Associate Professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA

AGU embraces the global community and welcomes diverse leaders from around the world, representing various identities, voices, and perspectives. List any identities, voices, and perspectives you would bring, including but not limited to nationality, regional representations, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and any other identity you feel comfortable sharing.

I was born in the United Kingdom and consider myself to be European. I am also an American. I am white and male. I am a physicist and a researcher in both the field of space physics and aeronomy and also in planetary sciences. I am a professor and an educator.

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

I served on the AGU Fellows Committee for Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) in both 2015 and 2016. I served on the National Academies Heliophysics Decadal Survey Midterm review committee in 2019-2020. I served on the Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) steering committee from 2014 – 2016. I currently serve on Virginia’s Space Grant Advisory Council, with roles including reviewing applications for small grants with an emphasis on diversifying participation in NASA-related activities, engaging with the state department of education, and community colleges.

As one of the elected leaders of your section, how will you partner with your president and president-elect to communicate with and engage your members to help implement AGU’s strategic plan including its mission and vision?

I will leverage my experience of communicating with a broad range of audiences including a diverse student body, federal and state-level agencies and organizations, and our SPA community. I will work towards maintaining interaction with our diverse U.S.-based community while strengthening participation from the global community in AGU meetings. To that end, I will contribute to plans for how AGU can retain a hybrid component at these meetings for the long term, taking stock of what has and has not worked well at recent meetings. Hybrid components, if done well, may significantly help the international community to better participate at some AGU meetings going forward.

Section affiliations:

Atmospheric Sciences; Planetary Sciences; Space Physics and Aeronomy