JAMES O. PINTO

National Center for Atmospheric Research

Research Applications Laboratory

Boulder, CO

Dr. Pinto has been the Science Deputy for the Aviation Application Program within the Research Applications Laboratory (RAL) at NCAR since 2017. He has been a Project Scientist in RAL for over 20 years and has authored or co-authored 60 peer-review articles during his career. At the University of Colorado Dr. Pinto gained valuable experience providing forecast support and developing mission plans using small UAS to collect in situ measurements within harsh environments of the Arctic and over tropical oceans. In 2018, he started the cross-lab UAS Weather Program and led development and demonstration of a real-time modeling system based on CO-FPS that generated ultra-fine resolution weather and turbulence predictions to support small UAS operations. Since then, he has led research into quantifying and improving the value of UAS data assimilation in short term prediction of UAS weather hazards. Dr Pinto also leads several projects to develop systems that support the short-term prediction of aviation weather hazards. A recent major milestone has been the technology transfer of a short-term storm prediction system to the FAA that will be used to supplement domestic flight planning. Dr Pinto received his PhD in the Program for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from the University of Colorado, a Master’s in Atmospheric Science from the Pennsylvania State University and his Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. For fun, James enjoys playing competitive sand volleyball, hiking in the Front Range of Colorado, being a weather nerd, and gardening.