Assistant Professor , University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 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 represent several communities that are often underrepresented in academia and public life. As a woman in science, I know firsthand the importance of visibility, mentorship, and creating pathways for others to succeed. I was a first-generation college student and a non-traditional graduate student, navigating higher education while working and managing family responsibilities. These experiences have continued to shape how I listen, collaborate, and lead. They also ground my commitment to building more inclusive, accessible, and supportive atmospheres in GeoHealth and the broader scientific field.

Volunteer experience that you feel relates to this position:

Throughout my career, I have focused my volunteer service on advancing the interdisciplinary field of GeoHealth. As an associate editor for GeoHealth and Environmental Research Letters, I support rigorous, policy-relevant science. I have served the AGU GeoHealth section as Secretary, Meetings Committee co-chair, the inaugural GeoHealth Showcase chair, and Working Group co-chair. I also organize international conference sessions, contribute to multiple National Science Foundation Research Coordination Networks, and take on other roles that strengthen the GeoHealth community.

Section presidents and presidents-elect serve as members of the AGU Council and lead their sections. The AGU Council is a diverse forum of perspectives that meets throughout the year to provide input to the AGU Board, staff, and other parts of the organization. Three communities within the Council - committee chairs, section leaders, and students and early career scientists - serve different roles in AGU and bring unique viewpoints to ongoing discussions.

This role aims to catalyze community and build AGU as envisioned by the strategic plan. This leadership position is a dual role: helping to advance AGU’s strategic plan as a member of Council; and leading your section. How would you support the Board, staff and other sections to achieve AGU’s vision, values, mission, and goals? How will you engage with members of your section to execute AGU’s strategic plan?

The president-elect role offers an opportunity to connect GeoHealth’s strengths in environment, climate, health, and equity with AGU’s strategic goals on discovery, inclusive culture, and broad partnerships. In serving on Council, I would help center solution-based, transdisciplinary science and meaningful community involvement in Board and staff priorities, informed by research, academic, and lived experiences.

To support the Board, staff, and other sections, I would: (1) Champion cross-section and cross-institution programming around climate, health, and environmental justice, drawing on prior collaborative AGU sessions and the GeoHealth Showcase—a joint effort between AGU and the American Meteorological Society that highlights cutting-edge science and shared challenges. (2) Promote open, policy-relevant science, using ongoing work on climate-related health impacts as examples of how Earth and space science can move from “usable to used.” (3) Help elevate diversity, equity, and inclusion and ethics by embedding equity, community vulnerability, and Indigenous and local knowledge considerations into section activities and AGU-wide initiatives.

Within the section, I would engage members through: (1) Regular listening sessions and brief surveys to identify priorities across career stages, with particular attention to students and early career scientists. (2)Co-created activities—town halls, mentoring networks, policy dialogues—that align member interests with the strategic plan’s goals on inclusive culture and partnership. (3) Clear, consistent communication that lifts up member achievements, shares resources, and outlines pathways to leadership.