The Human Forecast: Healthy Scientists, Healthy Society
Tuesday, 12 January 2027 | 10:45am -12:00pm MST
Colorado Convention Center | Denver, CO
This Presidential Session focuses on mental health in an uncertain era for the weather, water, and climate enterprise. It features three speakers who have taken different paths to their current positions and have dealt with the wide range of challenges facing our disciplines, including complex shift work, working during natural disasters, graduate school, navigating government shutdowns and funding uncertainties, and facing a chaotic job market. Our speakers will discuss their paths and how they handle these mental stressors during their professional lives and how they prioritize their mental health in a very noisy world.
Moderator
Nicholas Grondin
University of Tampa
Dr. Nicholas Grondin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Tampa. His expertise focuses on hazards climatology with an emphasis on tropical cyclones and a particular interest in eastern North Pacific hurricanes. At Tampa, Grondin runs the Spartan Weather Lab where he mentors multiple undergraduate students on a wide range of research projects in applied and hazards climatology. Beyond his research, he is particularly interested in undergraduate teaching and pedagogy as it relates to teaching meteorology and geoscience. He earned a B.S. in Meteorology from the University of South Alabama, a M.S. in Geography from Louisiana State University, and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Panelists
Josh Eachus
WBRZ Baton Rouge, LA
Dr. Josh Eachus is the Chief Meteorologist at WBRZ News 2 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the founder of YourCast, a boutique weather consulting company. Holding a Ph.D. in geography from Louisiana State University with a research focus on high-impact weather communication, he combines 15 years of broadcast experience with expertise in hyper-local short, medium and long-range forecasting. Beyond leading his team to top-rated market performance through innovative graphics and clear, viewer-focused storytelling, Dr. Eachus is a published researcher, a frequently invited speaker for the American Meteorological Society and National Weather Association, and an active community steward dedicated to student outreach and animal rescue.
Alyssa Cannistraci
UCAR/CLIVAR Boulder, CO
Alyssa Cannistraci is a Program Specialist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Science (UCAR), where she supports the US Climate Variability and Predictability Program (US CLIVAR), a science program within UCAR’s Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS). She supports collaborative working groups that advance research on a wide range of climate topics, including upper-ocean small-scale processes, coastal climate solutions, usable climate risk information, and the connections between climate and health. Additionally, she supports the planning and implementation of scientific workshops that advance open research questions while fostering connections between students and early career scientists and established researchers in the field.
Morgan Barry
NWS Mobile/Pensacol