Deputy Director / VP for Science and Engineering, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 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.

This question speaks directly to the value system I have followed throughout my professional career and personal life. In my experience, the best outcomes happen when all voices are heard. At Boston University, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, I have worked at many institutional scales to create cultures of responsibility, accountability, and transparency. In addition to developing and implementing policies about such matters, I have also embraced the role of being an advocate for those with less prominent platforms than I. As a Board member with AGU, I helped formulate the strategic plan, which has key components of integrity, respect, and diversity prominently incorporated in its fabric. I have also held elected and appointed positions in local and state government, in which I had the opportunity to learn from a variety of constituents with diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and who bring to the table perspectives that often have provided the key components of problem-solving. These experiences have contributed significantly to my national leadership in issues regarding respect and conduct; ethics; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) writ large; and a commitment to work productively with my fellow citizens of the planet.

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

In addition to being on the AGU Board for the past several years, I have held unpaid elected and appointed positions in local and state government (e.g., Selectman, Waterways Commission) and have also helped with the Society for Women in Marine Science (Board of Directors), the Sea Education Association (Trustee and many committees), and The Oceanography Society (as Councilor and as inaugural Chair of their Ethics Committee).

The AGU strategic plan presents a bold and visionary direction for the organization. The President and President-elect are key partners in leading the Board and Council in implementing the strategic plan. What aspects of the strategic plan do you find most exciting? What do you see as the challenges in implementing the strategic plan and how would you approach these challenges?

As a Board member who participated in the formulation and writing of the strategic plan, it ranks as one of the highlights of my career. Indeed, my institution recently completed its own “Vision Plan,” and the AGU process and outcome significantly influenced my thinking there as well.

The second paragraph of the “Rising to the Challenge” section excites me perhaps the most, as I believe that it provides the critical underpinnings of the strategic plan’s three goals — both individually and collectively. Wording in this paragraph includes “a deep commitment to discovery sciences,” “benefit of humanity and the environment,” and “build broad and inclusive partnerships to help solve society’s most complex problems.” There is reference to behavior, conduct, and values: “ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities,” and finally, an encompassing view of science: “accelerating both discovery and solution-based science.” In summary, I find that paragraph invigorating.

It is also challenging. In the same passage is a key sentence: “Scientific knowledge is necessary, but it is unable to fulfill this mission on its own.” How do we do that? How does AGU lead not only its community of scholars, but the global community at large? To me, there are multiple answers, including but not limited to (a) partnerships, as AGU certainly cannot take on these challenges alone, (b) rigor, as AGU’s most visible avenues of productivity and visibility include publications and meetings that provide the venue for deep scientific discourse, and (c) growth, in order to expand our sphere of influence to become more truly global, to welcome members from new sectors (government, industry, other nonprofits), and to take advantage of the growing global interest in Earth, space, and ocean sciences and their critical importance to society at large.

Finally, I find the graphical presentation, and in particular its nonhierarchal pie slices, of the strategic plan’s three goals to be powerful, as it emphasizes the “critical underpinnings” nature of “Rising to the Challenge” — it does not matter where one starts when viewing the diagram to consider the goals. No matter how noble each of them may be, none of them are sufficient in and of itself.