Daryl Herzmann sits in front of two computers while the screens fill with data like a scene from the Matrix.

But Herzmann is no Neo. He is a program assistant in the agronomy department, and his job is to oversee the Mesonet — a collection of weather, soil, air and water data from across Iowa.

KCCI TV/Channel 8’s SchoolNet stations and the National Weather Service are two of the major components of the Mesonet project.

Iowa State entered into a partnership two years ago with KCCI and the National Weather Service to collect this data and make it available to the public. It has been used specifically to alert the National Weather Service to severe weather conditions.

The weather network collects real-time weather information from the KCCI-Channel 8 SchoolNet stations and other data sources from around the state, and when weather turns severe, an alert is immediately sent to the National Weather Service.

“I’m not sure who loves [Mesonet] — the TV station or the National Weather Service,” Herzmann said.

He has been working with this partnership project for the past two years, but there are many other data sources involved.

Herzmann said he is continually trying to increase the number of data sources Mesonet uses so it can provide faster and more accurate information at a broader range.

“If [data sources] are trying to send us data, we are willing to help them,” he said.

Dave Flory, lecturer in geological and atmospheric sciences, said Herzmann is the integral component of the project.

“The Mesonet is what it is because of Daryl [Herzmann].”

Flory manages the Mesonet Web site, but he said if people are looking for information to use in research, Herzmann is the person to go to.

Adam Painter, senior in meteorology, who has experience working with the Mesonet, said Herzmann and his knowledge is one-of-a-kind.

“He will never be fired. He is irreplaceable,” Painter said.

Brian Gunsolley, senior in meteorology, said Herzmann will meet with people anytime to share data.

Gunsolley used the Mesonet to write his senior thesis.

“I used it to show how cattle react to heat stress with temperature and dew point data,” he said. “It’s there for anybody. If you are in Texas doing a case study on something that happened in Iowa, you can [use it].”

Herzmann frequently receives requests for the data to be used in research by departments on campus such as agronomy, engineering and entomology.

The strangest request for data he said he received was for use in mice research.

“They wanted to know how humidity and cloud cover affected mice burrowing,” Herzmann said.