Associate Professor, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

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.

I am a first-generation student that grew in a small Italian village (Città della Pieve) with a family that understood the values of studying and always supported me. I worked during my studies for choice and not for need. While working as a waiter I enjoyed discussing with people from different countries and social extractions and came to appreciate the value of working toward targets. I value diversity and enjoy teaching our students that come from many countries around the word. I thought this, and my first-generation background, made me immune to intrinsic biases, and I realised, while sitting in hiring and award committees that this was very far from reality. This made me step down from roles that would make me influence unfairly hiring or award processes. I worked and work very hard to remove biases that made me feel dirty and I will never stop trying to improve myself by removing biases that I consider one of the worst illnesses of academia. I am now at least more aware of the multifaced and complex nature of intrinsic biases, and their detrimental effects. I hope this made me a better teacher, mentor, and researcher.

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

Swiss Geoscience meeting organising committee; Kuno award committee (2017-2018); Outstanding Student Presentation Awards (OSPA) judge, AGU; Associate editor, Journal of Geophysical Research, 2017-2021; International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) Swiss representative; Reviewer for several journals; Reviewer of proposal for various national agencies

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 strategic plan including its mission and vision?

We live in a period in which fundamental societal issues such as “climate change” and “the energy transition” not only make evident the central role that Earth scientists are playing and will play in the future, but also have important geopolitical consequences. The complexity of these issues requires a multidisciplinary approach and solutions that must be tailored considering specific regional problematics. If elected, I would work with the president and president-elect to promote sessions on societal challenges such as “resources required for the energy transition” in which Earth scientists but also social scientists and experts in geopolitics will present the results of their research. This will serve to determine the scientific feasibility of the energy transition including the potential impact and social sustainability of mineral extraction for communities embedded in different geopolitical frameworks. This is in line with the vision and mission of AGU as it will serve to stimulate collaborations with the broad scientific community to provide solutions that will serve as a base for the development of an equitable and sustainable society.

Section affiliations:

Mineral and Rock Physics; Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology