Moving to Illinois (Again)#
It has been a while since my last post! Over the past ~9 months, I started a new job at Argonne National Laboratory and relocated to the state of Illinois, more specifically the Western Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. I work with Scott Collis, a scientist and Geospatial Computing, Innovations, and Sensing (GCIS) Department Head. He is also the inventor of the Python Atomspheric Radiation Measurement Toolkit (Py-ART), one of the go-to packages when working with weather radar data in Python.
Closer to Home#
One of the nicest things about relocating is the proximity to my family in Wisconsin. I have gone back to see them several times already, spending quite a bit of time on Delavan Lake (shown below)
Reflecting on my new role#
My new role at Argonne is similar to my old job at NCAR - I am able to develop open-source, Python software for the atmospheric science/climate community. I serve in more of a hybrid software engineer/scientist role, which has been exciting, leveraging my background in meteorology and atmospheric science. I work on both Py-ART and the Atmospheric data Community Toolkit (ACT).
Maintaining Core Meteorology Packages#
One of my first tasks within Py-ART and ACT development was overhauling the continuous integration system, moving towards Github Actions as the automation tool instead of Travis-CI.
I have also been adding more examples, and helped organize the first ARM/ASR Open Science Workshop, taking the lead on the Tutorial side. Tutorials covered the core scientific Python packages (ex. NumPy, Matplotlib, SciPy, Xarray), and extended to domain-specific packages such as Py-ART, ACT, and Py-SP2. Here are links to the:
Goals for the Near Future#
We have some exciting developments coming for Py-ART…
Xarray in Py-ART#
One of the main projects I am working on right now is migrating the core data model (pyart.core.Radar) object to the xarray.Dataset data model. This will enable more cross-compatibility in the Pangeo ecosystem, and empower new tools to built on top of this ecosystem.
Radar Cookbooks#
Another key area of development are the Project Pythia Cookbooks (ex. Radar Cookbook), which extend the Pythia Foundations content beyond the basics, diving more into domain-specific tools such as Py-ART. We link to existing foundational materials (ex. NumPy, Matplotlib) where possible, and build new content where neccessary.
Machine Learning Applications#
I am also working on learning more about machine learning applications for weather and climate. I purchased a couple of new books, and plan on trying some test project using various climate projects, weather radar data, and open source tools.
Moving Away from Colorado#
It was tough saying goodbye to my friends and former coworkers in Colorado. Living in the Boulder area was an amazing experience, one that I will always be thankful for. I miss Tuesday night trivia at Rayback, Friday Happy Hour at Jungle, and Saturday morning hikes around Boulder’s world-class trails.
I look forward to visiting my Boulder friends in the future, and I am sure work will bring me to the Boulder at some point (looking forward to AMS 2023 in Denver).
Conclusions#
It has been a fun filled, productive first few months at Argonne! I have already met up new friends and coworkers around the Argonne area, and look forward to exploring the Chicago area more!
Argonne’s softball league starts Wednesday, we already found a new Tuesday trivia place, and I have reconnected with some of my best friends from undergrad, who live a short drive away.
I am adjusting to my new home, and as with all things, it just takes time!