Matt R. Smith

Matt R. Smith

Matt R. Smith

Matt R. Smith

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 28 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 the University of Alabama in Huntsville 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.

Contact at: matthew.r.smith@nasa.gov

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

Positions

Research Scientist (May 1996 - Present), University of Alabama in Huntsville/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

The Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL is a NASA-funded activity with a vision of accelerating the translation of NASA science to applications by collaborating with researchers, innovators, and stakeholders. SPoRT was established in 2002 and is funded under the NASA Earth Science Division Research and Analysis Program’s Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics Focus Area. Therefore, SPoRT’s early focus was on transitioning NASA products to the operational weather community to improve short-term forecasting with end users within the operational weather community (e.g. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service). Today SPoRT focuses on applied research and applications in 6 focus areas that span weather, atmospheric, and land surface topics with partnerships across government, academia, and the private sector (see Collaborative Partners). A research-to-operations/operations-to-research paradigm (figure below) has been the basis for transitioning over 40 satellite products to stakeholders over 20 years. The main goals of the SPoRT paradigm include (1) early and intentional interaction with stakeholders, (2) identifying and/or developing user-driven science solutions from NASA observations and research capabilities, (3) timely delivery of data products for early stakeholder testing and feedback, (4) integration of data products and capabilities in user formats, visualizations, and display systems, (5) targeted applications-based training highlighting use cases, examples, product advantages and limitations, (5) stakeholder assessments and product testing, and (6) prioritizing operations to research feedback to meet users’ needs and facilitate the sustained use of NASA data in applications. The SPoRT paradigm enables intentional interaction between scientists and stakeholders throughout the research-to-applications/applications-to-research lifecycle to develop innovative solutions through an iterative process that meet stakeholder needs, are tailored for their application, and promote sustained use of NASA observations and research capabilities. SPoRT values innovation, collaboration, and engagement to bridge the gap between science and applications and maximize the benefit of NASA data for operations, applications, and decision making.

Technical Contact: Dr. Emily Berndt (emily.b.berndt@nasa.gov)
Responsible Official: Dr. Gary Jedlovec (gary.jedlovec@nasa.gov)
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