
Science and Society Section Team Award
Information on the Award
Examples of types of projects that would be eligible for this award include, but are not limited to: citizen science projects, research-to-practice or operations projects, and co-production driven research. The award recognizes both the scientific knowledge produced and effort and resources needed to ensure it is valued by those best suited to be informed by and use the research products.

Award Benefits
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1Award certificate
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2Recognition at the AGU Fall Meeting during the award presentation year
Eligibility
Nominator eligibility
- AGU membership is not required for the nominator and co-nominator.
- The following individuals are not eligible to be a nominator or co-nominator for the award during their term(s) of service:
- AGU President;
- AGU President-elect;
- Council Leadership Team;
- Honors and Recognition Committee;
- Science and Society Team Award selection committee;
- Science and Society Section leadership, and
- All full-time AGU staff.
Nominee Eligibility
- Active AGU membership is not required for the nominee.
- This is a team-based award (2 or more individuals). Members should be listed and their roles described. Eligibility criteria require the articulation and details regarding roles and responsibility of research team members, which can include both traditional research roles and non-traditional research roles fulfilled by users of the scientific knowledge or products.
- No limitations on experience or career status are imposed on the team requirements, although diversity in experience (both in academic and in implementation and practice) is desirable.
- The lead (first) team member is only eligible to receive this award once every three years as the listed lead; they remain eligible for the award as a non-lead team member in all future years. Other team members who served on a team receiving the award are eligible to be nominated again for the award in all future years. If a past award recipient is nominated for the award again, it must be for a different body of work.
- The following individuals are ineligible to be nominated during their term(s) of service:
- AGU President;
- AGU President-elect;
- Council Leadership Team;
- Honors and Recognition Committee;
- Science and Society Team Award selection committee;
- Science and Society Section leadership, and
- All full-time AGU staff.
Relationships to a Nominee
The following relationships need to be identified and communicated to the award selection committee but will not disqualify individuals from participating in the nomination or committee review process. These apply to committee members, nominators, and supporters:
- Current dean, departmental chair, supervisor, supervisee, laboratory director, an individual with whom one has a current business or financial relationship (e.g., business partner, employer, employee);
- Research collaborator or co-author within the last three years; and/or
- An individual working at the same institution or having accepted a position at the same institution.
Individuals with the following relationships are disqualified from participating in the award nomination process as a nominator or supporter:
- Family member, spouse, or partner.
- A previous graduate (Master’s or Ph.D.) and/or postdoctoral advisor, or postdoctoral fellow may not write a nomination letter but may write a supporting letter after five years of terminating their relationship with the nominee beginning on 1 January after the year the relationship was terminated.
- A former doctoral or graduate student, or a former postdoctoral fellow may not write a nomination letter for a former advisor but may write a supporting letter after five years of terminating their relationship with the nominee beginning on 1 January after the year the relationship was terminated.
Supporter Eligibility
- Active AGU membership is not required for supporters.
- The following individuals are not eligible to be a supporter for the award during their term(s) of service:
- AGU President;
- AGU President-elect;
- Council Leadership Team;
- Honors and Recognition Committee;
- Science and Society Team Award selection committee;
- Science and Society Section leadership, and
- All full-time AGU staff.
Nomination Package
Your nomination package must contain all of the following files, which should be no more than two pages in length per document:
- Nomination letter: The letter should describe the scope of a collaborative project team composed of researchers and their partners representing both scientific and societal interests, a statement of the roles and responsibilities of various team members and organizations involved, and a statement of the realized or expected societal impact of the work. The nomination letter should also include:
- Statement of Scientific Outcomes and Impact: A description of scientific outputs (e.g., manuscripts, articles, communications, pamphlets, guidance), tools or other products (e.g., websites, user interfaces, decision support, etc.), and societal impacts (e.g., increased technical or administrative capacity, how it addressed an acute or chronic problem) is requested.
- (Optional): Other supporting materials that document and provide evidence of the impact of the team and the project may be attached to the nomination letter. These may include, but are not limited to, newspaper articles, magazine articles, workshop proceedings, etc.
- Supporting letters: A minimum of three letters of support, but no more than five, should be submitted. The nominator should seek letters that illustrate the scientific and technical elements of the project, the role and contributions of the team, and the value of collaboration in advancing science and societal impact.
- Supporting files: Description and link to published work (e.g., papers, reports, tool, website, software, dataset)
Criteria
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1Impact: To illustrate this, the nomination can describe the realized or expected impacts of the completed or ongoing collaborative project, including: advances in scientific understanding, the societal benefits of the research, and the values of including both the users and producers of the research in the development and implementation of the project.
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2Inclusive & Equitable: To illustrate this, the nomination can describe how team members, across career-levels and organizations, were involved in problem identification and articulation, research design, research project implementation, and transfer of knowledge and technology; describe how the project considered the distribution of potential risks, costs, benefits, and financial resources through all phases and after the completion of the project; describe how vulnerable or marginalized perspectives were included in different phases of the project, including from team members of underrepresented communities.
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3Actionable: to illustrate this, the nomination can describe how the process of carrying out the research and the outputs resulted in increased capacity to improve decisions and/or knowledge.
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4Sustainable: to illustrate this, the nomination can describe how the team and project design fostered continuous knowledge creation and activities that can be sustained over time that result in societal benefit.

Nominations are Open!

Recipients

Nathan Acosta
Team Name: USA National Phenology Network (NPN) National Coordination Office (NCO). The team members are Theresa Crimmins, Director; Erin Posthumus, Outreach Coordinator and US Fish & Wildlife Service Liaison; Alyssa Rosemartin, Partner & Application Specialist; Samantha Brewer, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator; Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator; Jeff Switzer, Systems Analyst; Nathan Acosta, Web Developer

Samantha Brewer
Team Name: USA National Phenology Network (NPN) National Coordination Office (NCO). The team members are Theresa Crimmins, Director; Erin Posthumus, Outreach Coordinator and US Fish & Wildlife Service Liaison; Alyssa Rosemartin, Partner & Application Specialist; Samantha Brewer, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator; Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator; Jeff Switzer, Systems Analyst; Nathan Acosta, Web Developer

Theresa M Crimmins
Team Name: USA National Phenology Network (NPN) National Coordination Office (NCO). The team members are Theresa Crimmins, Director; Erin Posthumus, Outreach Coordinator and US Fish & Wildlife Service Liaison; Alyssa Rosemartin, Partner & Application Specialist; Samantha Brewer, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator; Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator; Jeff Switzer, Systems Analyst; Nathan Acosta, Web Developer

Ellen Denny
Team Name: USA National Phenology Network (NPN) National Coordination Office (NCO). The team members are Theresa Crimmins, Director; Erin Posthumus, Outreach Coordinator and US Fish & Wildlife Service Liaison; Alyssa Rosemartin, Partner & Application Specialist; Samantha Brewer, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator; Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator; Jeff Switzer, Systems Analyst; Nathan Acosta, Web Developer

Erin Posthumus
Team Name: USA National Phenology Network (NPN) National Coordination Office (NCO). The team members are Theresa Crimmins, Director; Erin Posthumus, Outreach Coordinator and US Fish & Wildlife Service Liaison; Alyssa Rosemartin, Partner & Application Specialist; Samantha Brewer, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator; Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator; Jeff Switzer, Systems Analyst; Nathan Acosta, Web Developer

Alyssa Rosemartin
Team Name: USA National Phenology Network (NPN) National Coordination Office (NCO). The team members are Theresa Crimmins, Director; Erin Posthumus, Outreach Coordinator and US Fish & Wildlife Service Liaison; Alyssa Rosemartin, Partner & Application Specialist; Samantha Brewer, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator; Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator; Jeff Switzer, Systems Analyst; Nathan Acosta, Web Developer

Jeff Switzer
Team Name: USA National Phenology Network (NPN) National Coordination Office (NCO). The team members are Theresa Crimmins, Director; Erin Posthumus, Outreach Coordinator and US Fish & Wildlife Service Liaison; Alyssa Rosemartin, Partner & Application Specialist; Samantha Brewer, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator; Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator; Jeff Switzer, Systems Analyst; Nathan Acosta, Web Developer

USA - National Phenology Team
Team Name: USA National Phenology Network (NPN) National Coordination Office (NCO). The team members are Theresa Crimmins, Director; Erin Posthumus, Outreach Coordinator and US Fish & Wildlife Service Liaison; Alyssa Rosemartin, Partner & Application Specialist; Samantha Brewer, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator; Ellen Denny, Monitoring Design & Data Coordinator; Jeff Switzer, Systems Analyst; Nathan Acosta, Web Developer

Kasey Aderhold
Citation
URGE, or Unlearning Racism in Geoscience, is a program to help geoscientists develop antiracist policies that improve accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The URGE team all embrace the concept of “science and society,” and most members are early-career scholars. The team currently includes Vashan Wright, Gabriel Duran, Carlene Burton, Stephanie Madsen, and Kasey Aderhold; in 2020–2021, Phoebe Cohen and Onjalé Scott Price were also URGE leaders. Together these scholars created, designed, funded, and launched the URGE curriculum, providing the geoscience community with a framework for learning about and implementing inclusive and antiracist policies at their institutions. The curriculum and a host of invaluable resources can be found on the URGE website (https://urgeoscience.org/). The team also facilitated discussions with geoscientists of color to build community and create affinity spaces. The URGE program perfectly captures the criteria of this award; the team’s efforts are impactful, inclusive, equitable, actionable, and sustainable. The URGE vision has resonated with the global geoscience community, and the program’s impact has already been tremendous. URGE brought together teachers, students, researchers, professional geoscientists, and administrators to tackle issues of inequity in the Earth and space sciences. At the time of nomination, URGE had 310 “pods” representing 3,920 participants from institutions across the United States and internationally. Webinar attendance was consistently more than 500 people. URGE is not a “journal club” but instead focuses on a curriculum that can lead to actionable change. Each pod reads, watches, learns, and discusses topics and then develops deliverables ranging from compiling information about the equity (or lack thereof), policies, and resources at a pod’s home institution to drafting new codes of conduct or hiring practices at the institution. In this way, URGE provides the foundations for true structural reform to address inequities in the geosciences, specifically racism. I would encourage everyone to read the medium articles about URGE as well as the upcoming manuscript about the “lessons learned” from URGE (EarthArXiv: https://doi.org/10.31223/X56S6G). The program developed by the URGE team has had an immense impact on educating geoscientists about BeAJEDI (Belonging, Accessibility, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). The curriculum is a massive leap forward in combating racism in the geosciences, and the work continues as URGE transitions to the refinement phase in fall 2022. The URGE leaders’ efforts have already led to the education of thousands of geoscientists around the world! Congratulations to the URGE team for their richly deserved AGU Science and Society Section Team Award! —Rowan C. Martindale, University of Texas at Austin
Response
Thank you for recognizing Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) for the Science and Society Team Award from AGU! This award recognizes not just the tireless work of the URGE team but also the approximately 4,600 scientists who engage with and have made the program their own. I often say I won't know whether URGE is successful until most participating workplaces (pods) have implemented antiracist policies and resources that help achieve a more just discipline while reducing harm to geoscientists of color. Undoubtedly, I’ve set a very high bar for success. With this recognition, URGE is being encouraged to keep going, to keep striving, to keep moving toward that very high bar. With this recognition, I believe that AGU and the geoscience community recognize that we, the geoscience community, have not yet met this very high bar. Still, we are closer—now more knowledgeable, more diverse, and more inclusive because of URGE. So I am encouraged. With this award, I am encouraged that there is and always will be a place for placing the well-being of our fellow humans, notably the often excluded or historically marginalized, as central to the scientific exercise. I am encouraged that our vision to be part of a community that values, encourages, promotes, and achieves full participation of Black, brown, and Indigenous people can one day be a reality. I am encouraged that more people of color, like myself, will find their calling, vocation, and fulfillment in studying the Earth and planetary sciences. This, I believe, is one of the best reasons for improving geoscience diversity. Studying geoscience is great. Everyone should get to participate in that. So let’s keep working toward this. Again, URGE and I thank you. —Vashan Wright, on behalf of the URGE Team

Carlene Burton
Citation
URGE, or Unlearning Racism in Geoscience, is a program to help geoscientists develop antiracist policies that improve accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The URGE team all embrace the concept of “science and society,” and most members are early-career scholars. The team currently includes Vashan Wright, Gabriel Duran, Carlene Burton, Stephanie Madsen, and Kasey Aderhold; in 2020–2021, Phoebe Cohen and Onjalé Scott Price were also URGE leaders. Together these scholars created, designed, funded, and launched the URGE curriculum, providing the geoscience community with a framework for learning about and implementing inclusive and antiracist policies at their institutions. The curriculum and a host of invaluable resources can be found on the URGE website (https://urgeoscience.org/). The team also facilitated discussions with geoscientists of color to build community and create affinity spaces. The URGE program perfectly captures the criteria of this award; the team’s efforts are impactful, inclusive, equitable, actionable, and sustainable. The URGE vision has resonated with the global geoscience community, and the program’s impact has already been tremendous. URGE brought together teachers, students, researchers, professional geoscientists, and administrators to tackle issues of inequity in the Earth and space sciences. At the time of nomination, URGE had 310 “pods” representing 3,920 participants from institutions across the United States and internationally. Webinar attendance was consistently more than 500 people. URGE is not a “journal club” but instead focuses on a curriculum that can lead to actionable change. Each pod reads, watches, learns, and discusses topics and then develops deliverables ranging from compiling information about the equity (or lack thereof), policies, and resources at a pod’s home institution to drafting new codes of conduct or hiring practices at the institution. In this way, URGE provides the foundations for true structural reform to address inequities in the geosciences, specifically racism. I would encourage everyone to read the medium articles about URGE as well as the upcoming manuscript about the “lessons learned” from URGE (EarthArXiv: https://doi.org/10.31223/X56S6G). The program developed by the URGE team has had an immense impact on educating geoscientists about BeAJEDI (Belonging, Accessibility, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). The curriculum is a massive leap forward in combating racism in the geosciences, and the work continues as URGE transitions to the refinement phase in fall 2022. The URGE leaders’ efforts have already led to the education of thousands of geoscientists around the world! Congratulations to the URGE team for their richly deserved AGU Science and Society Section Team Award! —Rowan C. Martindale, University of Texas at Austin
Response
Thank you for recognizing Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) for the Science and Society Team Award from AGU! This award recognizes not just the tireless work of the URGE team but also the approximately 4,600 scientists who engage with and have made the program their own. I often say I won't know whether URGE is successful until most participating workplaces (pods) have implemented antiracist policies and resources that help achieve a more just discipline while reducing harm to geoscientists of color. Undoubtedly, I’ve set a very high bar for success. With this recognition, URGE is being encouraged to keep going, to keep striving, to keep moving toward that very high bar. With this recognition, I believe that AGU and the geoscience community recognize that we, the geoscience community, have not yet met this very high bar. Still, we are closer—now more knowledgeable, more diverse, and more inclusive because of URGE. So I am encouraged. With this award, I am encouraged that there is and always will be a place for placing the well-being of our fellow humans, notably the often excluded or historically marginalized, as central to the scientific exercise. I am encouraged that our vision to be part of a community that values, encourages, promotes, and achieves full participation of Black, brown, and Indigenous people can one day be a reality. I am encouraged that more people of color, like myself, will find their calling, vocation, and fulfillment in studying the Earth and planetary sciences. This, I believe, is one of the best reasons for improving geoscience diversity. Studying geoscience is great. Everyone should get to participate in that. So let’s keep working toward this. Again, URGE and I thank you. —Vashan Wright, on behalf of the URGE Team

Phoebe Cohen
Citation
URGE, or Unlearning Racism in Geoscience, is a program to help geoscientists develop antiracist policies that improve accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The URGE team all embrace the concept of “science and society,” and most members are early-career scholars. The team currently includes Vashan Wright, Gabriel Duran, Carlene Burton, Stephanie Madsen, and Kasey Aderhold; in 2020–2021, Phoebe Cohen and Onjalé Scott Price were also URGE leaders. Together these scholars created, designed, funded, and launched the URGE curriculum, providing the geoscience community with a framework for learning about and implementing inclusive and antiracist policies at their institutions. The curriculum and a host of invaluable resources can be found on the URGE website (https://urgeoscience.org/). The team also facilitated discussions with geoscientists of color to build community and create affinity spaces. The URGE program perfectly captures the criteria of this award; the team’s efforts are impactful, inclusive, equitable, actionable, and sustainable. The URGE vision has resonated with the global geoscience community, and the program’s impact has already been tremendous. URGE brought together teachers, students, researchers, professional geoscientists, and administrators to tackle issues of inequity in the Earth and space sciences. At the time of nomination, URGE had 310 “pods” representing 3,920 participants from institutions across the United States and internationally. Webinar attendance was consistently more than 500 people. URGE is not a “journal club” but instead focuses on a curriculum that can lead to actionable change. Each pod reads, watches, learns, and discusses topics and then develops deliverables ranging from compiling information about the equity (or lack thereof), policies, and resources at a pod’s home institution to drafting new codes of conduct or hiring practices at the institution. In this way, URGE provides the foundations for true structural reform to address inequities in the geosciences, specifically racism. I would encourage everyone to read the medium articles about URGE as well as the upcoming manuscript about the “lessons learned” from URGE (EarthArXiv: https://doi.org/10.31223/X56S6G). The program developed by the URGE team has had an immense impact on educating geoscientists about BeAJEDI (Belonging, Accessibility, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). The curriculum is a massive leap forward in combating racism in the geosciences, and the work continues as URGE transitions to the refinement phase in fall 2022. The URGE leaders’ efforts have already led to the education of thousands of geoscientists around the world! Congratulations to the URGE team for their richly deserved AGU Science and Society Section Team Award! —Rowan C. Martindale, University of Texas at Austin
Response
Thank you for recognizing Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) for the Science and Society Team Award from AGU! This award recognizes not just the tireless work of the URGE team but also the approximately 4,600 scientists who engage with and have made the program their own. I often say I won't know whether URGE is successful until most participating workplaces (pods) have implemented antiracist policies and resources that help achieve a more just discipline while reducing harm to geoscientists of color. Undoubtedly, I’ve set a very high bar for success. With this recognition, URGE is being encouraged to keep going, to keep striving, to keep moving toward that very high bar. With this recognition, I believe that AGU and the geoscience community recognize that we, the geoscience community, have not yet met this very high bar. Still, we are closer—now more knowledgeable, more diverse, and more inclusive because of URGE. So I am encouraged. With this award, I am encouraged that there is and always will be a place for placing the well-being of our fellow humans, notably the often excluded or historically marginalized, as central to the scientific exercise. I am encouraged that our vision to be part of a community that values, encourages, promotes, and achieves full participation of Black, brown, and Indigenous people can one day be a reality. I am encouraged that more people of color, like myself, will find their calling, vocation, and fulfillment in studying the Earth and planetary sciences. This, I believe, is one of the best reasons for improving geoscience diversity. Studying geoscience is great. Everyone should get to participate in that. So let’s keep working toward this. Again, URGE and I thank you. —Vashan Wright, on behalf of the URGE Team

Gabriel Duran
Citation
URGE, or Unlearning Racism in Geoscience, is a program to help geoscientists develop antiracist policies that improve accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The URGE team all embrace the concept of “science and society,” and most members are early-career scholars. The team currently includes Vashan Wright, Gabriel Duran, Carlene Burton, Stephanie Madsen, and Kasey Aderhold; in 2020–2021, Phoebe Cohen and Onjalé Scott Price were also URGE leaders. Together these scholars created, designed, funded, and launched the URGE curriculum, providing the geoscience community with a framework for learning about and implementing inclusive and antiracist policies at their institutions. The curriculum and a host of invaluable resources can be found on the URGE website (https://urgeoscience.org/). The team also facilitated discussions with geoscientists of color to build community and create affinity spaces. The URGE program perfectly captures the criteria of this award; the team’s efforts are impactful, inclusive, equitable, actionable, and sustainable. The URGE vision has resonated with the global geoscience community, and the program’s impact has already been tremendous. URGE brought together teachers, students, researchers, professional geoscientists, and administrators to tackle issues of inequity in the Earth and space sciences. At the time of nomination, URGE had 310 “pods” representing 3,920 participants from institutions across the United States and internationally. Webinar attendance was consistently more than 500 people. URGE is not a “journal club” but instead focuses on a curriculum that can lead to actionable change. Each pod reads, watches, learns, and discusses topics and then develops deliverables ranging from compiling information about the equity (or lack thereof), policies, and resources at a pod’s home institution to drafting new codes of conduct or hiring practices at the institution. In this way, URGE provides the foundations for true structural reform to address inequities in the geosciences, specifically racism. I would encourage everyone to read the medium articles about URGE as well as the upcoming manuscript about the “lessons learned” from URGE (EarthArXiv: https://doi.org/10.31223/X56S6G). The program developed by the URGE team has had an immense impact on educating geoscientists about BeAJEDI (Belonging, Accessibility, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). The curriculum is a massive leap forward in combating racism in the geosciences, and the work continues as URGE transitions to the refinement phase in fall 2022. The URGE leaders’ efforts have already led to the education of thousands of geoscientists around the world! Congratulations to the URGE team for their richly deserved AGU Science and Society Section Team Award! —Rowan C. Martindale, University of Texas at Austin
Response
Thank you for recognizing Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) for the Science and Society Team Award from AGU! This award recognizes not just the tireless work of the URGE team but also the approximately 4,600 scientists who engage with and have made the program their own. I often say I won't know whether URGE is successful until most participating workplaces (pods) have implemented antiracist policies and resources that help achieve a more just discipline while reducing harm to geoscientists of color. Undoubtedly, I’ve set a very high bar for success. With this recognition, URGE is being encouraged to keep going, to keep striving, to keep moving toward that very high bar. With this recognition, I believe that AGU and the geoscience community recognize that we, the geoscience community, have not yet met this very high bar. Still, we are closer—now more knowledgeable, more diverse, and more inclusive because of URGE. So I am encouraged. With this award, I am encouraged that there is and always will be a place for placing the well-being of our fellow humans, notably the often excluded or historically marginalized, as central to the scientific exercise. I am encouraged that our vision to be part of a community that values, encourages, promotes, and achieves full participation of Black, brown, and Indigenous people can one day be a reality. I am encouraged that more people of color, like myself, will find their calling, vocation, and fulfillment in studying the Earth and planetary sciences. This, I believe, is one of the best reasons for improving geoscience diversity. Studying geoscience is great. Everyone should get to participate in that. So let’s keep working toward this. Again, URGE and I thank you. —Vashan Wright, on behalf of the URGE Team

Stephanie Madsen
Citation
URGE, or Unlearning Racism in Geoscience, is a program to help geoscientists develop antiracist policies that improve accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The URGE team all embrace the concept of “science and society,” and most members are early-career scholars. The team currently includes Vashan Wright, Gabriel Duran, Carlene Burton, Stephanie Madsen, and Kasey Aderhold; in 2020–2021, Phoebe Cohen and Onjalé Scott Price were also URGE leaders. Together these scholars created, designed, funded, and launched the URGE curriculum, providing the geoscience community with a framework for learning about and implementing inclusive and antiracist policies at their institutions. The curriculum and a host of invaluable resources can be found on the URGE website (https://urgeoscience.org/). The team also facilitated discussions with geoscientists of color to build community and create affinity spaces. The URGE program perfectly captures the criteria of this award; the team’s efforts are impactful, inclusive, equitable, actionable, and sustainable. The URGE vision has resonated with the global geoscience community, and the program’s impact has already been tremendous. URGE brought together teachers, students, researchers, professional geoscientists, and administrators to tackle issues of inequity in the Earth and space sciences. At the time of nomination, URGE had 310 “pods” representing 3,920 participants from institutions across the United States and internationally. Webinar attendance was consistently more than 500 people. URGE is not a “journal club” but instead focuses on a curriculum that can lead to actionable change. Each pod reads, watches, learns, and discusses topics and then develops deliverables ranging from compiling information about the equity (or lack thereof), policies, and resources at a pod’s home institution to drafting new codes of conduct or hiring practices at the institution. In this way, URGE provides the foundations for true structural reform to address inequities in the geosciences, specifically racism. I would encourage everyone to read the medium articles about URGE as well as the upcoming manuscript about the “lessons learned” from URGE (EarthArXiv: https://doi.org/10.31223/X56S6G). The program developed by the URGE team has had an immense impact on educating geoscientists about BeAJEDI (Belonging, Accessibility, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). The curriculum is a massive leap forward in combating racism in the geosciences, and the work continues as URGE transitions to the refinement phase in fall 2022. The URGE leaders’ efforts have already led to the education of thousands of geoscientists around the world! Congratulations to the URGE team for their richly deserved AGU Science and Society Section Team Award! —Rowan C. Martindale, University of Texas at Austin
Response
Thank you for recognizing Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) for the Science and Society Team Award from AGU! This award recognizes not just the tireless work of the URGE team but also the approximately 4,600 scientists who engage with and have made the program their own. I often say I won't know whether URGE is successful until most participating workplaces (pods) have implemented antiracist policies and resources that help achieve a more just discipline while reducing harm to geoscientists of color. Undoubtedly, I’ve set a very high bar for success. With this recognition, URGE is being encouraged to keep going, to keep striving, to keep moving toward that very high bar. With this recognition, I believe that AGU and the geoscience community recognize that we, the geoscience community, have not yet met this very high bar. Still, we are closer—now more knowledgeable, more diverse, and more inclusive because of URGE. So I am encouraged. With this award, I am encouraged that there is and always will be a place for placing the well-being of our fellow humans, notably the often excluded or historically marginalized, as central to the scientific exercise. I am encouraged that our vision to be part of a community that values, encourages, promotes, and achieves full participation of Black, brown, and Indigenous people can one day be a reality. I am encouraged that more people of color, like myself, will find their calling, vocation, and fulfillment in studying the Earth and planetary sciences. This, I believe, is one of the best reasons for improving geoscience diversity. Studying geoscience is great. Everyone should get to participate in that. So let’s keep working toward this. Again, URGE and I thank you. —Vashan Wright, on behalf of the URGE Team

Onjalé Scott Price
Citation
URGE, or Unlearning Racism in Geoscience, is a program to help geoscientists develop antiracist policies that improve accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The URGE team all embrace the concept of “science and society,” and most members are early-career scholars. The team currently includes Vashan Wright, Gabriel Duran, Carlene Burton, Stephanie Madsen, and Kasey Aderhold; in 2020–2021, Phoebe Cohen and Onjalé Scott Price were also URGE leaders. Together these scholars created, designed, funded, and launched the URGE curriculum, providing the geoscience community with a framework for learning about and implementing inclusive and antiracist policies at their institutions. The curriculum and a host of invaluable resources can be found on the URGE website (https://urgeoscience.org/). The team also facilitated discussions with geoscientists of color to build community and create affinity spaces. The URGE program perfectly captures the criteria of this award; the team’s efforts are impactful, inclusive, equitable, actionable, and sustainable. The URGE vision has resonated with the global geoscience community, and the program’s impact has already been tremendous. URGE brought together teachers, students, researchers, professional geoscientists, and administrators to tackle issues of inequity in the Earth and space sciences. At the time of nomination, URGE had 310 “pods” representing 3,920 participants from institutions across the United States and internationally. Webinar attendance was consistently more than 500 people. URGE is not a “journal club” but instead focuses on a curriculum that can lead to actionable change. Each pod reads, watches, learns, and discusses topics and then develops deliverables ranging from compiling information about the equity (or lack thereof), policies, and resources at a pod’s home institution to drafting new codes of conduct or hiring practices at the institution. In this way, URGE provides the foundations for true structural reform to address inequities in the geosciences, specifically racism. I would encourage everyone to read the medium articles about URGE as well as the upcoming manuscript about the “lessons learned” from URGE (EarthArXiv: https://doi.org/10.31223/X56S6G). The program developed by the URGE team has had an immense impact on educating geoscientists about BeAJEDI (Belonging, Accessibility, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). The curriculum is a massive leap forward in combating racism in the geosciences, and the work continues as URGE transitions to the refinement phase in fall 2022. The URGE leaders’ efforts have already led to the education of thousands of geoscientists around the world! Congratulations to the URGE team for their richly deserved AGU Science and Society Section Team Award! —Rowan C. Martindale, University of Texas at Austin
Response
Thank you for recognizing Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) for the Science and Society Team Award from AGU! This award recognizes not just the tireless work of the URGE team but also the approximately 4,600 scientists who engage with and have made the program their own. I often say I won't know whether URGE is successful until most participating workplaces (pods) have implemented antiracist policies and resources that help achieve a more just discipline while reducing harm to geoscientists of color. Undoubtedly, I’ve set a very high bar for success. With this recognition, URGE is being encouraged to keep going, to keep striving, to keep moving toward that very high bar. With this recognition, I believe that AGU and the geoscience community recognize that we, the geoscience community, have not yet met this very high bar. Still, we are closer—now more knowledgeable, more diverse, and more inclusive because of URGE. So I am encouraged. With this award, I am encouraged that there is and always will be a place for placing the well-being of our fellow humans, notably the often excluded or historically marginalized, as central to the scientific exercise. I am encouraged that our vision to be part of a community that values, encourages, promotes, and achieves full participation of Black, brown, and Indigenous people can one day be a reality. I am encouraged that more people of color, like myself, will find their calling, vocation, and fulfillment in studying the Earth and planetary sciences. This, I believe, is one of the best reasons for improving geoscience diversity. Studying geoscience is great. Everyone should get to participate in that. So let’s keep working toward this. Again, URGE and I thank you. —Vashan Wright, on behalf of the URGE Team

Vashan Wright
Citation
URGE, or Unlearning Racism in Geoscience, is a program to help geoscientists develop antiracist policies that improve accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The URGE team all embrace the concept of “science and society,” and most members are early-career scholars. The team currently includes Vashan Wright, Gabriel Duran, Carlene Burton, Stephanie Madsen, and Kasey Aderhold; in 2020–2021, Phoebe Cohen and Onjalé Scott Price were also URGE leaders. Together these scholars created, designed, funded, and launched the URGE curriculum, providing the geoscience community with a framework for learning about and implementing inclusive and antiracist policies at their institutions. The curriculum and a host of invaluable resources can be found on the URGE website (https://urgeoscience.org/). The team also facilitated discussions with geoscientists of color to build community and create affinity spaces. The URGE program perfectly captures the criteria of this award; the team’s efforts are impactful, inclusive, equitable, actionable, and sustainable. The URGE vision has resonated with the global geoscience community, and the program’s impact has already been tremendous. URGE brought together teachers, students, researchers, professional geoscientists, and administrators to tackle issues of inequity in the Earth and space sciences. At the time of nomination, URGE had 310 “pods” representing 3,920 participants from institutions across the United States and internationally. Webinar attendance was consistently more than 500 people. URGE is not a “journal club” but instead focuses on a curriculum that can lead to actionable change. Each pod reads, watches, learns, and discusses topics and then develops deliverables ranging from compiling information about the equity (or lack thereof), policies, and resources at a pod’s home institution to drafting new codes of conduct or hiring practices at the institution. In this way, URGE provides the foundations for true structural reform to address inequities in the geosciences, specifically racism. I would encourage everyone to read the medium articles about URGE as well as the upcoming manuscript about the “lessons learned” from URGE (EarthArXiv: https://doi.org/10.31223/X56S6G). The program developed by the URGE team has had an immense impact on educating geoscientists about BeAJEDI (Belonging, Accessibility, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). The curriculum is a massive leap forward in combating racism in the geosciences, and the work continues as URGE transitions to the refinement phase in fall 2022. The URGE leaders’ efforts have already led to the education of thousands of geoscientists around the world! Congratulations to the URGE team for their richly deserved AGU Science and Society Section Team Award! —Rowan C. Martindale, University of Texas at Austin
Response
Thank you for recognizing Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) for the Science and Society Team Award from AGU! This award recognizes not just the tireless work of the URGE team but also the approximately 4,600 scientists who engage with and have made the program their own. I often say I won't know whether URGE is successful until most participating workplaces (pods) have implemented antiracist policies and resources that help achieve a more just discipline while reducing harm to geoscientists of color. Undoubtedly, I’ve set a very high bar for success. With this recognition, URGE is being encouraged to keep going, to keep striving, to keep moving toward that very high bar. With this recognition, I believe that AGU and the geoscience community recognize that we, the geoscience community, have not yet met this very high bar. Still, we are closer—now more knowledgeable, more diverse, and more inclusive because of URGE. So I am encouraged. With this award, I am encouraged that there is and always will be a place for placing the well-being of our fellow humans, notably the often excluded or historically marginalized, as central to the scientific exercise. I am encouraged that our vision to be part of a community that values, encourages, promotes, and achieves full participation of Black, brown, and Indigenous people can one day be a reality. I am encouraged that more people of color, like myself, will find their calling, vocation, and fulfillment in studying the Earth and planetary sciences. This, I believe, is one of the best reasons for improving geoscience diversity. Studying geoscience is great. Everyone should get to participate in that. So let’s keep working toward this. Again, URGE and I thank you. —Vashan Wright, on behalf of the URGE Team