Research Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey, Moffett Field, CA, 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 identify as female, Caucasian, early-career, and a civil servant. I could bring an early-career and millennial-generational voice to the Geomagnetism, Paleomagnetism and Electromagnetism (GPE) executive committee. I grew up in a small, rural town in New York State and I have lived in California since 2011. After a postdoc, my career path has shifted from academia to the federal government. So, though I am early-career, I have experience studying and working in a variety of regions and sectors. My research has similarly covered a broad range of topics within the GPE section: from theoretical work using geodynamo simulations to study Earth's outer core to applied work using paleomagnetism to conduct geologic mapping and study regional tectonic and volcanic processes. My personal story is a testament to the upward mobility that is possible through higher-education and pursuing scientific knowledge for its own sake, but I have also committed my career to conducting science for the public good.

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

To address the gap in female participation in geosciences, I focus my volunteer energy on mentorship. Most recently, I was a mentor in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, LET’S GEO mentor program. While at the University of California, Berkeley, I was a member of the Society of Women in the Physical Sciences, serving as a mentor and the Post-doc coordinator. Informally, I mentor interns and student contractors at the U.S. Geological Survey working in the Geophysical Unit of Menlo Park (GUMP) and California Volcano Observatory (CalVO) groups.

As one of the elected leaders of your section, how will you partner 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?

I will use my strong soft skills (i.e., listening, problem solving, timely and professional communication, teamwork, work ethic, helpful and friendly attitude) to partner with members of the GPE executive committee, other leaders, and staff. The GPE section's main communication channels are the Fluxline newsletter, the Community Discussion board on the AGU Connect website, and an independent “gpmag” email listserv folks use for announcements. None of these channels serve as a replacement for participation in the Fall Meeting, which is the most important point of engagement with our section community. Helping more members – and would be members/attendees – overcome barriers to participation in the AGU Fall Meeting (e.g., cost of registration and travel, caregiving, large time zone expanse of virtual meeting elements, feeling like the meeting is “too big”) is key to achieving AGU’s strategic goals of having an inclusive culture that leads in both discovery and solution science. I think the largest selling point on participation in a meeting is a strong offering of sessions GPE folks really want to commit their hard-work and time to.

Section affiliations:

Geomagnetism, Paleomagnetism and Electromagnetism; Study of the Earth’s Deep Interior; Tectonophysics; Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology