Associate Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

Volunteer experience that relates to this position: 

Founder and director, Center for Diverse Leadership in Science (2017-present); distinguished lecturer, National Science Foundation (2018); advisory board and leadership committee, 500 Women Scientists (2016-2017); invited participant in workshops on Academic Incivility in STEM, Sexual Harassment in the Sciences and Townhalls on Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racism work in STEM (2020)

The AGU strategic plan represents a significant pivot for AGU. Board members must work together with each other, other volunteer leaders, and staff to play a key role in implementing the plan. What are the key features of the strategic plan that you find most exciting? What features do you think will be most challenging? As a Board member how would you advance the strategic plan?

What excites me is that the three goals laid out in the strategic plan are fundamentally interrelated: (1) to catalyze discovery and solutions to scientific and societal challenges, (2) to promote and exemplify an inclusive scientific culture, and (3) to partner broadly with other organizations and sectors to address scientific and societal challenge. Goal 1 can be achieved only through goal 2 and that can be done effectively and sustainably only through goal 3. A challenge I foresee will be making progress on goal 2 during what will likely be a prolonged time of growing inequality, given the issues facing people nationally and our neighbors around the world.

As a Board member, I would advocate for advancing the strategic plan through advocacy for initiatives that more broadly engage the full diversity of our membership both within and outside of meetings. I believe it is important for AGU to light the fuse of civic engagement and elevate diverse voices through lectures, town halls, meetings, workshops, and awards. I am excited to support AGU and the geosciences more broadly in responding to the recent community mandate for racial justice, including by recognizing and supporting the use of equity metrics and outcomes as a primary measure of leadership.

Section affiliations:

Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology; Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology