Program



 
10:00 AMS Mahoney Lecture 
Speaker will be Antonio J. Busalacchi, UCAR President
12:00 Welcome Remarks
12:10 Welcome Keynote
Dr. Michael Farrar, NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction
12:50 Congressional Roundtable
(Modified Chatham House Rule)
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 (Environmental Observation and Prediction)
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 Geernart, DOE; Dr. Danielle Sumy, NSF; Dr. Teddy Holt, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory; TBA, NASA
5:00 Closing Remarks
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
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: Jhayron Perez-Carrasquilla, University of Maryland; Dr. Lauriana Gaudet, The Weather Company; Dr. Oscar Chimborazo, Howard 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; Dr. 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
7:00 Student and Early Career Networking Reception - RSVP by 7 May
  
8:00 The Dr. Keith Seitter Breakfast Roundtable 
9:10 Welcome and Call to Order
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.
2:45 Closing Remarks and Wrap-Up Networking Session

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