PI/Software Engineer/Research Associate IV
Technical Summary
- Degreed Meteorologist, Electrical Engineer, and GIS professional specializing in the processing and visualization of real-time remote sensing and forecast model data
- Experienced Principal Investigator providing project management services
- Extensive software engineering experience supporting operational forecasters by maintaining the real-time acquisition of meteorological data and the generation, dissemination, archiving, and visualization of products
- Programming Languages: Python, Bash, JavaScript, PHP, Perl, C, HTML/CSS, SQL
- Technologies: AWS cloud architecture, React.js, Next.js, jQuery, Bootstrap, MapServer, GeoServer, GDAL, OpenLayers, Docker, Apache HTTP, Rocoto, ecFlow, ELK stack, LDM, NOAAPort, AWIPS II, McIDAS
- Developer Tools: Visual Studio Code, Conda, Eclipse, Git/GitHub/GitLab, Redmine, Jenkins, Gerrit
- Data Formats: Zarr, Icechunk, GRIB, NetCDF, HDF, GeoTIFF, GeoJSON, JSON, XML, HDF, Shapefile
Recent Professional Experience
Principal Investigator / Research Associate IV at Colorado State University, CIRA – Telework from Madison, AL
May 2019 – Present
- Stationed at the National Weather Service’s Meteorological Development Lab (MDL)
- Principal Investigator of CIRA’s main grant with the MDL leading a team of geographically dispersed research associates
- Supervise a team of geographically-dispersed CIRA research associates
- Oversee all tasks on the MDL grant to include project management, budgeting, planning, and reporting, as well as liaising with the federal project leads
- Provide full-lifecycle software engineering expertise for projects at the MDL, including requirements analysis, design, development, configuration, documentation, review, and testing
- Lead software developer of the AWS-based Whole Story Uncertainty & Probabilities (WSUP) web application.
- This GIS tool provides forecasters with 1200+ elements from the National Blend of Models (NBM), Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS), National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD), Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA), and Unrestricted Mesoscale Analysis (URMA), and various storm surge models in real-time utilizing technologies like MapServer, OpenLayers, Bootstrap, jQuery, Python, PHP, JavaScript, and AWS (EC2, S3, load balancers, Lambda, etc.). Features include displaying forecast evolution over time (dProg/dt), comparing forecast values with min/max station records, animation download tool, user-selectable color tables, and cursor sampling.
- Design and manage real-time processing of model data on a Linux-based NWS supercomputer (WCOSS) with output disseminated by the WSUP Viewer and NOAA Open Data Dissemination S3 buckets in various formats (GRIB, TIF, GeoJSON, etc.). The processing uses a combination of Python, Bash, and the PBS HPC job scheduler. A Rocoto-based workflow management solution defines, launches, and tracks over 900 hourly tasks and their associated dependencies.
- All code for this project is under Git version control with Jenkins and Gerrit used for code review and merging with Redmine used for task tracking
- Member of a team utilizing AI/ML techniques to produce probabilistic fire weather guidance. Responsible for developing ecFlow-based real-time data flow pipelines running on an NWS HPC system (WCOSS).
- Design data transformation and storage pipelines for the NWS Data Lake project, like converting GRIB data into cloud-optimized Icecunk format for use by stakeholders, including NWS Viz and Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) projects
Software Engineer and Research Meteorologist at Jacobs Technology – Huntsville, AL
March 2009 – April 2019
- Member of the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
- Team lead of the “Scientific Disciplines Design, Analysis & Test for Science and Technology” task order
- As leader of the SPoRT IT team, responsible for tracking, assigning, prioritizing, and reporting IT tasks
- Utilized Git and agile principles to engineer and maintain Linux-based production scripts and programs to generate large sets of real-time meteorological data products and disseminate them to the operational weather community (NWS, The Weather Channel, FEMA, etc.) via Local Data Manager (LDM)
- Managed two GOES-R receiving stations and associated data processing and product generation software
- Integrated data products into end-user decision support systems (AWIPS II, N-AWIPS, GIS, etc.)
- Developed Java-based code to ingest and display unique products in AWIPS II, including the capability to generate client-side, multi-spectral Red-Green-Blue (RGB) satellite products; served as co-lead of the Experimental Products Development Team
- Managed SPoRT’s NOAAPort receiver and LDM server to provide feeds of real-time data to downstream government, private industry, and academic partners
- Transitioned research forecast products to operations via the GOES-R and JPSS Proving Grounds
- Used Python and GDAL to generate and deliver high-resolution satellite analysis products (Landsat, Worldview, ASTER, MODIS, VIIRS, etc.) to the NWS via Web Mapping Service (WMS) to aid post-disaster damage assessments with the Damage Assessment Toolkit
- Maintained a Geoserver WMS server to provide real-time satellite imagery; developed a Linux-based Esri Arc Enterprise ecosystem for serving time-based raster datasets
- Administered the SPoRT web site
- Engineered a system to monitor the health of hundreds of local data products and deliver real-time metrics via dynamically-updating web pages and email alerts
- Managed the Cooperative Huntsville Area Rainfall Measurements (CHARM) program, a network of over 100 citizen science volunteers reporting daily precipitation amounts
- Maintained a network of 11 mesonet stations at MSFC; responsible for software engineering, hardware, and data acquisition, archiving (SQL), and distribution
- Social media manager responsible for generating and posting content to Twitter and Facebook
Education
- Masters in Meteorology; University of Oklahoma; Norman, OK; May 2003
- BSE in Electrical Engineering; University of Michigan; Dearborn, MI; May 2000
Recent Publications
- Molthan, A. L., L. A. Schultz, K. M. McGrath, J. E. Burks, J. P. Camp, K. Angle, J. R. Bell, and G. J. Jedlovec, 2020: Incorporation and Use of Earth Remote Sensing Imagery within the NOAA/NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 101, E323–E340.
- Shrestha, S., K. M. McGrath, G. T. Stano, C. J. Schultz, P. J. Meyer, 2019: Real-Time Data Management and Visualization for Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) in ArcGIS Platform. 99th Annual Meeting, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Phoenix, Arizona.
- McGrath, K. M., P. J. Meyer, G. J. Jedlovec, E. B. Berndt, 2018: NASA MSFC GOES-16 Receiving Station and Data Visualization. 98th Annual Meeting, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Austin, Texas.
- McGrath, K. M., E. B. Berndt, C. M. Gravelle, L. A. Byerle, A. L. Molthan, M. R. Smith, 2018: AWIPS II Client-side RGB Product Generation in the GOES-R Era. 98th Annual Meeting, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Austin, Texas.
- Stano, G. T., P. J. Meyer, K. M. McGrath, C. J. Schultz, 2018: Early Assessment of Geostationary Lightning Mapper Observations. 98th Annual Meeting, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Austin, Texas.
- Schultz, L. A., A. L. Molthan, K. M. McGrath, J. E. Burks, T. A. Cole, 2017: Inclusion of Satellite Remote Sensing Imagery in the NOAA/NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit (DAT). 97th Annual Meeting, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Seattle, Washington.
- Naeger, A. R., P. Gupta, B. Zavodsky, and K. M. McGrath, 2015: Monitoring and Tracking the Trans-Pacific Transport of Aerosols Using Multi-Satellite Aerosol Optical Depth Retrievals. Meas. Tech. Discuss., 8, 10319-10360.
- McGrath, K. M., A. L. Molthan, and J. E. Burks, 2014: Use of NASA Near Real-Time and Archived Satellite Data to Support Disaster Assessment. 94th Annual Meeting, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Atlanta, Georgia.
- Burks, J. E., M. R. Smith, and K. M. McGrath, 2014: AWIPS II Application Development, a SPoRT Perspective. 94th Annual Meeting, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Atlanta, Georgia.