Hi, I’m Derek.

As an Aerographer’s Mate First Class (AG1), my primary work is meteorology and oceanography (METOC): understanding the environment, communicating its operational effects, and helping the warfighter use that information. My path through these operational assignments began at the Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center, where I supported multiple deployments to Bahrain and exercises in Alaska.

I then served with Fleet Weather Center Norfolk’s Aviation Detachment in Germany, providing aviation support and resource protection. I’m now at Strike Group Oceanography Team Norfolk (SGOT Norfolk), where I maintain deployment proficiency, have deployed aboard USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), and am working with the Pre-Commissioning Unit John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) team as the ship prepares for commissioning.

My educational background is in unmanned systems, a field I see becoming central to how the Navy senses, understands, and operates in the environment. I am also a partner in Informed Co (The Informed), the technology company I co-own with Sean, Dave, and Taylor under our parent company H BAR LLC, which applies artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) in support of science and engineering work. Across that work, Weather Woobie, and the sites Sean and I build together, my responsibility is to bring an operational mindset to the science: what the warfighter actually needs, and how we train and equip people with the right tools. I am especially interested in applying AI/ML to forecasting and to teaching the Information Warfare community.