Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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 identify as a cisgender white woman, and solely increasing the inclusion and visibility of my demographic is not critical to achieving justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in our community. I recognize this and have been exploring the ways this makes me feel uncomfortable but thoughtful, especially as women have historically not been included in the representative majority in the field. However, this fuels me to support and amplify the voices of my colleagues who perhaps truly are not included in the overrepresented majority within our community. I vow to learn and unlearn on this path to an inclusive community and will bring that passion to the AGU Board. I additionally identify as an early career researcher, which while respecting the journey and perspective of my senior colleagues, brings an added and important perspective of growth, innovation, and willingness to change to the community. It has been said that “AGU is not American, not a group of geophysicists, and not a union,” but here we are, with this extremely large and global group of folks that keep up their membership and participation in a society that perhaps doesn’t represent them in a forward-facing way. It’s an incredible opportunity, and I will work to sustain it.

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

I volunteered with AGU for the last 9 years (Council, Centennial Committee, and now the Publications Committee, and the Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology early career working group), bringing an early career perspective to the table as AGU builds their strategy and makes decisions to both support its members in the now and sustain it in the future. During university/grad school, I served student council positions for ~7 years total. I have really enjoyed learning and growing through leadership.

The AGU strategic plan presents a bold and visionary direction for the organization. Board members must work together with each other, other volunteer leaders, and staff to play a key role 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? As a Board member how would you partner with others to implement the strategic plan?

I think the revitalized strategic plan of 2020 is a great representation of how AGU can evolve, keeping us poised for changes into the next few decades. Also, anything with the word “society” as it relates to AGU science sets off an internal spark for me. AGU resources are already being used towards developing solutions (e.g., Thriving Earth Exchange, AGU LANDinG), and our mission is growing. Yet not every Earth/space scientist wants to place their science in the context of society, but we know this is critical. The progress of our science is dependent on trans- and interdisciplinary work. We must work with all types of researchers in harmony, and AGU can provide this space through meetings and publications while addressing all three strategic goals. Although global, we have challenges that involve a very western Europe/North American focused dominance, but it is clear that the future of Earth sciences is not so limited. We must work to increase our partnerships with other groups and societies from regions such as South America, Asia, Africa, and India. Perhaps this means AGU increases its partnerships with international universities or organizations? Or we work to establish more official committees that represent a region? Additionally, I can see our work expanding engagement within the nonacademic sector, building and providing platforms to promote more partnerships in our community. As a Board member, I would work hard to build partnerships and relationships with international folks in and beyond the traditional academic community to implement the strategic plan.