The Triple Pointa„¢ Podcast

Show Notes Hosts: Jeff Cunningham and Ryan Harris Description: In the final episode of The Triple Point Podcast, Jeff and Ryan look back on the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton across Florida and other parts of the southeast, and Ryan talks about his experience in the eye of Hurricane Milton. Originally recorded on October 17th just before the U.S. elections, there was plenty of conspiracy theories racing across social media about whether the government has the ability to create or control hurricanes. Jeff and Ryan dive into weather modification and geoengineering, Russia's propaganda disinformation campaign, and of course talk at length about the continual problem of risk communication, risk psychology, and decision making.

Oceanography & Senior Technical Staff Member Description: A lot has changed in the AI-weather prediction space since the summer of 2023. Dr. Amy McGovern from the University of Oklahoma joins the Triple Point® again, a year since she last joined Jeff and I, to catch listeners up on the state of Artificial Intelligence in numerical weather prediction. We talk about the need to create policies and guardrails around AI that are broad and flexible enough that innovation can still happen alongside responsible AI principles and protection against nefarious uses. There are several areas where AI is going to continue accelerating weather prediction, but arguably none more so than in the way we assimilate data into our weather models. It's likely to be a space where, in a year, we will be looking back at how rapid a transition occurred.

Show Notes Hosts: Ryan Harris and Guest Host Wayne MacKenzie Guest: Dr. Sarah Kapnick, NOAA Chief Scientist Description: When NOAA selected Dr. Sarah Kapnick as the agency's Chief Scientist, in many respects she was an "outside of the box" selection. True, she already had a strong pedigree of science experience, something one would expect for the Chief Scientist. But what made her uniquely qualified and yet still "outside the box" was her diversity of experience across public, academic, and private, including heavy work in the finance sector. In the latest Triple Point™, you'll hear from the current NOAA Chief Scientist about how she is encouraging the agency to think beyond the status quo. Incentivizing innovation through simple measures in performance workplans, encouraging a mantra to follow your curiosity, and using unique consortia to advance research through Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRCs) are just a few ways Dr. Kapnick is helping NOAA think outside the box. The Triple Point™ Podcast Website

Show Notes Host: Ryan Harris Guest: Colonel Kris Saling, Director of Innovation at U.S. Army Recruiting Command Description: Technology across career fields, from artificial intelligence to cloud computing and more, is advancing so rapidly. But technology is just one of many tools in our toolbox, and at the end of the day, communities, governments, private businesses, and organizations still rely on people to advance the world around us.  Managing people through human resources and talent management still largely remains a transactional process.  Thinking outside the box in talent management requires us to holistically and deliberately manage people across their careers and teams rather than just filling a gap.  Thinking outside the box also means seeing risk like diversifying a financial investment portfolio to include understanding the risk of maintaining the status quo.  Innovation will best thrive when we find champions to help align values and work and consider setting up small innovation cells that are separate from the main bureaucracy but still together enough to build trust.  Want to know some secrets to build a high-performing super hero team?  Tune in to the latest outside the box episode where Colonel Kris Saling from the U.S. Army joins The Triple Point to share her lessons learned in accelerating talent management innovation. Click for Episode Website

Show Notes Host: Ryan Harris Guest: Dr. Rob Young, Director for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University Description: Next up in our series of “Outside the Box” conversations is a discussion with Dr. Rob Young on how “the box” for coastal resilience may actually be inside out.  Conventional wisdom for coastal adaptation is all about communities trying to protect their map and their tax base.  Better management, monitoring, systems thinking to minimize unintended consequences, and taking time to study whether adaptation measures are actually working or not are some basic measures that can improve resilience strategies.  Outside the box thinking in this space also requires legislative progress and what many are increasingly calling for a National Adaptation Plan.  Hard choices are required by local municipalities and businesses when it comes to adaptation, and we need to be honest with ourselves and where we invest in coastal adaptation if we are going to truly move the needle on making our communities more resilient. For complete show notes: The Triple Point™ Podcast Website.

Host: Ryan Harris Guest: Scott Mackaro, Head of Insights and Innovation, Vaisala X-Weather Description: What if NOAA’s global weather model didn’t exist in 10 years?  It’s a provocative question that challenges conventional wisdom, but it’s a question worth considering as Google, NVIDIA, and others are challenging the weather modeling space with their rapidly advancing AI technology.  The government should still probably play some sort of role in shaping and regulating this potential future paradigm shift similar to how the government regulates the safety of insulin and other pharmaceuticals while still promoting innovation.  Scott Mackaro from Vaisala X-Weather joins the show for what may turn out to be the first in a series of Outside the Box episodes. For complete show notes: The Triple Point Podcast Website

Show Notes Host: Ryan Harris Guest: Matt Stein, CEO, Salient Predictions Description: The atmosphere is the main driver of our daily weather.  But it's the oceans, with its long-term thermodynamic memory, that drive our climate patterns from seasonal, to decadal, and beyond.  NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center and an increasing number of private industry companies like Salient Predictions use signals in long-term ocean patterns, soil moisture, sea ice, and snow cover to make much longer predictions than what you might see on your daily weather app.  Such signals give us long-term oscillation patterns like El Nino, the Arctic Oscillation, and more.  And these companies are helping industries from energy, to agriculture, to insurance buy down sub-seasonal to seasonal environmental risk.  It’s one of the frontiers in the weather and climate world where climate science meets data science head and where unique machine learning techniques are finding new signals in the noise of our chaotic climate. See Podcast Website for Complete Show Notes

Show Notes Host: Ryan Harris Guests: Brian LaMarre, NWS Meteorologist in Charge, Tampa Bay Description: In 1900, an estimated 8,000 people lost their lives in the Great Galveston Hurricane that September. Our understanding of hurricane risk has improved immensely since then, but still over 100 were killed just 18 months ago in Hurricane Ian. Risk is defined as the probability of some hazard occurring multiplied by the impact that hazard may have on an individual, population, or system. The first problem here is that humans don't always understand probabilities, and the second problem is that humans have a psychological bias to downplay or plain ignore the risk of hazards because they haven't personally experienced the hazard before. Hurricane Ian was a perfect example of poor risk perceptions, and it's the first topic we uncover this year as Brian LaMarre from the National Weather Service joins The Triple Point™. Hear about how the Weather Service is improving risk perceptions with better technology and communications strategies, and also the importance of personal accountability and trusting authoritative sources. For complete show notes: https://triplepointpodcast.com

Show Notes Hosts: Jeff Cunningham and Ryan Harris (and Eric Hunt for Episode 23) Guests: All 2023 Guests Description: Welcome to the final Triple Point™ Podcast of the year. And what a year it's been! If you didn't get a chance to listen to our monthly episodes in 2023, this 90-minute episode will get you fully caught up on all the insights you missed, hear some bold predictions and career advice for up and coming leaders, and best of all, end the year sharing some of the hilarious Triple Point™ outtakes. We hope you have a safe and healthy holiday season and look forward to seeing you in 2024! Complete Show Notes Here

Show Notes Hosts: Jeff Cunningham and Ryan Harris Guest: Wayne MacKenzie, Program Manager, NOAA Technology Partnerships Office Description: NOAA’s Technology Partnerships Office serves the U.S. economy by transferring government-developed scientific and technological innovations to commercial applications, facilitating strategic public-private partnerships, and investing in small business research and development.  This multi-use technological development cycle maximizes the government’s original investment in addition to advancing NOAA’s operational missions.  NOAA’s Technology Transfer Program Manager, Wayne MacKenzie, joined The Triple Point™ to share more about NOAA intellectual property, patents, and the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) programs, and he also shared how his involvement in improv theater makes for more productive conversations, staff meetings, and life in general. Click here for complete show notes!