Christian Ward-Garrison joined the Unidata Program Center software development staff on December 2, 2013 — just in time to join in the UPC staff's annual white elephant gift exchange and holiday celebration.
Christian earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematical and Computer Sciences from the Colorado School of Mines, and comes to Unidata from the U.S. Geological Survey in Lakewood, Colorado. There, he used Unidata products extensively to assist in modeling of watershed systems.
“I've worked on some big datasets before — the model output of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, for one — but nothing on the scale of what Unidata handles. It's an awesome challenge,” says Christian.
“I've always had an interest in science, but I think that pure research often limits your creativity to things that are interesting but not necessarily useful. As an engineer at Unidata, I get to build systems that are of real, tangible benefit to the scientific community. It's the perfect balance for me.”
“Given its need to support a substantial amount of legacy software, I was surprised at how forward-looking Unidata is in terms of technology,” he continues. “It has embraced computing both in the cloud and on mobile devices, two fields I can't wait to sink my teeth into.”
Christian is an amateur bodybuilder and an improv comedian. He also still enjoys playing with blocks and hopes to add a Lego Star Destroyer to his collection very soon.
Please join us in welcoming Christian to the Unidata Program Center!
