The Informed is a science and engineering working group within h Bar LLC.
Science & engineering · AI/ML for the public good · Alaska
We are scientists, engineers, and military personnel helping governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, and other public-interest groups turn difficult science and engineering problems into practical artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) solutions. We bring our expertise together to help people protect communities, understand the environment, and get more from the resources they have.
Nonprofit status application pending. We have applied for nonprofit status and are awaiting a decision.
01 · Who we are
The Informed brings together four colleagues (Sean, Derek, Dave, and Taylor) whose experience spans research, engineering, military service, and work in demanding environments. Our mission is to make that knowledge useful to organizations serving the public. We focus on governments, NGOs, nonprofits, and other noncorporate partners, helping them decide where AI/ML can genuinely improve their work and how to put it into practice.
Client work is bespoke by definition: a model trained on your data and scored against your baseline, a tool built around your operators' decision, or the pipeline and compute that keep either one running. We deliver working systems with their evidence attached, and we keep the results confidential.
02 · Focus areas
Our focus is on work that benefits people and the systems they depend on. These are the problems we want to help partners address; linked projects are free educational examples, not claims of completed partner engagements.
Helping partners interpret environmental observations, study climate risks, and evaluate predictive models. We connect satellite imagery, weather records, and physical understanding to questions about changing conditions and community resilience.
Supporting organizations preparing for and responding to disasters, including in war zones and conflict-affected communities. Our focus includes interpreting remote sensing, assessing environmental hazards and damage, and improving the information available to humanitarian teams when data, time, and connectivity are limited.
Applying scientific modeling and machine learning to atmospheric chemistry, air quality, water chemistry, and pollutant transport. We help connect observations with physical and chemical models, examine uncertainty, and identify where better analysis can support environmental research and stewardship.
Bringing together ocean observations, physical models, and machine learning to study the marine environment. Areas of interest include ocean conditions, coastal hazards, underwater sound, and the environmental information needed for research and humanitarian planning.
Exploring uncrewed aerial and undersea systems for mapping, scientific sampling, environmental monitoring, and humanitarian assessment. We help partners connect platform and sensor choices with useful data collection and analysis, from the field to the model.
Helping agricultural researchers and public-interest organizations make sense of field observations, weather, soil and water conditions, and aerial or satellite imagery. The aim is practical support for crop studies, resource stewardship, and understanding risks to food production.
Helping dissidents, reporters, humanitarian workers, and civil-society groups understand their communications risks and choose appropriate security tools and workflows. We bring cryptography and systems knowledge to these questions, including when established security methods are more appropriate than AI.
Helping partners move from an idea to a workflow their team can use and maintain: framing the question, assessing data, choosing methods, testing results, integrating tools, and training the people who use them. We explain the tradeoffs and help determine when a simpler approach is the better fit.
Our public learning sites are personal projects, shared free of charge. They let people explore the science and methods behind our work, and help us keep learning alongside the communities we hope to serve.
03 · Partners
Sean, Derek, Dave, and Taylor bring different disciplines and perspectives to the same table. We combine scientific curiosity with engineering judgment and experience working under real-world constraints.
Partner · Navy Information Warfare Officer · Atmospheric scientist
Information Warfare Officer specializing in oceanography, meteorology, and space systems, U.S. Navy Reserve; Navy Space Cadre; PhD in atmospheric chemistry. Founded H BAR LLC in 2011; leads the satellite-meteorology model programme and the orbital-analysis work. sean.theinformed.org
Partner · Navy Aerographer's Mate · Unmanned systems
Operational meteorology and oceanography with carrier strike group experience; educational background in unmanned systems. Brings the operator's view to every tool. derek.theinformed.org
Science · Engineering · Service
Dave and Taylor complete the team. Together, our backgrounds span naval operations, atmospheric science, unmanned systems, and engineering. We work across those disciplines rather than treating a partner’s problem as someone else’s specialty. taylor.theinformed.org
04 · Approach
We start by listening: what does your organization need to accomplish, what data can it trust, and what constraints shape the work? Together we assess whether AI/ML is appropriate, compare it with simpler methods, and define what success would look like. From there, we help develop and evaluate models, fit them into existing workflows, and build the team’s ability to use and maintain them. Clear evidence, honest uncertainty, privacy, and human judgment guide the process, especially when the consequences reach vulnerable people.
If you work with a government, NGO, nonprofit, research group, or another organization serving the public, tell us the science or engineering problem you are facing. What are you trying to improve, what information do you have, and what gets in the way? We can explore where AI/ML could help and what a practical collaboration might look like. Our focus is public-interest work, not corporate customers.