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Key Takeaways Josh Kastman turned a childhood obsession with Midwest snowstorms and Weather Channel broadcasts into a Ph.D in meteorology and a research career at the National Weather Service.
He describes his move to Amazon as landing a “mythical unicorn job” for a scientist, shifting his focus from public forecasting to protecting millions of employees from extreme weather.
As chief meteorologist in Amazon’s Global Security Operations Center, he constantly scans for storms, heat, ice and floods that could create safety risks.
Josh Kastman has always been fascinated by weather — from a young age, he knew what he wanted to do.
As an 8-year-old growing up all over the Midwest, he was always watching The Weather Channel, looking for the next big snowstorm. When it arrived, he would be outside measuring the snow every hour, treating each storm like a personal science experiment.
That early fascination quickly turned into a career path. When Kastman got to high school, he did a volunteer internship for the National Weather Service, where he called police departments, fire departments and even local farmers to see if they had any storms to report.
When it came time for college, Kastman chose the University of Missouri, where he got a Bachelor’s, Master’s and then a Ph.D in meteorology.
“It was awesome,” he tells Entrepreneur in a new interview. “I got to do things like launch weather balloons overnight in various farm fields, which was cool.”
Josh Kastman. Credit: Amazon
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