Four faculty members have been selected as the 2026 Cloud Analytics Faculty Fellows, a program housed in the Office of the Provost and supported by the West Virginia High Technology Foundation.
Now in its second year, the fellowship empowers WVU instructors to incorporate NOAA’s Open Data Dissemination climate and environmental datasets into their courses. The goal is to give students applied, cloud-enabled learning experiences with real-world societal impact.
Cloud Analytics Faculty Fellows receive support to design curated classroom modules, leverage cloud-service tools and collaborate with industry professionals. Each fellow will implement at least one NOAA dataset–driven assignment paired with entrepreneurial and problem-solving activities, helping students understand how data can inform decisions across industry, policy and research.
This year’s fellows represent diverse disciplinary backgrounds across WVU, unified by their shared commitment to expanding data-driven education.
The 2026 Cloud Analytics Faculty Fellows are as follows:
• Mohammad Jamil Ahmad, assistant professor of management information systems and supply chain, John Chambers College of Business and Economics
Ahmad brings extensive experience in software analytics, cybersecurity and applied machine learning to the fellowship. He will integrate NOAA climate datasets into coursework focused on data analysis, cybersecurity and decision-making, designing assignments that help students explore climate-related trends using cloud-based tools. His curriculum emphasizes real-world data literacy and cross-disciplinary problem solving.
• Jeongsub Choi, assistant professor of management information systems and supply chain, John Chambers College of Business and Economics
Choi, a specialist in machine learning, statistical modeling and system analytics, will incorporate NOAA data into upper-level business analytics courses. His fellowship project focuses on helping students apply predictive modeling and data-mining techniques to environmental datasets, strengthening their ability to use analytical tools to understand climate-related challenges in industry and society.
• Prashnna Gyawali, assistant professor in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
Gyawali, an AI researcher with expertise in deep learning and health care modeling, will embed NOAA climate data into research-intensive and graduate-level computing courses, including Deep Learning and Generative AI. His project engages students in developing innovative AI-driven applications of NOAA datasets and emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and climate-centric problem solving.
• Brian M. Powell, teaching associate professor in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
Powell will integrate NOAA climate data into CS 101: Introduction to Computer Applications, one of the University’s highest-enrollment general education courses. Through database-driven assignments in Microsoft Access, students will analyze climate patterns, explore economic and societal impacts and develop data-informed solutions. His project ensures thousands of WVU students — across majors and class years — will gain hands-on experience with NOAA’s environmental data.
Launched in partnership with the High Technology Foundation, the Cloud Analytics Faculty Fellows program supports the WVU strategic mission to expand data-driven, cloud-empowered teaching and workforce development across the state of West Virginia.
Fellows receive funding, technical resources and professional support to implement NOAA-dataset-based instructional modules, with emphasis on entrepreneurship, innovation and problem solving.
As WVU advances its land-grant mission, this program highlights the University’s commitment to preparing students for emerging careers in climate analytics, cloud computing and data science while fostering statewide capacity for innovation.