Director, AI for Weather

Department

PSD Data Science: Research Administration

About the Department

The Data Science Institute at the University of Chicago was established to support the development of emerging efforts in data science across the University. The staff in the Data Science Institute support the University’s community of scholars, their shared ideals, and the core values that make the University a singular intellectual destination. Together with the University's deans and department chairs, the Data Science Institute provides the opportunities, infrastructure, and resources that encourage our faculty and other scholars to pursue their finest work. We are part of the Physical Sciences Division which includes departments and several interdisciplinary research institutes and centers.

The AI for Climate (AICE) Research Initiative, a joint initiative with the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, aims to accelerate and transform climate research with a focus on both scientific advances and societal impacts.

Job Summary

The Director of AI for Weather will report to Professor Pedram Hassanzadeh with dotted line reporting to the DSI Senior Director of Research Programs and Strategy and will collaborate with AICE and Climate Extremes Theory and Data group. This role is integral to the smooth operation of the Human Centered Weather Forecasts (HCF) Initiative and related AI weather work, and requires a combination of skills in forecast operations, research, public engagement, and technical communication. This position will involve working with low- and middle-income countries to disseminate forecasts, test their effectiveness, refine based on user feedback, and scale them up through training national meteorological services members and co-developing tools to use and evaluate AI weather forecasts. The Director will combine administrative duties with active research focused on DSI’s efforts at the intersection of AI, Data, and Climate.

Work on these topics involves collaborations with leading experts in atmospheric science and AI from UChicago and other institutions. The close partnership with economists and public policy experts at DIL accelerates the translation of the outcome of this work to significant societal impact. In addition to being part of the dynamic AICE and DIL communities, this role will benefit from major AI and climate-related activities at UChicago, including the DSI, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, and Argonne National Lab.

Responsibilities

• Delineates new directions of research, and executes research and operational milestones in collaboration with principal researchers, research professionals, and other partners. This includes developing long-range plans for research projects and coordinating with principal researchers.
• Manages a team of research professionals and support staff involved with planning, monitoring, and compliance aspects of weather and climate applications. Advises other researchers on long-range plans for research projects.
• Working with Prof. Hassanzadeh, the Director will advance AI weather forecasting across scales, from short- and medium-range to sub seasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) predictions.
• Leads forecast projects of interest to the HCF Initiative at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, closely collaborating with a growing multidisciplinary team, including Prof. Michael Kremer (Economics) and Amir Jina (Public Policy), and in conjunction with international efforts at the Development Innovation Lab (DIL).
• Actively participates in ongoing research projects, including as co-author on scholarly publications and speaker in public lectures and presentations.
• Designs and conducts experimental work in collaboration with researchers.
• Assists in data analysis and interpretation.
• Supervises operational deployments of forecasting weather events across scales.
• Manages hiring in support of the operational forecasting pipelines.
• Leads conversations and negotiations with stakeholders to plan, design, and execute collaborations. Establishes strong working relationships with and represents the human-centered weather forecasts initiative in meetings with high-level policymakers, funders, nonprofit leaders, and business executives on the global stage.
• Identifies fundraising opportunities and leads grant-writing efforts to support core Initiative activities.
• Manages media relations, engages with the public and media to promote and disseminate research, and serves as a spokesperson for the research initiative.
• Ensures smooth administration of the Initiative, including financial and administrative oversight, project management, grant reporting, budget oversight, and implements corrective action when appropriate.
• Represents the HCF Initiative and affiliated p