(Photo by Carlin Stiehl/Chesapeake Bay Program)

Vision

A sustainable and regenerative Chesapeake Bay ecosystem that plays a vital role in the health and well-being of the greatest diversity of stakeholders.

Mission

The Chesapeake Research Consortium (CRC) fully enables its member institutions and the broader scientific community in the region to inspire and implement solutions to the understanding and management of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, by defining, coordinating, and disseminating the research and education needed for its science-based management.

To transition from this mission to strategic action, we translate “to fully enable” into four “enabling” roles: convening managers and provisioners of science, filling the pipeline of environmental professionals, building the big stage for dissemination of solutions, and supporting member institutions in the research and education efforts that are relevant to the Chesapeake Bay partnership efforts. This framework of enabling roles allows us to plot a course forward in our daily work, resulting in the portfolio of programs and efforts highlighted below.

CONVENING

Convening brings together a diverse team with different areas of expertise to tackle a shared problem, taking advantage of collective intelligence.  It requires a clear purpose that a diverse group of participants can work towards in a collaborative effort.  In the case of the CRC, restoration of the Bay and watershed provides this clear purpose, albeit at a large scale. Currently, coordination of STAC, the biennial conference, and CRC’s new webinar series, titled CRC Roundtable, are examples.

CREATING PATHWAYS

CRC’s aim is to evolve and strengthen a leadership pipeline that attracts and retains a diverse community so that the necessary diversity of perspectives is applied to the protection and restoration of complex human-impacted ecosystems. We do this at two professional levels; the Staffer’s program is notably recognized as having high value for young professionals, and the relatively new C-StREAM program serves undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds. These are examples of programs that cannot be provided at the scale of individual institutions, and are effectively delivered by the CRC.

BUILDING THE BIG STAGE

Exchange of information must happen at a large scale within the restoration effort, both between scientists and managers, as well as among scientists with Bay-related expertise. The bi-monthly CRC newsletter, CRC Roundtable, and accompanying social media efforts serve to provide platforms for targeted, inclusive, and informed conversations that match scientific advances and management needs, as well as provide topical areas around which networks of scientists can form. Both are necessary elements to move us collectively forward toward decision-making for effective and sustainable management of the Chesapeake Bay, its watershed, and its living resources.

MEMBER SUPPORT

The seven member institutions of the CRC collectively represent an astounding portfolio of research and educational resources, across a large geographic area. The CRC aims to bring this collective expertise to bear on the restoration effort through the facilitation of collaborative and multi-institutional efforts of both higher education and interdisciplinary research. The three roles above (convening, filling the pipeline, building the big stage) all interweave to serve this purpose, as well as additional tools such as the Chesapeake Bay Expertise Database and the participation in multi-institutional research proposals.

Values

Prosocial

We lead and support the integration of science into the decision-making processes of the partnership, in a manner aligned with the goals of relevant agreements, and that increases the long-term sustainability, resilience, and health of the ecosystem.

Market Demands

We actively listen to both scientists and managers to identify barriers to action and knowledge gaps, and act on that information by reducing barriers to collaboration, sharing existing and new knowledge broadly and quickly, and directing resources toward filling knowledge needs.

Achievement

We prepare for our work, build it upon existing knowledge, pursue it with rigor, and are accountable for its quality and outcomes.

Culture

A sustainable and regenerative Chesapeake Bay ecosystem is for all, and so all should be included in its restoration and management.  We strive to draw on differences in experience, ideas, and ways of thinking to provide solutions and approaches.

Resource Use

We utilize a systems approach in the use of human and material resources, applying them strategically and respectfully, and utilizing a full cost accounting approach.

Artistic

We acknowledge foundational knowledge, action, success, and failure as vital contributions to learning, and commit to being a learning community that can inspire others to do the same.