Governance Board.
Finally, the Program Council will include an Education Subcommittee that will be responsible for coordinating the education and outreach program. This will require them to leverage the existing outreach programs on each UC campus, the UCOP, and the PUC.
Administrative Hub. The Administrative Hub will serve as the main focal point for administrative operations, including identifying and resolving system-wide operational issues and coordinating inter-institutional operational solutions. A key member of the Administrative Hub will be the Administrative Director, who will (1) coordinate administrative activities with staff on each UC campus and the PUC; (2) oversee most administrative functions, such as financial management, personnel, purchasing, reporting, and event planning; and (3) act as a point of contact for government offices, other states, and foreign governments interested in partnering with or learning from California's experience. The Hub will be responsible for the administrative operations associated with the annual call for proposals, and will staff the Program Council.