Matt R. Smith
Matt R. Smith
Research Scientist
UAH
320 Sparkman Drive
Huntsville, AL 35805
Phone 256-961-7809
Fax 256-961-7788
msmith@itsc.uah.edu
Matt Smith joined the NASA SPoRT Center in August 2008 to coordinate the AWIPS II transition team. He has been working among the Earth Science folks at NASA for 21 years. Always a weather nut where he grew up in Birmingham, he started young - writing reports on "Weather" starting in the 5th grade. Since he knew meteorology was the way to go, he co-oped with the National Weather Service WSFO in Birmingham as a high school student. After a few years working on a BS in Meteorology at FSU, he co-oped again at the National Severe Storms lab in Norman, OK. He worked with Dr. J.J. Stevens and Dr. Noel LaSeur on a 3-D objective analysis scheme while earning an MS in 1985. Matt worked for a couple of years with Dr. Eric Smith at FSU after graduation, mainly on satellite radiation budget studies. He moved to Huntsville in 1987, working for the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) as a computer support specialist in the Earth Science Division, as it was called then. After a few years with two other contractors, Matt joined UAHuntsville in 1996. He spent some of that time trying to combine atmospheric science knowledge with computer skills doing programming for various satellite processing systems and related work. He's worked with many different data formats, computer systems, satellite platforms, and earth science projects. His most recent work was with the SURA Coastal Observing and Prediction (SCOOP) project, a NOAA-funded effort trying to improve model predictions of wind-driven waves and storm surge on a regionally distributed system.
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Education
- Master of Science in Meteorology (1983-1985), Florida State University, Department of Meteorology
- Bachelor of Science in Meteorology (1979-1983), Florida State University, Department of Meteorology, Minors: Mathematics, Physics
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Positions
- Research Scientist (May 1996 - Present), UAHuntsville/ITSC, Huntsville, Alabama
- Research Associate (January 1993 - May 1996), Hughes STX/Raytheon STX, Huntsville, Alabama
- Research Associate (Augusut 1989 - December 1992), New Technology, Inc., Huntsville, Alabama
- Research Associate (October 1987 - August 1989), USRA, Huntsville, Alabama
