“When other planes are grounded, this pilot heads straight for the storm!” says a recent Washington Post profile. Meet that pilot: hurricane hunter and NOAA Corps Officer Captain Catherine A. Martin. Moving from her former position as Chief of Operations at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida, Martin has landed in Boulder, where she is now Executive Director of NOAA Boulder Laboratories.
“Captain Martin has 18 years with the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, so she brings a wealth of experience and a valuable perspective to NOAA Boulder,” says Robert Webb, Director of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory. Four of NOAA’s six line offices (OAR, NWS, NESDIS, and NOS) are present in Boulder—and since the NOAA Corps supports all of the agency’s research, this is familiar ground for Martin.
In her new position, Martin will be managing common site services such as IT, outreach and communications, and the library. She will also coordinate site safety and security. In a nod to her earlier work, “I’m also looking forward to helping our scientists get time on NOAA aircraft and working on the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program,” says Martin.
Martin’s favorite NOAA assignments have been flying planes, an interest that dates back to high school. “It was career day my junior year,” she said. “We had to sign up to listen to three people talk. I chose my dad, his friend, and a pilot. That day I went home from school and told my parents I wanted to become a pilot.”
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Image via NOAA.