As director of meteorological computing, Pavloski’s job of keeping things running smoothly is his No. 1 priority. In addition to his knowledge of IT, Pavloski received his Ph.D. in meteorology from Penn State and he also is well-versed in the science of weather. His office shelves are adorned with books about meteorology, physics, calculus, quantum theory and computer science. The books huddle with several weather measurement gadgets, including a deflated weather balloon Pavloski used during his graduate study of atmospheric remote sensing.
Throughout his 21-year career at Penn State, Pavloski has taken part in numerous scientific field experiments, taught meteorology courses and is currently involved in the SCRiM initiative, a National Science Foundation-sponsored team of research scholars focused on sustainable climate risk management strategies. As a result, he understands the needs of the department, its students and faculty members on both an IT and scientific level.
Pavloski was always interested in weather and refers to himself as a full-blown “weather weenie.”
“There’s a lot of science involved in meteorology, so I always joke around and say I’m a scientist gone bad,” he says. His interest in meteorological scientific research led him to his work today, away from the bright lights of television where only about 10 percent of meteorology graduates end up. “I also joke around and say I have a face made for radio,” he adds.
While constantly dabbling in new technologies for the classroom, Pavloski is more of a “weather wizard” and often has a hand in the faculty or graduate student research projects taking place in the department to make sure they have the necessary IT resources for their research.
“If our faculty have an initiative where they’re going to be collecting or generating 50 terabytes of climate data, then I’ll go over their projects with them so they can get their models running scientifically and to make sure they’re computationally sound,” he says.
It’s a big job. Penn State’s Department of Meteorology is one of the oldest and largest meteorology and atmospheric science programs in the country — and is a good fit for a weather weenie like Pavloski.
“Meteorology is an IT-dependent field,” says Pavloski. Forecasters rely on real-time data on temperatures, winds and other observations from radar, satellite and surface weather stations from around the globe, as well as the latest computer models to mold their own predictions. Since Penn State is a tier one distribution site for the U.S., the University receives the collection of data for the eWall instantaneously 24 hours a day — far beyond the weather depictions available via the latest smartphone weather app.
“Students who go through the meteorology program at Penn State are basically getting the equivalent of an atmospheric engineering degree,” says Pavloski. “It’s not just about getting on TV and pointing to maps on a green screen.” Today’s students are learning math, physics, chemistry, computer programming and fluid dynamics.
Before the use of computer-simulated weather modeling, most college meteorology departments had a map room with walls lined in hard-copy weather maps — typically purple squiggles generated on facsimile paper — a technology that lingered into the 1990s. Today’s technology allows the data to be easily displayed as computer-simulated animations, which show up on the department’s eye-catching digital display that spans more than 20 feet of the Joel N. Myers Weather Center. The data also are analyzed on personal computers that enable students and faculty to develop forecasts and carry out innovative research.
These types of computerized modeling and high-performance science applications generate massive amounts of data, and the department has tapped into Penn State’s new “Big Data” research network, a sub-network on the Internet devoted to large data application areas, to manage it all.