About me
My name is Rich Signell.
I grew up with a fascination of the ocean.
After becoming a physical oceanographer, I spent several decades running numerical ocean models to help answer environmental questions in the coastal ocean. Eventually I developed a fascination with how to effectively share model data with others, and became involved with the development of standards and tolls that allow more people to effectively explore these and other large datasets.
Education
Sep 1983 - Oct 1989
PhD in Physical Oceanography from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography
Sep 1979 - Jun 1983
BS in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, College of Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Professional Experience
Jul 2004 - Oct 2023
Research Oceanographer at the USGS, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA. Worked on coastal ocean modeling and developing better tools and best practices for collaborating with oceanographic, atmospheric, climate and other large earth science simulation datasets. Gordon Research Converence Chair for Coastal Ocean Modeling, 2011. Unidata DeSouza Award winner, 2017. USGS Commununity for Data Integration Leadership Award winner, 2017. Pangeo Steering Council Member, 2021-Present
Jan 2001 - Jun 2004
Scientist in the Rapid Environmental Assessment Group, NATO Undersea Research Center, La Spezia, Italy. Worked on simulation of coastal visibility for diver and mine hunting operations and tools for distributing data in large collaborative experiments.
Nov 1989 - Dec 2000
Research Oceanographer at the USGS, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA. Worked observations on simulation of transport and fate of suspended and dissolved material in the coastal ocean.