Program
| 10:00 | AMS Mahoney Lecture Dr. Antonio J. Busalacchi, UCAR President |
| 12:00 | Welcome Remarks Andrea Lopez Lang, Chair of the AMS Board of Enterprise Economic Development, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Heidi Centola, Commissioner of the AMS Commission of the Weather Water and Climate Enterprise, IBM Technology |
| 12:10 | Welcome Keynote Dr. Michael Farrar, NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction |
| 12:50 | Congressional Roundtable (Modified Chatham House Rule) Discussion and Q&A with senior Congressional staff from key Senate and House Committees with oversight and authorization responsibility for aspects of the Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise. Moderator: Matthew Borgia, NOAA Confirmed Panelists: Dana Rollison, Professional Staff U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Majority (D); Brent Blevins, Staff Director U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Majority (R); Alexander Weixel, Professional Staff U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Environment, Majority (R); Kristi Parrott, Professional Staff U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Environment, Minority (D) |
| Break | |
| 2:45 | Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise Keynote Exploring the Opportunities, Risks, and Trade-Offs for WWCE in AI’s Brave New World: A Fireside Chat (Modified Chatham House Rule) Dr. Michael Morgan, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, NOAA |
| Break | |
| 3:45 | Session 1: Agency Leads Panel A candid discussion with the agency leaders touching on the future of directions in the weather, water, and climate enterprise Confirmed Panelists: Dr. Gerald Geernaert, DOE; Dr. Danielle Sumy, NSF; Dr. Argyro Kavvada, NASA |
| 5:00 | Closing Remarks |
| 8:00 | Light Breakfast |
| 9:00 | Welcome Remarks from AMS President Dr. Anjuli Bamzai, AMS President |
| 9:20 | AI and Weather and Climate Keynote Session An overview of how we can create trustworthy AI methods for diverse environmental science users that will revolutionize our understanding and prediction of high-impact atmospheric and ocean science phenomena and create new educational pathways to develop a more diverse AI and environmental science workforce. Moderator: Shawn Miller, Raytheon Speaker: Dr. Chris Thorncroft, NSF AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate, and Coastal Oceanography (AI2ES), University at Albany, SUNY |
| Break | |
| 10:15 | Session 2: Keeping Up with the Speed of Change: AI Applications via Partnership and Collaboration (Modified Chatham House Rule) We are in a rapid cycle of innovation within the Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise with advances and adoption of machine learning and deep learning techniques throughout the lifecycle. This session will explore government, industry, and academic perspectives of how the enterprise can keep up with the speed of change and how new approaches to collaboration across these sectors can support this evolution – and the corresponding policy implications. Moderator: Scott Mackaro, Vaisala Confirmed Speakers: Dr. Raghu Raj Prasanna Kumar, NVIDIA; Dr. Maria Molina, University of Maryland |
| Lunch | |
| 1:00 | Session 3: Weather and Climate data needs for reliable AI Applications in weather and climate leveraging artificial intelligence will require both new data sources as well tools for applying them to these problems. The speakers in this session will provide their perspective on what these data needs are, and where there are technologies that could help seamlessly integrate them into the frontier of AI-powered weather and climate tools and analytics. Moderators: Dr. Daniel Rothenberg, OpenEartthAI and Dr. Alexis Hoffman, Jupiter Intel Confirmed Speakers: Dr. Ryan Keisler, OpenEarthAI; Dr. Maike Sonnewald, UC-Davis; Dr. John Schreck, NCAR |
| 2:00 | Session 4: Student and Early Career Perspectives of the AI Landscape and Workforce development In the face of the rapid adoption of AI in the weather, water, and climate enterprise, the next generation of scientists are already leading the way. The speakers in this session will add perspective to the AI discussion on adoption in education, workforce development, and hurdles they see in the future. Confirmed Speakers: Briah Davis, George Mason University; Jhayron Perez-Carrasquilla, University of Maryland; Dr. Lauriana Gaudet, The Weather Company; Dr. Oscar Chimborazo, Howard University; Briah Davis, George Mason University |
| Break | |
| 3:30 | Session 5: Multi-sector collaborations and roadblocks Over the past few years, advances in AI technologies for weather and climate have largely been developed in the private sector, and by newcomers into the WWC enterprise. This poses a key question - how do we rapidly empower the cross-sector collaboration involving these players which will be vital towards ensuring the broader community has access to these technologies? Our broad panel of experts from across the WWC enterprise will help guide us through this challenge. Moderators: Dr. Daniel Rothenberg, OpenEarthAI and Dr. Alexis Hoffman, Jupiter Intel Confirmed Speakers: Dr. Josh Hacker, Jupiter Intel; Mr. Stan Posey, NVIDIA; Dr. Kara Lamb, Columbia University/LEAP; Dr. Lucas Harris, NOAA/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory; Dr. Monica Youngman, NOAA/National Weather Service |
| 5:00 | Closing remarks Andrea Lopez Lang, Chair of the AMS Board of Enterprise Economic Development, University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| 7:00 | Student and Early Career Networking Reception - RSVP Janae Elkins, Emergency Response Meteorologist; National Weather Service (NWS) Operations Center, NOAA/NWS Headquarters |
| 8:00 | The Dr. Keith Seitter Breakfast Roundtable |
| 9:10 | Welcome and Call to Order, Andrea Lopez Lang, Chair of the AMS Board of Enterprise Economic Development, University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| 9:15 | Session 6: Access and Applications of Satellite Data Products from Current and Future Missions to Address User Needs Building upon the long and successful legacy of operational Earth observing satellites in LEO and GEO orbits, NOAA along with its partner NASA has begun the formulation and development of next generation satellite missions. The new missions are not only expected to provide continuity of critical observations that drive weather and environmental models but also provide enhancements that enable improvements of products over current missions. Data from partner missions from both domestic and international space organizations, as well as commercial sources are key to the observational portfolio. This panel will discuss the vision and mission for NOAA satellite programs, new and novel ways to access and exploit the data, and approaches to engaging with users and policy makers for getting maximum return on investments for societal benefits. Moderator: Dr. Satya Kulluri, NOAA NESDIS Confirmed Speakers: Dr. Ed Grisgby, NOAA NESDIS; Dr. Jenny Dissen, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies; Dr. Thomas Sherman, Enverus; Dr. Erik Zuker, HNTB |
| Break | |
| 10:30 | Session 7: Weather Modification Reporting Act in the era of Geoengineering (Modified Chatham House Rule) NOAA administers the Weather Modification Reporting Act of 1972, which requires that all persons that conduct non-Federal weather modification activities within the United States or its territories report such activities at least 10 days prior to and after undertaking the activities. Until recently, reported weather modification activities largely consisted of local cloud seeding efforts. However, NOAA's General Counsel recently determined that solar radiation modification experiments to modify the climate also fall within this Act. This panel will discuss implications of this recent determination for NOAA and the larger weather and climate community. Moderator: Dr. John Ten Hoeve, NOAA/WPO Panelists: Dr. Sarah Kapnick, NOAA; Dr. Gregory Frost, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory; Dr. Sarah Tessendorf, NCAR |
| Lunch | |
| 1:00 | Session 8: Stakeholder Discussion for the Radar Next Program The National Weather Service is designing and deploying the next generation weather radar to support national priorities such as weather forecasting, disaster preparedness, flood and fire support, and public safety. In planning for future radar capabilities, the National Weather Service is looking to understand, collect, and validate a holistic set of weather radar user needs Moderator: Dr. Frank W. Gallagher III, NOAA/NESDIS Speakers: To be announced soon |
| 2:00 | Session 9: Equitable Climate Services: Getting climate information into the hands of communities who need it. Climate data, information, science, and tools ("climate services") must be accessible and actionable for users of all disciplines, reflective of user experiences, and inclusive of decision support and capacity building – because providing data and information on its own does not lead to adaptive decision making. This session will include a presentation on how NOAA's new Equitable Climate Services Action Plan seeks to better address these challenges. It will be followed by a moderated panel discussion about what it means to truly prioritize and meet the needs of users of all disciplines and backgrounds, particularly historically underserved and Tribal and Indigenous communities, as they move forward with their climate adaptation and resilience planning and implementation. Rooted in NOAA’s Equitable Climate Services Action Plan, the panel will highlight the challenges faced and opportunities presented in making federal climate services more accessible, equitable, inclusive, and capable of addressing complex and compounding hazards. Moderators: Jainey K. Bavishi, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy Administrator of NOAA, and Dr. John Ten Hoeve, NOAA/WPO Speaker: Ella Clarke, NOAA Panel: Dr. Ariela Zycherman, NOAA Climate Program Office (panelist); Dr. Brittany King, NOAA National Ocean Service (panelist) - VIRTUAL; Sharon Mesick, NOAA Southern Regional Climate Service (panelist) - VIRTUAL |
| 2:45 | Closing Remarks and Wrap-Up Networking Session Andrea Lopez Lang, Chair of the AMS Board of Enterprise Economic Development, University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| 3:30 | Tour of NCWPC - Meet at security at 3:20 |
All times listed are Eastern Daylight Time.
*Program is subject to change.
The AMS 2024 Washington Forum will be held under a modified version of the Chatham House Rule, which will be strictly enforced:
Participants are free to use the information received at the AMS Washington Forum, but attribution of remarks of speakers (including but not limited to keynotes, moderators, panelists and attendees) by other people is not permitted. It is at the discretion of the individual outside of the virtual forum if they wish to be quoted.
The Chatham House Rule originated at Chatham House with the aim of providing anonymity to speakers and to encourage openness and the sharing of information. It is now used throughout the world as an aid to free discussion. Meetings do not have to take place at Chatham House, or be organized by Chatham House, to be held under the Rule.
More information on the Chatham House can be found here: www.chathamhouse.org
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