Abstract:

The National Weather Service (NWS) is undergoing a revolution as new scientific and technological advances lead us to modernize our forecast process and change our institutional culture. The importance of ensemble-based data sets and probabilistic thinking is increasing our ability to provide actionable decision support services to our partners and the public, but also presents a steep learning curve for new and current employees. While meteorology will always be the backbone of our organization, greater value is now placed on complementing the traditional meteorological skill set with additional skills in areas such as statistics, computer programming, communication, and others. This leads to considerations for which skills should be prioritized and deprioritized for those who wish to pursue most NWS employment opportunities.

The NWS Western Region Science and Technology Infusion Division is an exciting workplace, with a chance to lead many of the changes described above. We periodically have openings for internship positions across the United States that offer non-competitive placement within the NWS upon completion. We will highlight some past student projects and we especially encourage students to attend and ask questions about the program.