Dr. Stephan Smith is Director of the Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) and is responsible for:

• The Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL) which conducts applied research and development for the improvement of diagnostic and prognostic weather information; data depiction and utilization; warning and forecast product preparation and dissemination; forecast evaluation; and impact-based decision support services.
• The Operational Proving Ground (OPG) which facilitates testing of advanced operations, services, and science and technology (S&T) capabilities which address the needs of both internal and external users.
• The Modeling Program Team is responsible for supporting a variety of NWS modeling and research initiatives to improve weather forecasts.
• The Field Driven Research to Operations (R2O) Team which is responsible for coordination and management of NWS field-driven innovation and research to operations transition programs.

OSTI also collaborates with the Central Processing and Dissemination offices to maintain and enhance a centralized research, development, and testing environment, which enables transitioning research to operations through streamlining development, testing, training, and field implementation. In addition to overseeing these efforts within the Weather Service, STI holds a critical role in coordinating NWS Research-to-Operations-to-Research (R2O2R) efforts across the NOAA line offices. Particularly with the NOAA Science Council and NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

Steve joined the NWS in 1993, and, as a branch chief in MDL, has brought diverse and talented people together from different organizations to solve challenging problems. He led the development and implementation of more than 30 decision support tools and guidance products to enhance NWS operations, for which he has been recognized with the NOAA Administrator’s Award and the DOC Bronze Medal. At the NOAA level, Steve has been a catalyst in improving the transition of research to operations through the creation of policy, processes, and funding initiatives. In 2013, he established the NOAA Virtual Laboratory, a foundational piece of the NWS R2O2R strategy. In 2019, Steve was selected as the Director of the NWS Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL).

Steve earned both his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Meteorology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He received his B.S. in Mathematics and Physical Sciences from the University of Maryland. Before joining NWS, Steve was a Research Associate at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) in Fort Collins.

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