Assistant Professor, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, 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.

My identity is shaped by the different places I have lived and rooted in my family background. I was born in San Diego and raised in Tijuana, lucky to experience the US-Mexico community freely from childhood. My extended family is originally from Jalisco and Chihuahua and has migrated across regions in both Mexico and the United States. I identify as Mexican and Latina, and grew up speaking Spanish. Moving across borders and cultures has given me a deep respect for the communities that have taken me in. When starting graduate school, I moved to Oregon and was able to explore the Pacific Northwest and better understand its history. As a postdoc, I moved to Taiwan for two years, and its community was welcoming and sheltering during the hard years of the pandemic, deepening my connections with cultures outside my own. Living in Hawaiʻi is further teaching me appreciation for regional perspectives and community-based research. As AGU Secretary, I will keep my mind and heart open to members' opinions and voices, engage with leaders from different backgrounds, and be attentive to who is in the room and who is not, working together to make AGU welcoming to all.

Volunteer experience that you feel relates to this position:

Active member and event coordinator for GeoLatinas (2018–2023), a community supporting Latina geoscientists across countries. Postdoctoral association representative at the University of California, San Diego (2022–2024), facilitating communication and advocating for researchers' needs. Co-founder of Unpacking Diversity (2018–2021), a grassroots initiative broadening participation in geosciences. Volunteer with Bridge Builders LA at Scripps (2023–2024), coordinating marine science demonstrations for high school students. Co-organized a session at the AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting (2026).

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?

As Secretary of the Physical Oceanography section, I hope to work with AGU leadership to connect our members across different disciplines and link scientists with the broader community that supports us and depends on our science for the well-being of our planet.

I will work with our president and president-elect to ensure all member voices are invited and heard in leadership decisions, and that our priorities reach our community clearly and accessibly so we can incorporate feedback. Physical oceanography helps us understand the urgent questions facing our changing ocean — finding our voice to connect that science to the communities it affects should also be our priority. Rebuilding trust in evidence-based science, by advocating for science education and outreach as part of our research mission, is more urgent than ever in a world where AI (artificial intelligence) is rapidly changing how people access and evaluate information.

With a long-term vision in mind, I am particularly committed to supporting early career members in navigating funding opportunities and building networks across disciplines, sectors, and nations, helping our community grow and become resilient.

Because ultimately, inclusive science goes beyond representation. It means building trust with communities and bridges with leaders in other fields, so we can push science toward a better world for everyone.