The Unidata Program Center is pleased to welcome new members to the program's governing committees. Committee members normally serve three-year terms; terms are finishing up for one member of the Users committee and two members of the Strategic Advisory committee. Additionally, a seat on the Strategic Advisory Committee that has been empty since the fall of 2014 is being filled. New members and those finishing their terms will overlap for one meeting: September 26-27 for the Users Committee and October 6-7 for the Strategic Advisory Committee.
The UPC staff looks forward to working with our new committee members, and to having all the current members of both committees at the Program Center in Boulder, Colorado this fall.
The following provides a brief introduction to the scientists joining Unidata's committees. You can additional information about the governing committees, including contact information for committee members, on the Governing Committees page.
Martin Baxter, Strategic Advisory Committee
Dr. Martin Baxter is an Associate Professor of Meteorology in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Central Michigan University. His research focuses on forecasting and numerical weather prediction of precipitation systems. At CMU, he is the primary instructor for Synoptic Meteorology and just completed a one-year term as department chairperson. He served on the Unidata Users committee from 2011-2014.
“I had a great experience serving on the Users Committee, and continue to use Unidata products and services on a near daily basis,” says Dr. Baxter. “I am eager to contribute towards achieving Unidata's mission in a new way as part of the Strategic Advisory Committee.”
Daryl Herzmann, Users Committee
Daryl Herzmann is a Systems Analyst for the Department of Agronomy at Iowa State University. He received his Bachelors Degree in Atmospheric Science from the same institution in 2001 and has been developing the Iowa Environmental Mesonet ever since. His primary interests are in real-time environmental data processing, web services, python, and databases.
Daryl got his start with Unidata technologies while an undergrad and has applied generous resources provided by Unidata Equipment Grants to bolster open archives supporting undergrad and graduate student research at his institution and beyond. “In my mind, Unidata is at the forefront of building and supporting needed tools within the geo-science education and research communities,” he says. “I am looking forward to joining this exceptional committee and helping as I am able.”
Charles Pavloski, Strategic Advisory Committee
Dr. Chuck Pavloski recently became a Software R&D Engineer for Earth Science at Pennsylvania State University's Institute for CyberScience (ICS). In this role, he will be a liaison to Earth Systems faculty across the university, providing consultation and help with High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Big Data needs, including services provided by Unidata. Prior to joining Penn State's HPC division, he was Computing Director and Senior Research Associate from 2002 to 2016 in Penn State's Department of Meteorology. In that role, he provided development and extensive use of Unidata's IDD stream (via LDM) and software tools (IDV, etc) for both research and computing to faculty and students. His current research interests include improving the performance and reliability of various meteorologic forecasting (and geophysical) models on Penn State's ICS HPC systems and manipulation of Big Data in Earth Science. Prior to 2002, he worked on various research programming and instrumentation projects with the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program.
Dr. Pavloski has a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University.
Returning Committee Members
One sitting committee member has agreed to extend her term:
Sepideh Yalda, Strategic Advisory Committee
Dr. Sepideh Yalda is a Professor of Meteorology at Millersville University. She received a doctorate in Meteorology from Saint Louis University, and joined the Millersville faculty in 1997. Since 2009 she has also served as Director of the Center for Disaster Research and Education at Millersville. Dr. Yalda coordinates the Master of Science in Emergency Management program.
Dr. Yalda's research has focused on climate model statistics, information technology, and science education. She has also been involved in a number of community-based research projects with a focus on all-hazard approach to mitigation and planning. She was also a Co-PI on the National Science Foundation funded GEOScience Probe of Discovery (GEOPOD) project, which leverages Unidata's IDV to create an interactive learning environment utilizing real-time data that provides Meteorology instructors and students with an intuitive and graphical interface in a 3-D gaming environment.
“I am looking forward to continuing to serve on the Unidata Strategic Advisory Committee, and to be able to contribute to this organization that is an invaluable community resource,” says Dr. Yalda.
Dr. Yalda has served on the Unidata Strategic Advisory Committee since 2013.
