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Matt Mahalik

Matt Mahalik

Matt Mahalik is the chief of GSL’s Mission Support Branch and lead of GSL’s Program Management Office (PMO). The Mission Support Branch oversees project management, communications, website development, and federal property and security activities. It accelerates operational transitions and day-to-day efficiency by ensuring that scientists have the necessary administrative support to conduct and communicate their work. Joining GSL in 2023, Matt leads the organization, coordination, and overall management of GSL’s research portfolio in support of the Office of the Director, which includes:

  • regularly coordinating with the National Weather Service as GSL’s transition manager for moving research into operations
  • coordinating fire weather research projects
  • writing many of NOAA’s web stories highlighting GSL accomplishments
  • facilitating intellectual property protection through patents and commercial agreements
  • supporting the lab’s leadership and Congressional briefings, media events, strategic planning, proposal writing, and outreach.

Matt’s background is in meteorology, with a focus on modeling and observations of severe convective storms. Notably, as a cooperative institute researcher at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, he re-wrote the operational, azimuthal shear algorithm that derives real-time rotation and divergence from radar data, and held a leadership role in the novel Rivers of Vorticity in Supercells (RiVorS) field project. Away from the office, he spends his time hiking off the beaten path, attending college football games at stadiums around the country, and supporting public lands and the American bison.

Education

  • M.S., Atmospheric Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX (2015)
  • B.S., Meteorology, Penn State University, University Park, PA (2012)
    • Minor degrees in Geographic Information Science (GIS) and Climatology

Experience

  • 2023-present: Mission Support Branch Chief and Program Management Office Lead, NOAA Global Systems Laboratory (GSL), Boulder, CO
  • 2022-23: Research Transition and Evaluation Lead, NOAA Weather Program Office (WPO), Silver Spring, MD
  • 2018-22: Research Transition Coordinator (Contractor), NOAA Weather Program Office (WPO; previously Office of Weather and Air Quality), Silver Spring, MD
  • 2015-18: Research Associate, Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) and NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), Norman, OK
  • 2013-15: Graduate Teaching Assistant and West Texas Mesonet Technical Assistant, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
  • 2012-13: Research Assistant at Penn State University Department of Meteorology, University Park, PA
  • 2012: Student Volunteer, NOAA NWS Weather Forecast Office in State College, PA
  • 2011: NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholar, NOAA Office of Education and NWS Weather Forecast Office in Melbourne, FL

Linked-In profile: linkedin.com/in/mattmahalik

Publications

Mahalik, M.C., B.R. Smith, K.L. Elmore, D.M. Kingfield, K.L. Ortega, and T.M. Smith, 2019: Estimates of gradients in radar moments using a linear least squares derivative technique. Wea. Forecasting, 34, 415–434, https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-18-0095.1.

Honors and Awards

  • 2023 GSL Team Member of the Month for November
  • 2019 NWA Larry R. Johnson Award: Presented to CIMMS Severe Weather MRMS Group for “research, development, and delivery of severe weather applications within the MRMS system, which has been successfully transitioned into NWS operations, providing critical tools for NWS forecasts and warnings”
  • 2014 First Place: Best Graduate Student Poster Presentation, 39th Annual National Weather Association Annual Meeting
  • 2012 Laureate: Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) Academy for Global Experience (EMSAGE)
  • 2010-12 NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship

Our Mission

Lead research and directed development through the transition of environmental data, models, products, tools, and services to support commerce, protect life and property, and promote a scientifically literate public.

Research Areas

Organizational Excellence, Earth System Prediction, Advanced Technologies, and Decision Support are the foundation to achieving the GSL Grand Challenge: Deliver actionable global storm-scale prediction and environmental information through advanced technologies to serve society.

Global Systems Laboratory