Eric Barron has had a controversial start as the new director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. He had looked forward to leading the place that had been the source of a fellowship and multiple collaborations over the years. And yet, soon after taking up his new post in July, Barron closed NCAR's Center for Capacity Building and laid off its director, Mickey Glantz, a climatologist who helps developing countries deal with climate change (see Nature 454, 808–809; 2008). Barron blames stagnant budgets, which have forced NCAR to lay off 12% of its core staff over the past five years. See CV

It is a sharp contrast with his previous job. For two years, Barron ran the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas, founded in 2002 with a $237-million gift from John and Katherine Jackson — at the time, the largest ever to a US public university. The Jackson money allowed the university to expand rapidly; Barron hired several people, including seven new faculty members in climate science.

But Barron had an affinity for NCAR. After studying geology as an undergraduate and oceanography as a PhD student in Florida, he received a Cray supercomputing graduate fellowship from NCAR in 1976 and turned his attention to climate modelling. Soon he was serving as editor at various geosciences journals and as panellist on numerous advisory committees.

Through nearly two decades of working at Pennsylvania State University, Barron maintained strong links with NCAR, collaborating with researchers and serving on the board of trustees for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which manages NCAR. That history is what led him back to Boulder, he says — in particular, the notion of serving society at large through NCAR's work.

“It's an extraordinary group of people doing something of considerable importance for society,” he says. And even as finances drive him to lay off some of those people, he is planning to find budget-friendly ways to bolster the centre's impact — for instance, by developing partnerships with outside institutions to share NCAR expertise.

John Dutton, the now-retired former dean of the college of Earth and mineral sciences at Pennsylvania State University, lauds his one-time hire for engaging students and helping them achieve their academic aims. “He has a very positive spirit and gets things done,” says Dutton, adding that Barron has the management style to cope with NCAR's budget woes.