Team participation is optional. Working on a team project is a great way to
get hands-on practice with everything the course teaches — but not every
participant needs to join a team or work on a team project. You can take the
full course, attend every session, and still get a lot out of the course without a team project.
That being said, projects are a great way to get hands on experience with guidance from the instructors.
Teams build a real NOAA/NCICS tool or product during the course, folding in what each week teaches — agentic cowork tools for research and reporting, agentic systems to automate part of the work, and (in the winter weeks) deep learning and foundation models where they add capability.
During Weeks 1 and 2, every day includes a team project time and office hours session from 1:00 to 2:00 PM ET. This hour is for:
The session is open to everyone, whether or not you're on a team.
Some participants will use team time to accelerate existing projects at NCICS and NOAA — bringing their own work to the course and using the tools, the time, and the instructors to move it forward. This is one of the best ways to participate: you don't need a formal team or a new project to make the most of the hour.
If you do join a team, strong projects tend to:
Not sure whether a team is right for you? Ask on the course Slack channels or bring it to any office-hours session — the instructors will help you figure out the best way to participate.