Scott Swerdlin is the Interim Director of the Weather Intelligence and Security Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Research Applications Laboratory, where he has led national-security weather and hazard modeling efforts for more than two decades. Trained as an electrical engineer, he began his career at Stanford Research Institute supporting NASA space communications and national defense programs, followed by senior engineering work at Martin Marietta on complex aerospace and defense systems. He joined NCAR in 1992 and later served as Director of the National Security Applications Program for over 20 years. He is a long-standing member of the RAL Executive Committee and has led multidisciplinary technical teams supporting the Department of Defense, intelligence community, NASA, and other federal sponsors.

In parallel with his NCAR career, he founded and leads Science and Technology in Atmospheric Research (STAR), first as a nonprofit institute and now as STAR LLC, giving him deep insight into private-sector innovation, rapid product development, and sponsor-driven solution delivery. He is widely recognized as a principal innovator within RAL, with sustained success in program development, most notably as the architect and steward of the Army Test and Evaluation Command’s long-running 4DWX program. In recent years, he has been at the forefront of integrating artificial intelligence into weather and hazard applications, including the development of the BEACON (Benchmark Evaluations for AI and Conventional NWP) verification framework and alignment with NCAR’s AI Roadmap.

Mr. Swerdlin’s research and development interests center on translating advanced atmospheric science, numerical modeling, and artificial intelligence into operationally robust decision-support systems for national security, aviation, infrastructure protection, and emerging economic applications. His work spans aquiring and managing projects in the realms of mesoscale to building-resolving modeling, data assimilation, hazard prediction, AI verification and benchmarking, and most recently in developing projects for the integration of weather intelligence with economic and financial risk frameworks, and NCAR’s participation in NY State's renewable energy transition. A unifying theme of his career is the development of trusted, deployable systems that bridge research, operations, and real-world decision making.

 

Artificial Intelligence for Weather and Hazard Prediction

A major current focus of Mr. Swerdlin’s work is the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to weather forecasting, hazard prediction, and operational decision support. He leads the development of BEACON, and runs regular technical reviews of AI system performance, including integration with the CREDIT framework. His efforts emphasize objective verification, physics-aware evaluation, and operational trustworthiness of AI systems. He is also actively building collaborations with academic institutions, federal laboratories, and private companies to accelerate responsible AI adoption in Earth system science.

 

Weather Intelligence for National Security and Critical Infrastructure

For more than two decades, Mr. Swerdlin has led national-security weather programs supporting the U.S. Army, DoD test ranges, and critical infrastructure protection initiatives. As the initial program manager for the Army Test Range Program, he directed long-term modernization of range weather systems, hazard analysis capabilities, and forecaster training across multiple installations. His work has supported weapons testing, flight operations, chemical and biological defense, and emergency response, including the Pentagon Shield field program and other large-scale operational demonstrations.