Eric Hackathorn is the project manager for Data Visualization, Simulation, and Games at NOAA. The project leverages game mechanics and technology for a variety of projects and has unique expertise straddling science, education, and entertainment. Recently, under the leadership of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Eric participated in the creation of a Federal Games Guild. The goals for this community include knowledge sharing, collaborating on shared challenges, and identifying cross-agency needs pertaining to the effective use of games in government. Eric has served on advisory boards for NASA and NSF grants and worked on projects with several government agencies including NOAA, NASA, DOE, and the DOD. He is also a recipient of Federal Computer Week’s “Fed 100.”

Jeff Smith is a software engineer for CIRA and NOAA and works on a variety of projects related to big data, web applications, and data visualization. He's taught a variety of classes in software design and will be co-teaching a video game design class at the University of Colorado in Boulder in the fall of 2013. He's a two time recipient of the CIRA Research Initiative Award and was the 2006 Time Magazine Person of the Year.