Deputy Director, U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System Office, NOAA, Department of Commerce, Silver Spring, MD, USA

AGU embraces the global community and welcomes diverse leaders from around the world, 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 any other identity you feel comfortable sharing.

I am a white, female oceanographer. I grew up in northern New Jersey and my parents are/were both white. I have always lived on the East Coast of the United States. I studied chemistry at Moravian University in Bethlehem, PA, received my Ph.D. from the College of William and Mary/Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), and did a post-doctoral fellowship at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah, GA. Throughout my career, my experience as a woman in science has been positive, starting with my graduate work at VIMS. My Ph.D. adviser was a woman and my committee was comprised of three women and my graduate program was predominantly women. This gave me confidence to grow and be a leader in traditionally male-dominated organizations. I currently live and work in Maryland at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration where I continue to support women having an active and equitable chance to succeed and lead in the ocean sciences (and beyond). I have served for nearly 20 years as a federal government employee with national programmatic experience within multiple line offices of NOAA and interagency committees.

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

Merit reviewer for National Science Foundation (NSF), Canadian Foundation for Innovation, NOAA/Ocean Acidification Program (ongoing, situational); NOAA representative to two White House Subcommittee for Ocean Science and Technology (SOST) interagency working groups: the Interagency Working Group for Ocean Acidification and the Integrated Ocean Observation Committee (IOOC) (ongoing); Climate Observing System Council (~2015-2017): provided advice to the Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program

This leadership position is a liaison role; it is one that aims to catalyze community and build AGU as envisioned by the strategic plan. How will you engage with members of your section to advance AGU’s strategic plan? How will you facilitate engagement with other sections and people outside AGU to support our mission?

Informatics is a cross-cutting and foundational component for all Earth and space sciences. Data continues to increase in volume, velocity, variety, variability, and veracity with expanding ways to visualize it and demonstrate value. Transforming data into actionable information is increasingly challenging in our world of big data. Innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence are critical in order to analyze and synthesize data within and across disciplines. Data standards are also essential to enable FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) and CARE (collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility, and ethics) data principles. I am excited for the opportunity to work within the Earth and Space Science Informatics (ESSI) section to continue to catalyze and bring the potential to expand the informatics communities to address these topics while supporting AGU’s overall strategic goals of discovery, inclusion, and partnership. As a liaison, I will connect with other sections across AGU to meet these objectives, either through joint sessions at conferences and other virtual events that are broadly accessible, or through communiqués and informational briefings where informatics may serve as a key supporting element. Equitable access to knowledge and information is an important lens for us to look through as we continue to innovate. Open science initiatives to democratize data are gaining traction. These efforts provide opportunities for ESSI and AGU to broaden our reach beyond AGU. I look forward to leveraging efforts in the peer reviewed literature and other professional societies to support research that will enable communities to more easily harness the power of data.

Section affiliations:

Biogeosciences; Earth and Space Science Informatics; Global Environmental Change; Ocean Sciences