Management Team

Corporate Team Provides Guidance, Encourages Entrepreneurial Spirit

AER scientists and staff are leaders in research, academic, and commercial communities around the world. Our management team members are recognized for excellence by organizations including NASA, the United States Senate, the American Meteorological Society, and the United Nations. The management team provides a flexible infrastructure within a collaborative atmosphere for AER's scientific and technical expertise in order to maximize the benefit to the customer.

Nien Dak Sze, Ph.D., Chairman

As AER's founder, Dr. Sze is an established leader in atmospheric sciences with major air quality breakthroughs in industry, government and academic communities in the United States and around the world. Upon receiving his doctorate from Harvard University, Dr. Sze's work in air quality was instrumental in the global shift away from harmful CFCs, controlling global methane, and preventing further depletion of the ozone layer. He has chaired and served national and international committees including the U.S. EPA's Science Advisory Board, the Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, and the Harvard University Committee on Environment.

Cecilia Sze, President and CEO

As co-founder of AER, Ms. Sze leads AER's strategic development and research program. Her key objectives are to remain at the forefront of atmospheric science by developing premier applied scientific applications for the commercial sector backed by cutting-edge research and development. Ms. Sze earned her B.S. in Chemistry from Purdue University and an MBA from Northeastern University. Ms. Sze is a member of the Board of the Asian American Bank and Trust.

Ron Isaacs, Executive Vice-President

Mr. Isaacs provides operational leadership, business development, technical strategic vision, and decision making for all aspects of business conducted within the Programs and Systems (P&S), Research and Development (R&D), Space Weather (SW), Weather Impacts on Sensing Technologies (WIST), and Commercial Divisions at AER. He is author of numerous refereed journal articles as well as developer of the Isaacs scattering approximation; used in DoD community atmospheric transmission models such as MODTRAN. A member of AMS, IEEE, and SPIE, he holds ME and MS degrees in Applied Physics and Earth and Planetary Physics from Harvard University.

Paul Walsh, Senior Vice President, Business Development

Mr. Walsh leads commercial business development efforts in the corporate mission areas of weather, environment, climate change, and associated risk and opportunity management A nationally recognized expert on the effect of weather and climate on consumer behavior and business, he has worked with many of the largest corporations in North America and the United Kingdom, helping business leaders, investors, and analysts use weather and climate intelligence to maximize sales and profits. Prior to joining the private sector in 1997, Paul was a meteorologist in the United States Air Force. During his time in the service, he provided weather-based intelligence support to war fighters and planners, including service as the Chief Meteorologist for the commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Desert Storm. Paul has appeared numerous times on CNBC, Fox Business News, the Business News Network and Bloomberg television commenting on weather and climate impacts on business and the economy, and his insight and analysis has also been featured in over 100 publications including the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, USA Today, The New York Times, Business 2.0, Forbes and many others.

Nelson Bonito, Vice President, Space Weather Division

Mr. Bonito, Vice President of AER's Space Weather Division, has interfaced with the scientific community at AFRL for over 24 years. He is currently managing the research, operations and support of space weather phenomenology and physics, space weather forecasting, and space weather programs, data and communications support, and decision aids for traditional government customers as well as development of new markets.

He has designed multi-processor techniques for the reduction and analysis of real time telemetry for AFRL experiments flown on five space shuttle missions. He also designed, developed, and published the AFGL Interactive Targeting System used during the STS-' mission to support the on-orbit mission planning and the accurate sensor tracking of the CIRRIS-1A sensor from the space shuttle platform. Prior to joining AER, Mr. Bonito was a Principal Investigator/Project Manager for Radex, Inc.

David B. Hogan, Vice President, Programs and Systems Division

David Hogan is currently Vice President of the Programs and Systems Division at AER. He received a B.S in physical sciences and an M.S. in meteorology (remote sensing) from the University of Maryland. With almost thirty years of advanced system design and development experience, Mr. Hogan's career focus has been on the development of advanced science solutions for challenging environmental and remote sensing problems and transition to operational systems. He has extensive experience managing large programs with diverse technical teams composed of multiple contractors and has been successful in delivering tasks on schedule and within budget. He also manages the group that developed and supports AERs operational forecasts designed specifically for the financial markets.

Ross N. Hoffman, Ph.D., Vice President, Research and Development Division, Chief Scientist

Dr. Hoffman's principal areas of interest are objective analysis and assimilation methods, atmospheric dynamics, climate theory and atmospheric radiation. He has made significant contributions in the field of data assimilation, including the development of some variational techniques. He is a member of the NSCAT Science Team and the EOS SeaWinds Science Team. Dr. Hoffman holds a magna cum laude BS from Brown University, a MA in mathematics from Boston University and a Ph.D. in meteorology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to AER, Dr. Hoffman was at the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheric Sciences, first as a NCR RRA followed by acting as a USRA visiting scientist.

Guy Seeley, Ph.D., Vice President, Weather Impacts on Sensing Technologies (WIST) Division

Dr. Seeley, Vice President of AER's WIST Division, is responsible for managing the development of the InfraRed Target Scene Simulation (IRTSS) tool which is a specialized weather impact decision aid for defense sensor systems. Through specialized infrared scene simulation it exploits terrain, GIS, weather and radiative transfer modeling, to provide situational awareness for joint service warfighters.

Hilary E. "Ned" Snell, Vice President, Remote Sensing Group

Dr. Hilary E. "Ned" Snell, Vice President of Sensor Applications and Modeling Division. Dr. Snell has been with Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. since 1994 beginning as a Senior Research Associate. In 1999 Dr. Snell began his leadership of what is now the Infrared and Trace Gas Remote Sensing Group. Prior to joining AER, Dr. Snell studied and received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Space Sciences from the University of Michigan with Professor Paul B. Hays as his advisor. Prior to that, he studied and received his A.B. in Geophysics from the University of Chicago under the guidance of Professor John E. Frederick.

Dr. Snell is experienced in all aspects of both theoretical and experimental remote sensing. This includes extensive infrared and ultraviolet radiative transfer model and retrieval algorithm development, including the design and implementation of upgrades to the FAST Atmospheric Signature CODE (FASCODE) algorithm, the design and construction of infrared remote sensing instrumentation, and the analysis of data acquired from ground-based and space-borne sensors. He led the development of the infrared ozone retrieval algorithm for the Ozone Mapping and Profiling Suite (OMPS) and served as project manager for algorithm development for the Cross-Track Infrared and Microwave Sounder Suite (CrIMSS), both part of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Satellite System (NPOESS). He is currently involved in the development of an end-to-end system for determining carbon fluxes using lidar measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane coupled with atmospheric transport models. He is also leading the development of a nowcast/forecast system for upper atmospheric phenomena for use in determining the radiance impacts to sensors.

Dr. Snell is a member if the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU).