Josh Young joined the Unidata Program Center as the Community Services Manager on March 10, 2014. He comes to Unidata from the Consortium for Ocean Leadership in Washington, D.C. where he served as the Program Manager for the Interagency Ocean Observation Committee Support Office (IOOC SO). At the IOOC SO, he supported member agencies in coordinating federal ocean observing and engaging the broader science community.
Josh first encountered Unidata products at the IOOC SO, where one of his duties was supporting the Data Management and Communications Steering Team. From the beginning, it was obvious that the Steering Team thought highly of Unidata, but all of the technical terms that members used were very unfamiliar and confusing. After several years, Josh became thoroughly accustomed to being confused during data-management conversations.
Joking aside, Josh discovered that there is value in having a non-technical participant in technical discussions. Primarily, a willingness to ask apparently naïve questions can benefit the entire group by revealing group members' assumptions or slightly different uses of technical terms. Facilitating this type of discovery and identifying the overarching needs of Unidata's community will be a core focus for Josh in the future.
Josh notes that, “Everyone I've met within the Unidata community is inspired by their mission and work; I look forward to getting to know these folks and learning from them. I also believe atmospheric science, and earth system science generally, is poised to make transformative discoveries. I feel very fortunate to be working at Unidata where my passion for collaboration can help enable those discoveries through facilitating new conversations and partnerships.”
Originally trained as a wildlife biologist at Lees-McRae College in North Carolina, Josh became interested in the application of data to scientific and policy questions after interacting with decision makers. He returned to graduate school for an M.S. in Environmental Science at the College of Charleston, with a specific focus on collaboration and the use of scientific data.
He enjoys hiking, non-fiction, and a good pig roast.
Please join us in welcoming Josh to the Unidata Program Center!
