Associate Professor , University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 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.

As SPA Solar-Heliospheric Physics section Secretary, I would bring the perspective of a scientist whose career has been built through collaboration between institutions with researchers across career stages.

My research connects spacecraft observations, analytic theory, and numerical simulations, and I have had the opportunity to contribute to both large mission teams, such as Parker Solar Probe and HelioSwarm, and smaller, focused research collaborations of a few people. These experiences have taught me the value of designing meeting structures that empower our broad community to effectively advance science.

Additionally, I also bring the perspective of a faculty mentor and teacher who cares deeply about supporting students and early career scientists. I have benefited from generous mentorship from our professional community, and would like to help sustain that culture within SPA and AGU more broadly. If elected, I would prioritize fair, thoughtful, and transparent stewardship of the section’s scientific program, with attention to disciplinary breadth, career-stage diversity, international participation, and balance between sub-disciplines.

Volunteer experience that you feel relates to this position:

My volunteer efforts have included AGU Fall Meeting session organization, National Science Foundation Solar, Heliospheric, and Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Steering Committee service, American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics Topical Group in Plasma Astrophysics Executive Committee leadership, Parker Solar Probe Science Working Group organization, and International Space Science Institute team/workshop leadership. These roles have given me experience reviewing session proposals, building balanced scientific programs, supporting early career participation, and coordinating across observational, theoretical, and computational specialties in the Heliophysics community. These experiences will inform my service as Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) Solar-Heliospheric Physics section Secretary.

The section secretary role is determined by individual sections. If needed, the secretary might be asked to serve as an alternate to the president or president-elect at a Council meeting.

As part of the section leadership team, how will you work in partnership with your president, president-elect, other leaders, and staff to communicate with and engage your members to achieve AGU’s vision, values, mission, and goals?

Solar and heliospheric physicists form a broad community that advances science through complementary approaches: pencil-and-paper theory, numerical simulation, spacecraft data analysis, and instrumentation and mission development. As SPA Solar-Heliospheric Physics Secretary, I would work with the SPA executive committee and AGU staff to ensure that this breadth is reflected in our communication with members and how we organize scientific programming.

In selecting and scheduling the SPA sessions for the Fall AGU meeting, my approach would be driven by our division's needs. I would work with section leadership and AGU staff to build balanced programs that represent the full range of SPA science and highlight new advances in our field and new opportunities to collaborate with researchers outside our discipline with cross-listed sessions.

A central motivation for my professional service has been helping scientists collaborate on shared problems across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. Space physics, astrophysics, and plasma physics often study the same processes in different environments, but results in these disciplines can remain separated by conferences, journals, and community boundaries. Through my roles in AGU and other professional organizations, I have worked to create spaces where scientists with overlapping research interest can interact, even when then are formally from different disciplines. I would bring that same spirit to SPA, supporting our community's broad science that advances AGU’s mission.