Micah Lau is from Mililani on the island of O‘ahu. He is currently concentrating in Computer Science at Brown University. After graduating in 2016, he would like to work in software engineering, web development, or computer law. Micah’s interests include creative writing, photography, music, and Korean food.
Institute when accepted: Brown University
Project Title: Developing an iOS Weather App for the Institute for Astronomy
Project Site: Institute for Astronomy, Maui
Mentors: Cindy Giebink, Dan O’Gara
Project Abstract: Weather data gathered at the summits of Haleakala and Mauna Kea is currently displayed on webpages hosted by the Institute for Astronomy (IfA). Several different webpages also provide graphs of archived weather data, charts comparing data from multiple stations, and live satellite and web-cam images. Scientists working at the summits use this information to determine whether conditions are favorable for research. However, viewing IfA webpages from mobile devices may be difficult, due to slow load times and an unoptimized layout. We have created the IfA Weather App for iOS, built with Objective-C, to offer a convenient and streamlined display of Haleakala and Mauna Kea weather data and the various features provided by the IfA websites. PHP web services and MySQL queries are used to obtain and format data to be parsed in the application. CorePlot, an open-source graphing library, provides the framework for 24- and 48-hour weather-trend visualizations. The app also features 24-hour animated satellite imagery of the Hawaiian Islands and the greater Pacific Northeast region.