Ryan May - Unidata Deputy Director

Ryan May

Unidata Deputy Director

Loveland, Colorado, United States

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Summary

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Ryan May is a scientific Python developer and Unidata Deputy Director with 26 years of experience bridging meteorology and open-source software. He leads MetPy development and Python training for the atmospheric science community while helping steer Unidata strategy and internship programs. Technically fluent across back-end systems and devops, his contributions span high-profile projects like IPython and matplotlib as well as domain-focused tools such as THREDDS, Cartopy, and Pint. Ryan’s work frequently targets robust data handling—time/geospatial fixes for GRIB/NetCDF and unit-aware plotting—helping make complex weather data more accessible to scientists. Based in Loveland, Colorado, he combines a PhD in Meteorology with hands-on engineering to translate research needs into production-ready Python tools. An often-overlooked strength is his knack for improving cross-platform behavior and reproducible testing in widely used libraries, smoothing the experience for users and developers alike.

26 years of coding experience

5 years of employment as a software developer

Doctor of Philosophy - PhD Meteorology, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD Meteorology at University of Oklahoma

Stackoverflow

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5,625reputation

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266answers

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Badges

numpy

top-5%

python

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image

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matrix

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Github Skills (45)

dependency-management10

python10

animation10

jupyter10

gui-programming10

matplotlib10

testing10

xray10

cartopy10

conda10

grib10

ipython10

recipe10

ffmpeg10

data-parsing10

Programming languages (23)

JavaC++CSSRustCCMakeMakefileHTML

Github contributions (5)

Unidata/MetPy

Nov 2008 - Jan 2023

MetPy is a collection of tools in Python for reading, visualizing and performing calculations with weather data.

Role in this project:

Back-end Developer & Documentation Specialist

Contributions:43 releases, 1153 reviews, 3827 commits in 14 years 5 months

Contributions summary:Ryan contributed to the implementation of features for parsing and handling meteorological data, including code to read Wyoming upper air archive and Iowa State archive. They also added code to attach units to variables for calculation, created a function for finding bounding indices, and implemented improvements to the processing and handling of NEXRAD level 2 data. The user has also updated examples and documentation.

hodographmeteorologypythoncalculationsatmospheric-science

SciTools/cartopy

Jun 2016 - Nov 2022

Cartopy - a cartographic python library with matplotlib support

Role in this project:

Back-end Developer & Test Automation Engineer

Contributions:1 release, 168 reviews, 157 commits in 6 years 6 months

Contributions summary:Ryan primarily contributed to the Cartopy library by implementing new features and fixing bugs related to map projections and geographic features. They added support for new parameters in the Mercator projection and incorporated the "sweep" argument for the Geostationary projection to accommodate different axis orientations, enhancing the library's flexibility and compatibility with various datasets. Additionally, the user addressed issues with bounds calculations, data handling, and the appearance of features, improving the library's accuracy and usability. Further, they contributed to test suites, updating test values and addressing potential problems with empty array plotting.

python-librarycartopypythongeographyspatial

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