The National Integrated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of 2018 (NIDISRA) instructs NOAA to establish the Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC) Program as part of the Weather Program Office (WPO) to accelerate community-developed scientific and technological enhancements into the operational applications for numerical weather prediction (NWP). This Town Hall will highlight recent progress in the NOAA EPIC program to accelerate the transition of innovative research and development into operational NWP systems, and to clarify operational priorities for . EPIC has established a virtual web-based Community Portal (https://epic.noaa.gov) to support continuous integration and continuous development of the Unified Forecast System (UFS) weather model, the code base of the UFS Medium-Range Weather (MRW), Short-Range Weather (SRW), Hurricane, Coastal, Subseasonal to Seasonal (S2S) applications. EPIC hosts regular community engagement events and provides advanced user support to the UFS Community. EPIC is also providing scientific innovation opportunities in partnership with other WPO and NOAA programs, including the newly established WPO Innovation for Next Generation Scientists and upcoming Notice of Funding Opportunities. Community members are invited to participate in order to understand how they can leverage EPIC in learning and performing research to advance the UFS, and to provide feedback on how the program can help better support the weather enterprise.

- Indicates paper has been withdrawn from meeting

- Indicates an Award Winner