Forrest Melton is a Senior Research Scientist with the Earth Sciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center. Forrest currently serves as the NASA Project Scientist for OpenET and as an Associate Program Manager for Agriculture with the NASA Earth Action Program. Since 2003, he has worked in the Atmospheric and Biospheric Sciences Branches at NASA Ames Research Center on the development of modeling and satellite-driven decision support frameworks including OpenET, the Satellite Irrigation Management Support (SIMS) system, the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX), and the Terrestrial Observation and Prediction System (TOPS). His research focuses on applications of satellite data to improve management of natural resources, remote sensing of evapotranspiration and agricultural water requirements, and ecosystem and carbon cycle modeling. Forrest holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Earth Systems Science from Stanford University, and has authored more than sixty papers and book chapters on applications of remote sensing. He is the recipient of honor awards from NASA for his contributions to TOPS and NEX, and has also been recognized for his work on applications of satellite data for water management with awards from the California Department of Water Resources and the Federal Labs Consortium. In 2022, Forrest was awarded the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal for his efforts to advance the use of remotely sensed ET data in water resources management, and he received the 2024 California Irrigation Institute Person of the Year award.