Jennifer Mahoney named director of NOAA’s Global Systems Division

Jennifer Mahoney, previously Acting Director of the Global Systems Division (GSD) of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, has been selected to lead the weather forecasting and technology development program. She assumed her new role as Director on October 28.

As Deputy Director of GSD since 2013, Mahoney transformed and strengthened GSD’s relationship with NOAA’s National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration by better aligning scientific research goals with operational weather forecasting objectives. In 2017 Mahoney received the NOAA Research Employee of the Year award for her leadership.

“Jennifer’s leadership and expertise in aviation and winter weather forecasting, and developing decision support strategies for NOAA’s National Weather Service forecast systems finds her as the right leader for a GSD staff dedicated to making forecasts better,” Assistant Administrator of NOAA Research Craig McLean said.

Mahoney leads more than 200 meteorologists, software engineers, and support staff with the vision 'Reseach and development to make forecasts better'.

One of four research divisions in the Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, GSD is a leader in applied research, directed development, and technology transfer of environmental data, models, products, and services that are the foundation of next-generation weather and climate prediction improvements. GSD’s work to develop innovative advanced forecast tools supports NOAA's goal to improve preparedness, response, and recovery from weather and water events to build a Weather Ready Nation.

Among GSD’s most recognizable accomplishments are NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh high-impact weather prediction model used in NWS operations, and Science On a Sphere®, a six-foot-diameter animated globe that displays Earth science datasets and is seen by nearly 50 million people each year.

A Colorado native, Mahoney earned a Master’s Degree in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Meteorology from the University of Northern Colorado. She is a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and is on the board for the AMS Committee on Environmental Information Processing Techniques. Mahoney also served as Chief of GSD’s Forecast Impact and Quality Assessment Section and as lead for the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Quality Assessment Product Development Team. She is also a fellow with the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, a partnership between NOAA and Colorado State University.

For more information contact: Susan Cobb 303-497-5093