Name: Roger Davis

Q: Where in NOAA do you work now?
A: I work in the Central Communications Software Branch of the Systems Operations Center, Office of Systems Operations of NWS in SSMC2, Silver Spring. Most of my duties are related to NWS sites on the web: design, implementation, maintenance, and statistics.

Q: When did you begin your work with NOAA?
A: I first began work in the Extended Forecast Branch of the Weather Bureau under Jerome Namias in FOB 4, Suitland in Sept., 1961. In those days, the IBM 7090 systems were used as the primary modeling and product computer systems in the Weather Bureau.

Q: Looking back, what events stand out as the most memorable during your time with NOAA?
A: To me, the most memorable time in NOAA was also the time I considered to be that of greatest change: the first implementation of AFOS from 1979 - 1983. Implementation of this, the first true computer communications network used in the National Weather Service represented a sea change in the every day business of product distribution and production. The number of processes which had historically been done in some sort of manual fashion which were automated in those years was countless. Entire new ways of accomplishing tasks and visualizing processes using the AFOS system were created. Innovation and productivity by the everyday work force in these tasks was truly amazing. I believe that this period represented the greatest culture change the NWS has ever seen in such a short time.

This page updated on: Monday, 07-Jan-2002 21:41:56 GMT
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