As a software engineer, data scientist and technology manager, Roger Butler has worked as an interface between research and development for two decades. Starting off in audio signal processing, he took science through to deployed products in medical imaging, digital agriculture and energy management. Roger then decided that data science would be at the core of his next role. After diving into the technical and business challenges of flood modelling with FloodMapp Co-Founder and CTO, Ryan Prosser, Roger decided that FloodMapp was for him.
“I wanted to work for a progressive, ethical, impactful organisation where I could bring my broad and deep skills to build something that can have a great and positive impact for people around the world,” said Roger.
Roger is relatively new to the emergency management field but sees timely public communications and accurate forecasting as key to solving the flooding challenge. For now, Roger’s focus at FloodMapp is to improve the accuracy of water level forecasting.
“I'm learning to apply my data science craft to the flood forecasting problem. The problem has unique challenges and I'm diving deep to understand potential solutions. Forecasting accuracy is key to the success of the company and to helping people impacted by flooding worldwide,” said Roger.
Focused on continually improving water level forecasts and bringing new models into production, Roger reflects on how new ideas can become embedded in companies. “Something I’ve learned over my career is how to influence by planting seeds of ideas and then revisiting them with a plan later on. One of my early managers taught me this and I think it’s important especially when working in an innovative company. A lot of what we do at FloodMapp is about creating new and better systems, and part of that innovation process is allowing time for a new idea to take hold. That said, it’s always a great feeling when your technical contribution gets deployed as a product that is used by others in an impactful way,” said Roger.
Roger is a Senior Data Scientist at FloodMapp, connect with him on LinkedIn.