A Chicago area native, Walt earned a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Meteorology from Northern Illinois University and a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Meteorology from The Florida State University. He has worked at the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Yucca Mountain Project. In 1999, he joined the NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory, Special Operations and Research Division (ARL/SORD) that provides all of the weather services for the DOE/NNSA/Nevada Field Office (NFO) Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) that includes weather data collection and monitoring, forecasting, and services for daily and experimental operations on the NNSS. In 2007, Walt became the Director of SORD and also the Chair of the then DOE Meteorological Coordinating Council (DMCC) and in 2019 became the Director of the ARL’s Division in Idaho Falls that provides all weather service for the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).