In Reply Refer To:
Mail Stop 150

July 18, 2012

WATER MISSION AREA MEMORANDUM NO. 12.03

Subject:  The Scientific and Technical Employee Development Committee (STED)

The purpose of this memorandum is to familiarize U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Mission Area (WMA) personnel with the mission, objectives, and activities of the Scientific and Technical Employee Development Committee (STED) and to introduce personnel to the portal of STED activities, located at /usgs/STED/index.html.

Background

In 2002 the Associate Director for Water reaffirmed the need for a committee to provide guidance for employee development within the Water discipline to help ensure the continuance of the USGS as a world leader in water science.  As a result, the Employee Development Committee was reorganized to better reflect a cross-section of the WMA and renamed the Scientific and Technical Employee Development Committee (STED) (WRD Memo 99.36). Committee membership also was realigned and now includes, on a rotational basis, representatives of the Office of Employee and Organizational Development (OED), technical offices (Office of Groundwater, Office of Surface Water, and Office of Water Quality), the National Research Program, the Water Science Field Team, a Water Science Center (WSC) Director and studies or data chief and (or) hydrologic technician, and an IT specialist.  

STED Mission, Objectives, and Activities

The mission of the Scientific and Technical Employee Development Committee is to provide the leadership necessary to guide the design and maintenance of a coordinated scientific and technical employee development program for WMA personnel.  The STED coordinates closely with OED to implement this objective.  As part of its responsibilities, the STED provides information and advice to the USGS Associate Director for Water regarding short and long-term needs and goals for WMA employee training and also assesses the resources that might be required to effectively deliver training to employees.

The STED Committee is charged with providing guidance and feedback in order to ensure that employees have the necessary technical skills to:

• Ensure the scientific excellence of the WMA programs within the USGS,
• Meet the challenges of new science directions, and
• Accomplish the mission of the USGS.

In fulfillment of its mission, the STED objectives are: (1) to engage in activities designed to provide guidance, recommendations, and tools for employee development within the WMA; (2) to enhance and improve opportunities for employees to further their skills and career paths, and (3) to inform employees of the opportunities available to meet these objectives. 
Current STED activities include:

• Review and assessment of existing scientific and technical water training programs, in collaboration with OED and the discipline offices.
• Review of requested new employee-development opportunities or tools (such as alternative training delivery mechanisms).
• Providing recommendations for, and prioritization of, current enhancements to the OED employee-development program.
• Designing and planning short- and long-term strategies and future directions for employee development.
• Making recommendations to the Associate Director for Water and Water Senior Staff for employee-development policy.
• Providing information on these activities by posting meeting summaries on the STED web site.
• Improving and enhancing the utility of the STED web site to better serve and inform the WMA community.

Currently, innovative training methods, such as Technology Enabled Learning (TEL) and blended learning that combine instructor led training with online training tools, are being developed and piloted.  Web-hosted instructor-led training courses, which utilize virtual and mobile classrooms, are being developed to complement the traditional classroom training needs of the USGS.  STED web pages (/usgs/STED/index.html) are designed to provide information and links to training resources specifically for WMA personnel, who are looking to enhance their current career path or explore new career paths and training opportunities.

Please send questions or feedback regarding the work of the STED to gs-w_sted@usgs.gov.

William H. Werkheiser //s// William H. Werkheiser
Associate Director for Water