Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

Beyond the normal volunteer paper/proposal/panel review experiences, I have had two significant volunteer roles. First, I was a panelist for the National Research Council's report on emerging Arctic research questions, resulting in the report "The Arctic in the Anthropocene." Second, for the past two years I have been one of two Cryosphere Working Group delegates to the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), participating in working group meetings and the IASC Council.

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?

The 2020 AGU strategic plan is clear and concise. As a president-elect and president, I plan to actively engage with the cryosphere community to advance this plan. First and foremost in communication, I believe in two-way dialogue. Thus, while measures like posts to community listservs and social media are an important means for promoting awareness, the real work of communicating and advancing the plan will be with individuals. To this end, I intend to emphasize the personal connection we each have with one another and with AGU, as the important factor in implementing this plan is not how many people have seen or read the plan but how many people understand and agree with it. So, for example, in addition to extensive discussions at meetings, look for "section leaders office hours" at upcoming meetings, where the section leadership can be found in a central location to engage with all comers in a welcoming environment.

Engaging outside of AGU can sometimes be a challenge, in part because of AGU’s high profile in Earth and space science research societies. But I plan to make use of my engagement with the international community through my participation in the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), with annual international meetings and a significant online presence through Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) collaborations.

Section affiliations:
Cryosphere