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Recorded on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 1:00pm-2:00pm EST ON24
Mary C. Erickson is the Acting Assistant Administrator for Weather Services and the Acting Director of the National Weather Service. She also worked as Director of the National Centers for Coasts Oceans Science ensuring the timely and effective transition of ecosystem science solutions from research to operation
As Acting NWS Director, Ms. Erickson is now responsible for the overall leadership of the NWS, and ensuring the day-to-day civilian weather operations for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas. Under her responsibilities is ensuring the NWS collects valuable weather and climate information. Her job focuses on the impacts of extreme weather, water, and climate events through scientific forecasts, watches and warnings, and efforts to ensure weather and climate equity for her workforce and the public.
Ms. Erickson earned a B.S. degree in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University (1983) and an M.S. degree in Operations Research and Statistics from George Mason University (1990). An avid reader and life-long learner, she enjoys serving as a professional mentor to benefit future science leaders.
This Fireside Chat will focus on NOAA’s mission to support weather and climate forecasting, the challenges ahead as the NWS works to improve their satellite, aircraft and surface observations and how they collect, analyze and utilize climate data and information in their day-to-day products and services.
Stephen D. Ambrose has been a meteorologist, physical scientist, and program manager in his long federal and private sector career. He has directed teams and groups in the development of science and technology research and reapplications in Earth Science. He now serves as Chief Climate Scientist at SAIC. His research and application interests include: natural disaster reduction; climate data and information, and implications of a changing climate on people, ecosystems, and the planet. From 1978 to 2014 he worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service and antecedent agencies. After years of work related to meteorology, climatology, and oceanography at the National Ocean Service, National Weather Service, and the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, he joined the Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service as Director of the National Wetlands Inventory Center, from there he joined NASA as Program Executive for Disasters in the Science Mission Directorate encouraging applications of NASA’s cadre of satellite and airborne missions towards decision support systems for government and private industry. In 2008 he was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal for efforts responding to the nation’s weather and wildfire disasters. He retired from civil service in 2014 as NOAA’s Data Operations Manager in the development of their geostationary satellite ground system supporting satellite ingest and product generation. From 2014 to now, he worked in private industry as Program Manager and Director supporting NOAA, NASA, and the EPA missions in operations, research and development. This included working at NASA’s Center for Climate Simulation developing services to access downscaled climate information and working to utilize NASA’s supercomputer cloud services to support Arctic climate research. At NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, he led a program of over 50 specialists, analysts and scientists supporting the Climate Program Office, Sea Grant, the Weather Program Office, and the Uncrewed Systems Research office. In 2018, joining Woolpert, a geospatial and architecture firm, as Program Director for Government Solutions, he supported the firm’s work with critical infrastructure, natural disasters, GIS, and information systems. Lastly, joining General Dynamics Information Technology in late 2019, he led a group of scientists and engineers at the EPA supporting research and development in geographic information, environmental protection, chemical analysis, and disaster resilience. Now at SAIC he leads the growth of a climate program office supporting federal, industry, state, and local customers as well as utilizing SAIC’s deep experience in science and technology for solutions to benefit society. He received a B.S. in General Physical Sciences that included meteorology, geology, and astronomy from the University of Maryland in 1977, and did graduate studies in geography and climatology at the University of Maryland, Geography Department from 1981 to 1985.
Mary C. Erickson is NOAA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Weather Services and the Acting Director of the National Weather Service (NWS). She served as the NWS Deputy Director from January 2017 to January of 2022. As Acting NWS Director, Ms. Erickson is responsible for the overall leadership of the NWS, and ensuring the day-to-day civilian weather operations for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas. Strategic areas of focus include transforming the way Americans receive, understand, and act upon NWS information; ensuring NWS decision support services are equitably delivered across all communities, and advancing partnerships across the weather enterprise to reduce the impacts of extreme weather, water and climate events. She also oversees advances to strengthen the NWS scientific, forecast and dissemination infrastructure, and champions efforts to support NWS employees in a diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible workplace. Ms. Erickson has served in various roles across NOAA for more than 35 years. From 2005 - 2016, Ms. Erickson served in NOAA’s National Ocean Service as the Director of the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science ensuring the timely and effective transition of ecosystem science solutions from research and development to operations and applications. Prior to that, she served as chief of NOAA’s Coast Survey Development Laboratory where she and her team developed ocean technology to support safe and efficient navigation and sustainable, healthy coasts. Ms. Erickson began her federal career at the National Weather Service, having worked as a research meteorologist for more than 20 years in the Office of Science and Technology. Her early work and publications centered on statistical techniques and model post-processing within the Meteorological Development Laboratory. Later, she managed a wide portfolio of science projects, serving as deputy of the cross-NOAA strategic goal team for weather and water. Ms. Erickson earned a B.S. degree in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University (1983) and an M.S. degree in Operations Research and Statistics from George Mason University (1990). An avid reader and life-long learner, she enjoys serving as a professional mentor to benefit future science leaders. Ms. Erickson is a native of Whitesboro NY, but she has called Brandywine, MD home for the last 30 years.
