Associate Deputy Director of Earth Sciences for Hydrosphere, Biosphere and Geophysics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

AGU: chair, Ad Hoc Committee for Technical Committee Chair Terms of Reference (2018); Program Committee, Chapman Conference on Remote Sensing of the Terrestrial Water Cycle (2012); chair, Hydrology section Fall Program Committee (2011); co-chair, Hydrology section Fall Meeting Program Committee (2009-2010); chair, Hydrology Remote Sensing Technical Committee (2006-2007) and active participant (2000-present). Other: Advisory Council, The University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences (2019-present); editor, Journal of Hydrometeorology (2017-present); associate editor, Journal of Hydrology (2012-2015).

As one of the elected leaders of your section, how will you partner with your president and president-elect to communicate with and engage your members to help implement AGU’s new strategic plan including its mission and vision?

I’m excited just to have been nominated for Hydrology section secretary. I’ve been an active member and Fall Meeting attendee since 1996. I chaired the section’s Fall Meeting Program Committee in 2011, so I’m aware of all the behind-the-scenes effort it takes to make it successful. The science generated by AGU members is amazing, but the challenges we face continue to grow: communicating the consequences of climate change, pollution and population growth while weathering assaults on science itself; adapting our lives, work and methods of collaboration to a global pandemic; and redoubling our efforts to increase equity and inclusivity. AGU’s new strategic plan is good, but it’s obvious that it was written before recent events. Making the 2020 Fall Meeting a success will be AGU’s biggest test yet. As secretary, I believe it will be important to review what worked and what didn’t so that we are better prepared for future virtual events. Addressing racial inequity undoubtedly will be the top priority for AGU leadership in the coming years. Discrimination and bias are antithetical to science; thus, AGU should be a leader in stamping them out. We know we still have work to do. Two steps the section can take are to ensure that our panels, committees and lists of candidates and reviewers contain the diversity to which we aspire; and continually to encourage our members to participate in minority-friendly STEM events and outreach, to partner with minority-serving institutions and to be proactive in the recruitment of individuals from underrepresented groups.

Section affiliations:

Biogeosciences; Cryosphere Sciences; Geodesy; Global Environmental Change; Hydrology