Software Engineer at Lynker, developing open-source infrastructure and tooling for hydrologic numerical prediction. My work centers on the NextGen Research DataStream (NRDS), an automated cloud-based system that generates daily streamflow forecasts across the contiguous United States using NOAA's NextGen Water Resources Modeling Framework. The system is fully open-source and community-editable, providing researchers and operational forecasters direct access to cutting-edge national-scale hydrologic simulations.
Previously, I worked as an Engineering Scientist at the Applied Research Laboratories at UT Austin, where I developed predictive sonar algorithms, environmental models, and data processing pipelines for ocean acoustics research. Before that, I studied at the University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology, where I evaluated the NOAA Warn-on-Forecast System against Doppler lidar and mobile radiosonde observations collected during the TORUS 2019 field campaign — a multi-institutional effort to study supercell thunderstorms and tornado formation across the Great Plains. Earlier in my career, I held research positions at the Center for Severe Weather Research, the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), and NOAA.
- ngen-datastream — AWS infrastructure and orchestration for the NextGen Research DataStream. Manages daily CONUS-scale NextGen simulations with publicly available configurations and outputs.
- DataStreamCLI — CLI-based workflow tool that automates the end-to-end process from data preprocessing through NextGen execution via NextGen In A Box.
- ForcingProcessor — Scalable tool for converting gridded meteorological data into catchment-averaged forcings required by the NextGen framework.
- Laser, J. J., Coniglio, M. C., Skinner, P. S., & Smith, E. N. (2022). Doppler Lidar and Mobile Radiosonde Observation-Based Evaluation of Warn-on-Forecast System Predicted Near-Supercell Environments during TORUS 2019. Weather and Forecasting, 37(10). doi:10.1175/WAF-D-21-0190.1
- Patel, A., Halgren, J., Wills, Z., Frazier, N., Lee, B., Cunningham, J., Laser, J., et al. (2025). NextGen In A Box (NGIAB): Open-Source Containerization of the NextGen Framework to Enable Community-Driven Hydrology Modeling. Environmental Modelling & Software, 193, 106666. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2025.106666
- Laser, J., Halgren, J., Wills, Z., Patel, A., Frazier, N., Cunningham, J., & Lee, B. (2024). NextGen National Water Model Framework DataStream. ESS Open Archive. doi:10.22541/essoar.173436251.28906532/v1