Associate Professor of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 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.

I am deeply committed to maintaining an open and inclusive environment within the geosciences, valuing different perspectives and voices from across AGU's membership. As part of this commitment I have sought to contribute to enhancing diversity and representation in the geosciences by providing research and educational opportunities to students from diverse backgrounds. I have run a course on data visualization and numerical modeling for the past few years, which heavily draws students from minority serving institutions. I have also offered numerous summer undergraduate research experiences, again drawing from a diverse pool of applicants. Working at a major state university means I also see students from a wide range of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds, which further enforces the importance of valuing diversity and inclusion and a wide range of voices and perspectives. If elected I would bring this commitment to my role in the Studies of the Earth's Deep Interior (SEDI) section, making sure the AGU meeting and all associated section events are open and inclusive environments.

Volunteer experience that you feel relates to this position:

Director of the Penn State Planetary System Science Center. Duties: Facilitate planetary science research through administering seed funding and running collaboration workshops. Professor in charge of the Penn State Astrobiology dual title Ph.D. program. Duties: Manage student enrollment and progress through the program, arrange class teaching schedule, oversee program changes through Penn State's curriculum review process. Member of organizing committee for the 2022 Cooperative Institute for Dynamic Earth Research (CIDER) program. Duties: Helped plan program and lineup of invited speakers.

Section presidents and presidents-elect serve as members of the AGU Council and lead their sections. The AGU Council is a diverse forum of perspectives that meets throughout the year to provide input to the AGU Board, staff, and other parts of the organization. Three communities within the Council - committee chairs, section leaders, and students and early career scientists - serve different roles in AGU and bring unique viewpoints to ongoing discussions.

This role aims to catalyze community and build AGU as envisioned by the strategic plan. This leadership position is a dual role: helping to advance AGU’s strategic plan as a member of Council; and leading your section. How would you support the Board, staff and other sections to achieve AGU’s vision, values, mission, and goals? How will you engage with members of your section to execute AGU’s strategic plan?

AGU's vision, values, mission, and goals center around continuing to promote geosciences research of the highest quality and at the frontiers of human knowledge. In particular, the importance of broad collaboration to advance both discovery and solution based science addressing the world's most pressing scientific and societal challenges is an integral part of AGU's strategic plan. If elected as president-elect of the Study of Earth's Deep Interior section, I will work to forge strong connections between SEDI and other sections within AGU by, for example, encouraging interdisciplinary sessions at the AGU meeting. SEDI research informs research in geochemistry and volcanology, planetary science, and long-term Earth evolution, including influences on the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere over a range of time and spatial scales. I will work to highlight these collaborative scientific topics that include both discovery and solution based science. The AGU strategic plan also highlights the importance of addressing current societal challenges. SEDI research is an integral part of addressing these challenges, connecting to issues such as critical minerals, geothermal energy, and climate change to name a few. I will ensure that these topics are highlighted and have a clear home within the SEDI section. Finally, AGU plays a major role in promoting the next generation of geoscientists. I view this as one of the most important roles of an AGU section, and will maintain and enhance programs that support early career scientists. This includes networking and mentoring events at the AGU meeting and beyond.