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AMS Resources and Response to the Federal Science Crisis
The challenges facing the Society are rapidly changing as the weather, water, and climate enterprise evolves. Several that warrant special attention at this critical juncture are bridging the knowledge gap from university to the workforce, scientific integrity, diversity of perspectives and communication. AMS needs to be agile, adaptable, and transformative in tackling the impacts on the Society. First, strong communication and partnership across the enterprise with our business stakeholders is critical and must be built from a diversification of membership.
Diversity is multi-dimensional and essential to advance collaborative discussion and scientific innovation. AMS offers a unique venue for collaboration. We should harness this opportunity to openly share and discuss the topics of impact and importance where everyone has a voice. Bridging this gap plays a key role in strengthening relationships and scientific competencies.
In an era shaped by the rapid advancement of information technology and a myriad of data sources, scientific integrity stands as the constant—grounding discovery in truth and trust. The AMS plays a vital and enduring role as a steward of the integrity of science and the scientific process, championing rigor, and transparency. A commitment from the entire enterprise is essential in combating misinformation while maintaining “truth in science” which is one of the core values of the AMS Mission. As thought leaders, we must embrace the evolution of the enterprise and together we can empower all members to synergistically address the challenges facing the Society.
I am truly honored to be among my fellow nominees for AMS Council. If elected, I will foster a welcoming, teaming environment guided by open communication and transparency. I will leverage my experience leading the planning and execution of the AMS Washington Forum and apply learnings from participating in the Mind the Gap Workshop, while helping to reimagine and strengthen the value AMS provides to its members—ensuring continued relevance and impact into the future.
Heidi Centola is a Technology Sales Leader that drives growth with innovation and creative, strategic solutions across the IBM Automation Platform and Sustainability portfolios. Since joining IBM in 2018, Heidi has fostered and strengthened strategic partnerships with customers and business partners in CPG/Retail, Manufacturing, and E&U market sectors as well as Agribusiness.
Prior to joining IBM-The Weather Company, Heidi gained more than 15 years’ experience in professional meteorology and business development. She most recently served as a Senior Business Development Manager for Schneider Electric Cloud Services (DTN) where she facilitated strategic partnerships both internally and externally to aid in the growth of the energy management and sustainability businesses through organic innovation and custom weather solutions for segments such as Retail and Healthcare. Heidi also worked as the Manager of the Agricultural and Alternative Investment Products at CME Group focused on the volume growth development of the global weather futures and options, global dairy products and alternative investment products. In this role, she collaborated with large institutional traders and brokers across the globe including but not limited to corporate commercials, hedge funds, banks, reinsurance/insurance, and energy companies. Prior to CME Group, Heidi served as Manager, Strategic Relations for Earth Networks as well as worked as a Senior Account Executive for WeatherBug focused on energy trading. Her background also includes various client-facing roles with WSI. While at WSI, Heidi played an integral role in the growth and development of the energy offer to traders and utilities.
Centola holds a B.S. degree in meteorology with a minor in technical mathematics from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. Heidi is the past Commissioner of the Commission on the Weather, Water and Climate Enterprise (CWWCE) of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). She also participates in committees within this commission as well as leadership roles including the past chair of the Board on Enterprise Economic Development (BEED) and past chair of the AMS Energy Committee. She also served on the Board of Directors for the Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA).
If elected, I will engage private sector stakeholders—from independent consultants to major commercial providers—to robustly represent your interests to the Council. I will collaborate to identify risks, challenge assumptions, and pursue strategic opportunities to advance the weather, water, and climate enterprise (WWCE).
The WWCE is transforming rapidly due to many factors including AI integration, commercial data procurement, and increasing weather vulnerability. Threats such as spectrum encroachment create unique challenges. Addressing these challenges requires aligning resources, workforce readiness, and public-private partnerships.
AI Generative AI (Gen AI) is reshaping meteorology. As operational meteorologists become AI curators, the profession risks losing foundational atmospheric physics knowledge. Broadly, tech sector entry into weather prediction could disrupt traditional government-private enterprise balances. AMS can support WWCE by establishing ethical standards, supporting academic and professional Gen AI preparedness, and developing frameworks that promote private and public innovation in applied science.
Commercial Data Procurement Government agencies are transitioning to procuring environmental data as a service. While this creates commercial opportunities, challenges persist regarding data quality, data rights, open science, and market viability. AMS can lead the dialogue to create pathways that balance U.S. commercial and public interests during this shift.
Weather Vulnerability Despite enhanced forecasting, extreme weather impacts are escalating due to increased exposure and vulnerability in coastal, arid, and wildfire-prone areas. The enterprise must transition from predicting physical variables to forecasting societal impacts. AMS can increase its efforts to bridge the gap between science and human behavior.
Spectrum Encroachment Meteorological science and services depend on unobstructed radio frequency bands. Explosive global demand for 5G/6G and satellite communications and other applications creates immense pressure for dynamic spectrum sharing. AMS must authoritatively highlight the impacts of radio frequency interference and the need to successfully balance commercial demands with critical public safety interests to key government and industry stakeholders.
Tim Hall is a Principal Scientist and Environmental Monitoring Architect in The Aerospace Corporation's Civil Systems Group. He holds a B.S. in meteorology (Pennsylvania State University) and an M.S. in atmospheric science specializing in weather satellite instrumentation (Colorado State University). He was awarded the AMS Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM) credential in 2009.
At Aerospace, Hall provides meteorological and enterprise systems engineering expertise, leading science and technology teams to prototype and demonstrate capabilities for NOAA, NASA, FAA and other agencies. Recent projects involve leading an interorganizational team comprised of seven independent research centers addressing wildfire intelligence gaps; directing research to characterize space weather for low Earth orbit satellite safety; investigating the economic valuation of space-based weather forecasts for energy applications; and applying deep learning to sub-seasonal hurricane forecasting. Previously, he served (1992–2013) as a U.S. Air Force weather officer and space acquisition professional, retiring as a Lt. Colonel.
His American Meteorological Society (AMS) service includes the Board for Certified Consulting Meteorologists (2014–2018, Chair in 2018), the Board for Private Sector Meteorologists (2010–2013), the Commission on Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise Steering Committee (2017–2022), and the Committee on Environmental Security (2026-). He received the 2025 AMS Henry T. Harrison Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Consulting Meteorologist. Hall was President of the Association for Certified Meteorologists (2019–2022).
Raised in Orlando and Maryland, his passion for weather stems from his fascination with Florida’s frequent thunderstorms and experiencing a memorable mid-Atlantic thundersnow event in Maryland at age 13.
Our Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise is undergoing rapid transformation — in the AI technologies reshaping how we conduct our science and how the public receives it, and in the funding systems that support both. Navigating this transformation requires cross-sector collaboration, and the AMS has long been the common ground where practitioners from across the enterprise forge exactly those connections. Cultivating this diverse, interdisciplinary community isn't just the AMS' greatest asset; it's our most urgent imperative.
AI is reshaping how we predict weather and climate and how we inform the public. Many of these advances arise from machine learning communities outside the traditional enterprise, such as technology companies and startups. Pairing these advances with domain expertise is critical to maximizing their real-world impact. Collaborations like Google DeepMind's work with the National Hurricane Center highlight what's possible when these communities meet; the AMS can be the forum where such partnerships form at scale.
Shifting federal funding priorities and private sector expansion into areas including modeling and observation create new challenges with data sovereignty and open access. These changes also generate deep uncertainty across the research establishment, especially for the early-career scientists who will become our next generation of leaders. The AMS can play an invaluable role in fostering the dialogue that will galvanize our community to action on these challenges.If elected to the AMS Council, I'll draw both from my career spanning academic research, industry, and the AI-weather frontier and from leadership in the AMS fostering dialogue on AI, data sovereignty and cross-sector collaboration at AMS Meetings to strengthen the Society’s role as the forum where our community confronts these transformations. My goal is to help the AMS fulfill its highest purpose: serving as the common ground where practitioners foster the interdisciplinary connections that translate our science into lasting impact on society.
If elected to the AMS Council, I'll draw both from my career spanning academic research, industry, and the AI-weather frontier and from leadership in the AMS fostering dialogue on AI, data sovereignty and cross-sector collaboration at AMS Meetings to strengthen the Society’s role as the forum where our community confronts these transformations. My goal is to help the AMS fulfill its highest purpose: serving as the common ground where practitioners foster the interdisciplinary connections that translate our science into lasting impact on society.
Daniel A. Rothenberg has spent 15 years working at the intersection of weather, climate, and technology. In 2024 he co-founded Brightband, a Public Benefit Corporation making AI weather forecasting tools broadly accessible — helping communities adapt to increasingly extreme weather. As Head of Data and Weather, he leads Brightband's data engineering functions and key scientific collaborations, including a CRADA with NOAA to develop AI-ready observational datasets for next-generation machine learning applications.
Daniel has led teams at the forefront of applying new technologies to weather observation and prediction. As Chief Scientist at Tomorrow.io, he built hydrometeorological sensing networks leveraging commercial microwave communications. As Technical Lead for Waymo's weather program, he used networks of autonomous vehicles for real-time sensing of urban weather hazards. He also worked to bridge atmospheric science and leading-edge AI/ML research through collaborations with Google DeepMind and invited engagements at the National Academies and White House OSTP.
A founding member of the Pangeo community, Daniel develops open-source tools that unlock petascale weather and climate applications and actively trains researchers to use them — including through the Python Symposium at the AMS Annual Meeting.
Daniel holds a B.S. in Atmospheric Science from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from MIT, and is an AMS Macelwane Award recipient (2011). He has served the AMS in numerous capacities: co-chairing the Student Conference Planning Committee (2015–2016); serving on the Annual Meeting Oversight Committee (2017–2020) and the Committee on Open Environmental Information Services (2023–2026); and currently contributing to the AI Ethics and Policy Committee and serving as an Associate Editor for Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems. A former participant in the Summer Policy Colloquium and Early Career Leadership Academy, he has regularly convened sessions on machine learning, AI, and research-to-operations at the Annual Meeting and Washington Forum since 2019.