The funding will support expanded platform capabilities and continued collaboration between Southern Miss and NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). AQUAVIEW is designed to make NOAA data easier to discover, access, and use across a variety of applications, including scientific research, education, and emerging artificial intelligence technologies.

“NOAA NCEI is proud to partner with the University of Southern Mississippi to build a modern, cloud-based data hub for uncrewed systems. Through USM’s cloud engineering expertise and student innovation, we are streamlining access to critical uncrewed systems data, ensuring that federal investments in ocean science deliver maximum public and scientific benefit,” said Jennifer Bowers, NOAA NESDIS NCEI Uncrewed Systems Data Enterprise Product Lead.

Previous NOAA funding supported the development and launch of the AQUAVIEW platform, establishing the cloud-based infrastructure that allows users to discover and access NOAA ocean science and environmental data through a centralized interface. That foundational work created the framework for expanded platform capabilities and future enhancements.

The grant extension builds on ongoing efforts to modernize access to NOAA datasets through cloud-based infrastructure and data management solutions. The project also provides opportunities for Southern Miss students to contribute to research and development efforts that address challenges in environmental data accessibility and usability.

“This round of funding will allow AQUAVIEW, a platform that federates NOAA’s ocean science and environmental data, to expand its capabilities to help power AI and other large-scale systems. We’ve always had findability, accessibility, and usability of data at the heart of the project, and this additional funding will allow us to focus on getting data to users, be they AI agents, scientists, or students, in ways that they need it,” said Josh Hill, associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice, Forensic Science and Security at Southern Miss.

Hill noted that the additional support will help the project continue improving how users interact with NOAA data while supporting a growing range of research and technology applications.

“In short, we want to make it easy to find and use NOAA data in the many ways people want to do that, and this funding gets us closer to that goal,” Hill said.

The award will support continued development of AQUAVIEW as NOAA and Southern Miss work to improve access to environmental information and maximize its value for researchers, educators, students, and technology developers.