Information Systems Specialist and Director of the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

Council of Data Facilities: assembly chair 2018-present, vice-chair 2016-2017; National Science Foundation (NSF) EarthCube: Leadership Council member, 2014-2016, Strategic Visioning Team member, 2012; Earth and Space Information Partners (ESIP): Nominations Committee chair 2019; Partnership Committee chair, Executive Board member, 2015-2017; repository representative 2014-2015; AGU: Fall Meeting Outstanding Student Presentation Awards, 2014; Enabling FAIR Data Project Repository Targeted Adoption Group co-chair 2017-2018; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Informatics Advisory Group member, 2017-present.

Council members play critical roles as communication conduits among AGU members and leaders. How will you engage with members of your section to advance AGU’s new strategic plan? How might you facilitate engagement with other sections and people outside AGU to support our mission?

As a “new normal” emerges, our ability to engage on personal and professional levels is being challenged. Although Earth and Space Science Informatics (ESSI) is already well poised to support AGU’s strategic plan, the trick will be to find novel ways to engage section members. By leveraging relationships cultivated through community service, I can engage with members through new “virtual opportunities” to explore ways that use AGU’s existing framework to promulgate topics such as technologies, standards and best practices that facilitate open data in support scientific discovery; educating a diverse and inclusive next-generation, data-savvy workforce; and forming partnerships that help elevate data and infuse technologies into Earth and space sciences across a variety of sectors.

Scientific discovery is intrinsically reliant upon the creation, management and interpretation of data. This truth spans scientific disciplines and underpins the value of all stakeholders in the process of obtaining knowledge from observations. ESSI seeks to address issues that challenge this process. Although a comparatively young section, it has cultivated strong partnerships with external communities like ESIP that serve as forums for collaboratively developing solutions to data and computational challenges. From innovative session topics that invite cross-section participation to developing novel programs akin to the successful Data FAIR and Ignite@AGU that draw on and engage a wide variety of stakeholders, I look forward to working with ESSI on new ways to promote its discoveries and innovation; support a diverse, inclusive and collaborative research culture; and forge new partnerships that support research aimed at addressing societal challenges.

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