This summer, we said goodbye to associate consultant Ben Lopez. For the next two years, Ben will be attending UT Austin for his MBA. Ben joined January Advisors in October 2011 after graduating from Rice University. We had over 100 applications for the position, but Ben stood out from the beginning. An excerpt from his…
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This week I’ve been traveling through Northern California. What started as a simple visit to see my sister ended up as an opportunity to learn about the massive California drought and the state’s water conservation efforts. We think of the drought as being a Southern California issue but Northern California is experiencing water shortages as…
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This week, I had the pleasure of attending the second annual Bayou Startup Showcase. This collaboration between the University of Houston and Rice University mixes up their summer startup accelerator programs and spits it out in a giant celebration of new startups in Houston. I had the opportunity to introduce Open Factory, one of my…
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Glad to be joining the ranks of January Advisors’ Bitsters. I’ll be posting with international and domestic news on open data, process improvement, e-government, startups and innovation. First topic: Open Data in the Middle East 1. Does open data exist in the Middle East? Most assuredly it does. A quick gander at the OKFN rankings or the Open…
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Rarely are sprinkler systems researched to determine nuanced solutions for a widespread drought. But in Southern California, that is exactly what the Fontana Public Works Department is doing. I was skeptical at first. How does a small municipal department collect enough data to measure current water application and compare it to a scientifically determined target? You’d have…
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A VERY cool open source visualization tool of real-time global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers is now available. The data is updated every three hours. Features of the tool include: ocean surface current estimates updated every five days ocean surface temperatures and anomaly from daily average (1981-2011) updated daily ocean waves updated every three hours A free version of…
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In just under 24 hours on Memorial Day 2015, more than 8 inches of rain swamped Houston, Texas. The Memorial Day flooding was yet another chapter in Houston’s long flood history. Freeways, homes and buildings were submerged, trapping vehicles and triggering gridlock in some areas. According to the Harris County Flood Control District’s network, rain totals…
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I was honored and humbled this year to be nominated to the Advisory Board for the State of Texas’ State Strategic Plan (SSP) on Technology. It was an interesting experience and I look forward to seeing the end product come out later this year. Importantly, Jeff Reichman played a much larger role on the advisory board…
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Last month, I went on Public Affairs, Public Access to talk about our get out the vote projects. I was fortunate to sit down with Reda Hicks, Aimee Woodall, and John Gorczynski to talk about Houston’s voter turnout rate, and how we’re experimenting with moving the needle. If you’re interested in being a part of…
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Did you know more than half of the country’s lakes and rivers are not meeting the Environmental Protection Agencywater quality standards? A major goal of the U.S. Clean Water Act is maintaining “designated uses” for rivers, lakes, and coastal waterways. Uses include fishing, swimming, boating, irrigation, drinking water, and wildlife habitat. Every two years, states must submit to…
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