James Pinto

James Pinto is an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He has over 25 years of experience in performing research in dynamical downscaling, climate modeling, convective weather prediction and assessment, and more recently has worked on the assimilation of Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) observations and developing realtime fine-scale numerical weather prediction systems to support Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS or drones) traffic management systems. He has authored over 50 journal articles over his career and is currently the Deputy Director of the Aviation Application Program within the Research Application Laboratory at NCAR. Other efforts include development and technology transfer of a short term (0-8 hour into the future) storm prediction system called CoSPA for the Federal Aviation Administration that stakeholders use to plan air traffic across the National Airspace (NAS) and developing a short-term storm prediction capability for Taiwan. Dr Pinto received his PhD from the University of Colorado, a Master’s degree in Atmospheric Science from the Pennsylvania State University and his Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. For fun, he enjoys family hikes and can also still be found competing in beach volleyball tournaments in Colorado.