Weather service gets new CIO

NOAA's National Weather Service

Paul Chan, who served as chief information officer for the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service, has been tapped as the National Weather Service's new CIO.

NWS, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is the country's primary source for weather data, forecasts and warnings.

"My first love is meteorology, so this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," Chan said in a statement. "I view [information technology] as an important means to support operations as well as research and development. I believe my background in meteorology will help ensure the National Weather Service more effectively meets the data needs of its constituents in a money-tight environment."

Chan previously served as vice president of business development for Science Systems and Applications Inc. and director of the Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center, which is a NASA science data center. He also is an adjunct associate professor at the University of Maryland's master in business administration program

He has a doctorate in atmospheric science from the University of Missouri and a master's in geophysical fluid dynamics from Princeton University. He received an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and a master's degree in computer science from Johns Hopkins University.

Chan replaces Barry West, who last year became the Federal Emergency Management Agency's CIO. Larry Curran, chief of the NWS telecommunications operations center, had been serving as acting CIO until Chan's selection.