Global Science & Technology Scientist to Present Cloud Computing for Near-Real-Time Satellite Data Processing at Fairmont iLab

Fairmont, WV – Global Science & Technology, Inc. (GST) computer scientist Dr. John Evans to give a presentation on cloud computing for near-real-time satellite data processing. The presentation will take place at the GST iLab located on the second floor, suite 1235 of the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center at 12 p.m., Thursday, March 31.

Dr. Evans will describe the use of scalable, virtual, on-demand computing for near-real-time processing and distribution of data products from remotely-sensed observations.

"By using virtual machines in Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud and NASA's new Nebula facility," he says, "we can provide high performance at surprisingly moderate costs. This will be crucial to supporting time-sensitive applications such as weather forecasting or emergency management."

NASA recently awarded GST a Phase II contract in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The SBIR program works with NASA's mission directorates to competitively select ventures that address research and technology needs for agency programs and projects.

GST won a Phase II award by proposing to build an information infrastructure that will facilitate near-real-time access to satellite data from the National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), its follow-on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), and other near-real-time observations. This system will use scalable "cloud computing" resources and industry-standard Web services to let modelers, forecasters, and decision-makers fetch data products and visualizations on demand, within minutes of sensor acquisition.

Dr. Evans' presentation is open to the public and will take place at the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center; 1000 Technology Drive; Second floor, suite 1235 at 12 p.m., Thursday, March 31. Those interested please contact Mr. Julian Pucci at: julian.pucci@gst.com For more information, contact John Dahlia's direct line: (304) 368-1862 ext. 14; cell: (304) 657-7095; email: john.dahlia@gst.com.

About the Presenter
Dr. John Evans is principal computer scientist at Global Science & Technology, Inc. (GST) in Greenbelt, Maryland. He has a Ph.D. in Information Systems in Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been with GST for 10 years, working on a variety of projects with NASA, NOAA, and the Open Geospatial Consortium. His interests include information sharing and collaboration, information infrastructures, interoperability, open standards, Web access to scientific data and geoprocessing; cloud computing; and open source software.

About Global Science & Technology
Founded in 1991, Global Science & Technology, Inc. (GST) has offices in Fairmont, WV; Greenbelt, Maryland; Crystal City, Virginia; Boulder, Colorado; and Asheville, North Carolina. Over the years, GST has built a highly specialized workforce that includes experts in key domains of engineering, science, communications, and information technology. Major clients include NASA, NOAA, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and the State of West Virginia.