Associate Professor, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA

AGU embraces the global community and welcomes leaders 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 anything else you feel comfortable sharing.

I value a wide range of contributions to science. As both of my graduate degrees and post-doctoral experiences were at R1 institutions, I strive for the highest level of scientific interaction and knowledge creation. I am also an Associate Professor at an R2-designated institution with a large undergraduate population. I am therefore passionate about broadening the exposure to science, including participation in professional meetings, to undergraduate students. My personal history embeds an intercultural and international perspective as I am of Indonesian descent and have previously held a faculty job in New Zealand (2018 - 2020). My familiarity with scientific communities outside of the US helps foster international collaboration and I continue to mentor research students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. I am also an interdisciplinary scientist and work to contribute physical oceanographic methods and perspectives to collaborative projects with biogeochemists, coastal managers and aquaculture professionals.

Volunteer experience that you feel relates to this position:

I have served as session co-chair (Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference (EPOC), 2015; Ocean Sciences Meeting,  2022), meeting co-chair (Gordon Research Seminar, 2013; EPOC, 2014) and AGU Student Presentation co-coordinator (Fall Meeting, 2024). I am a reviewer for proposals (National Science Foundation physical oceanography) and professional journals (AGU, American Meteorological Society). At the University of North Carolina Wilmington I have served on cross-Departmental Honors theses committees to evaluate and provide feedback on student work.

The section secretary role is determined by individual sections. If needed, the secretary might be asked to serve as an alternate to the president or president-elect at a Council meeting.

As part of the section leadership team, how will you work in partnership with your president, president-elect, other leaders, and staff to communicate with and engage your members to achieve AGU’s vision, values, mission, and goals?

In the face of global climate change, an active and engaged Earth science community is paramount. AGU scientific meetings play an important role to facilitate this engagement and I would be proud to contribute to their coordination. As physical oceanography secretary, I would work as a respectful team member who understands that individual section compromises and scheduling negotiations are necessary. I would be receptive and open to contributions from AGU leadership, staff, and members, and be diplomatic in accepting and communicating decisions in service of a successful scientific meeting. Throughout my career, scientific meetings have been invaluable to expanding my knowledge and network. I have also found meetings to be deeply supportive forums to reaffirm a sense of place within a broader community, beyond an individual section. I am honored to have the opportunity to be a professional scientist and find grounding in the history of science that includes participation in scientific meetings. If selected, I would bring this perspective to continue to build an inclusive, collegial, and scientifically vibrant AGU community.