Alumni Spotlight: Singh on Founding Skymet Weather
After graduating from the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University with a Master’s Degree in International Relations and Affairs, Jatin Singh (Pardee ’01) began working as a journalist for the Associated Press in India. Working in the media, Singh experienced firsthand the difficulties news outlets face in gathering reliable weather data.
This motivated Singh to start a company that focused on assisting media outlets in gathering weather and climate data because he believed when it comes to weather and climate “forewarned is forearmed.”Singh is now the founder and CEO India’s largest private sector weather forecasting, monitoring and agriculture risk solutions company, Skymet Weather.
“Today [Skymet] has morphed into a climate solutions company with a massive IOT infrastructure that is now used for agriculture and disaster management,” Singh said.
Skymet Weather is currently India’s largest private sector weather forecasting, monitoring and agriculture risk solutions company specializing in measuring, predicting and limiting climate risk. It has the capability to create hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal and long term forecasts including for monsoons. Skymet customizes solutions for client specific requirements and covers more than 7,000 locations down to the village level across the country with its forecasts.
The company employs its own teams in operational meteorology, numeric weather prediction modeling (NWP), remote sensing, statistical data analysis, software/ computing and multimedia. It also has a well-equipped in-house studio replete with a TV production team. Skymet Weather has clients in both the government and private sectors including in agriculture, insurance, commodities, finance, offshore oil and gas, power, and weather instrumentation industries.
Singh said that his education at the Pardee School provided him with several essential skills that he has used throughout his career and specifically in founding Skymet Weather.
“My education at the Pardee School taught me how to think,” Singh said. “Critical thinking is something I learned at Boston University. And the next most important skill, writing.”
According to Singh, his Pardee School education still helps him with his current work at Skymet Weather, specifically the class he took on current issues in international environmental affairs taught by Dean Adil Najam. He also points to Professor John Schultz as playing a crucial role in helping develop his writing skills.
Singh said his advice to current Pardee School students who are interested in pursuing careers in climate science or weather forecasting is to “focus on climate change and the environment, and make sure that you have strong computing skills.”