Chad Whelan

Chad Whelan has over 20 years of experience in the ocean sensing industry. From 1996 to 1998, they worked as a Physics/Marine Science Teacher at MAST Academy, a magnet school in the Miami-Dade County School System. From 1998 to 2001, they worked as a Lead Field Engineer at Codar Ocean Sensors, Ltd. From 2007 to 2013, they served as Chief Technology Officer at Codar Ocean Sensors, Ltd., where they advised the President and Board of Directors on strategic technology planning and development, undertook extensive international travel, consulted with foreign agencies and ministries, collaborated with the Director of Sales and Marketing, proposed and managed budgets, collaborated on and managed development of new data processing, quality control and diagnostic methods, developed new areas of business, managed activities to maintain domestic and international compliance and export classifications, and maintained high technical knowledge of current measurement applications and capabilities. From 2013 to present, they have been the Principal Investigator at Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS), where they have built an efficient coastal radar network operation, created a successful model for commercial/academic partnership, developed and managed annual budgets for service, research and software products to NOAA IOOS program office, collaborated with CeNCOOS Director and other CeNCOOS PI's on strategic planning, and engaged in outreach with regional stakeholders and decision makers.

Chad Whelan attended Souderton Area High School from 1988 to 1990. Chad then went on to Gettysburg College, where they earned a BS in Physics from 1990 to 1994. Finally, they received an MS in Applied Marine Physics from the University of Miami from 1994 to 1998.