Maj Joshua Quinnett is an Instructor in the Department of Physics and Meteorology and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Maj Quinnett was commissioned through the Air Force Officer Training School in 2016. He has an undergraduate degree in astrophysics from Rice University and a graduate degree in Meteorology from the Naval Postgraduate School.

In his first assignment, at Air Force Research Labs, he served as project officer for the Advanced Timing Unit in the Space Vehicles Directorate. Afterward, he was selected to cross-flow into the 15W – Weather and Environmental Sciences Officer career field, where he was sent to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) for the Basic Meteorology Program. During his time at NPS, he took additional classes and did research on coastal lightning to qualify for a master’s degree in meteorology. Following this assignment, he went to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, where he served as a wing weather officer and the first-ever agile combat support flight commander, supervising AFE, HARM, and the weather flight in the OSS. He was then selected for a PhD program in which he went to Colorado State University (CSU) to study Atmospheric Sciences, with his particular area of research including satellite-based remote sensing and rain retrievals, as well as machine learning. Following his time at CSU, he came to the Academy to teach as an instructor of meteorology.

Master of Science, Meteorology, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. (2020)

Bachelor of Science, Astrophysics, Rice University, Houston, Texas (2015)

Instructor of Meteorology, Department of Physics and Meteorology, The U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (2025-Present)

Agile Combat Support Flight Commander, 36th Operations Support Squadron, Andersen AFB, Guam (2020-2022)

Wing Weather Officer, 36th Operations Support Squadron, Andersen AFB, Guam (2020)

Advanced Timing Unit Project Officer, Geospace Communications and Navigations Branch, Space Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland AFB, N.M. (2016-218)

Air and Space Commendation Medal

Air and Space Achievement Medal

Humanitarian Service Medal

Remote Sensing

Rain Retrievals

Lightning