2022 AGU ELECTIONS
Brandon Jones
AGU Board of Directors
President-Elect
Bio
Volunteer experience that relates to this position:
Member, AGU strategic plan writing team (2019-2020); director, AGU Board (2017 to present); member, AGU Talent Pool Advisory Committee (2017-2018); director, Environmental Leadership Program Board (2015 to present; https://elpnet.org/about/who-we-are/board-of-directors); member, Dean's Advisory Committee, College of Earth, Ocean and the Environment, University of Delaware (2013 to present; https://www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/ceoe/alumni/ceoe-advisory-council/).
Q&A
The new AGU strategic plan represents a significant pivot for AGU. The President and President-elect will play key roles in leading the Board and Council 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 and how would you approach those challenges?
A key feature of the strategic plan that excites me is captured in the description of goal 3, where “cultivating a culture of trust” is mentioned. Even though the context is trust in science, I believe a culture of trust is essential to the success of AGU as it supports the many individuals who are connected in some way to the Earth and space sciences (ESS). Development of that trust must be both internal and external. At present, organizations across the world are dealing with long-seeded, internal ethical elements: police departments, media giants, academic institutions, Wall Street, federal agencies, professional sports teams, etc. AGU has the opportunity to amplify its leadership in supporting ethical scientific research by highlighting how people who are engaged in the ESS enterprise are supported and how AGU as an organization operates in an ethical manner. Both areas require an environment of trust where individuals can exist within their respective “zones of optimal functioning.” People conduct science; science does not conduct itself. The solutions needed to sustain human existence on the planet cannot be created in a system that supports a “haves and have-nots” class structure in science. Externally, renewed trust in expertise will require relationship building across the world. As an international organization, AGU’s new strategic focus on global collaborations and partnerships has the potential to provide opportunities to rebuild trust in experts, data and science.
One aspect of the plan that may cause some challenges is the value being assigned to solution-based science. Members with a more traditional research perspective may view solution-based science as inferior to discovery research. There may even be unwarranted concern about basic research being “lost” to more applied approaches. AGU leadership and staff will need to work collaboratively to communicate the importance of solution-based research and demonstrate its necessity. Open discussions and dialogue should be facilitated on how fundamental (basic) science lays the foundation for discovered products (data, understanding, etc.) that then can be translated into usable products. As products are used, more questions arise, which necessitates the need for more discovery. We cannot shy away from the discussions around the value of the D (development) in R&D. Returning to the idea that people conduct science, AGU will need to observe how the discovery researchers and the applied researchers approach ESS R&D. Are there data that support the notion that basic/discovery research withers in the presence of more applied approaches? I believe there is not only room for both basic and applied research, but there is a necessity for both. The challenge will be convincing some members that singular approaches are not enough to combat global issues and that discovery must be balanced with application. Applied knowledge is wisdom … humans have learned, now together we must be wise.
Section affiliations:
Education; Global Environmental Change; Ocean Sciences