Vijay Tallapragada

Dr. Vijay Tallapragada is a prominent figure in the field of environmental modeling and meteorology. He currently serves as the Senior Scientist (ST) for the Environmental Modeling Center at NOAA's National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, a position he has held since August 2022.2

Career Highlights

Dr. Tallapragada has an extensive career in meteorological research and modeling:

1. NOAA Leadership Roles: Prior to his current position, he served as the Chief of the Modeling and Data Assimilation Branch at NOAA from 2017 to 2022.2 He also led the Global Climate and Weather Modeling Branch from 2015 to 2017.2

2. Hurricane Research: He was the Hurricane Team Leader at NOAA from 2010 to 2015, where he led the NCEP/EMC Hurricane Forecast Project.2

3. Community Involvement: Dr. Tallapragada has been actively involved in developing community-based prediction systems within the Unified Forecast System (UFS) framework.1

Educational Background

Dr. Tallapragada's academic credentials include:

• A Ph.D. in Meteorology from Andhra University, India (1997-2000)2
• Research Associate (Faculty) in Meteorology at Florida State University (1999-2006)2

Contributions to Meteorology

Dr. Tallapragada has made significant contributions to the field:

1. Unified Forecast System: He currently serves as co-lead of the UFS Research to Operations (UFS R2O) project.1

2. Hurricane Forecast Improvement: He is the development manager of the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project (HFIP).1

3. Community Modeling: Dr. Tallapragada has been instrumental in developing the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecast (HWRF) modeling system, which has become a community modeling framework for hurricane model development.3

4. Global Modeling: He has worked on the Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS) project and the development of the NOAA Environmental Modeling System (NEMS) architecture.3

Dr. Tallapragada's work has been widely recognized in the scientific community, as evidenced by his election as an AMS Fellow in 2023.1 His research and leadership have significantly advanced the field of environmental modeling and weather prediction.