Lovell Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA

Volunteer experience that relates to this position: 

I served as the editor in chief for Water Resources Research (2009-2013) and editor for Geophysical Research Letters (2006-2008). I have also served as a member of AGU’s Hydrology Fellows Committee (2017-2018). I have been a member (1992-2001) and chair (1999-2001) of the Precipitation Committee and member of the Student Award Committee (Fall 2002) and several other AGU committees and focus groups. I have served as a founding and elected board member (2002-2008) for the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science (CUAHSI).

Council members play critical roles as communication conduits among AGU members and leaders. How will you engage with members of your section to advance AGU’s new strategic plan? How might you facilitate engagement with other sections and people outside AGU to support our mission?

AGU’s 2020 strategic goals focused on discovery, inclusivity and broadening participation can be fostered by ensuring that they are embraced by every member and guide every activity. Hydrologic science has a unique role to play in advancing these goals. Water, as it travels through the atmosphere and the critical zone to shape life and the living environment and provide essential services for human well-being and environmental health, touches and integrates nearly all geoscience disciplines, and it is central to a number of grand challenges. I will work to integrate across AGU sections and focus groups and sister organizations globally to foster discovery to action across geographic and national divides. I will create a virtuous cycle by drawing in students, teachers and early-career scientists to inspire love and excitement for hydrologic science. I will ensure that career growth is fostered through rewards, recognitions and leadership opportunities that are rooted in a value system anchored in the ideals of inclusion, diversity, equity and access which bridges across gender, ethnic, racial, economic and social diversities across the globe. I aim to develop opportunities and venues where every voice is heard, new ideas are fostered, unconventional ideas are welcome and enriched and novel modalities for science to societal solutions are embraced and promoted. I will ensure that meetings, journals and other communication outlets have the broadest reach within both the geoscience community and society at large so that emergent ideas can be communicated effectively and expeditiously to ensure rapid infusion, adoption and impact.

Section affiliations:

Atmospheric Sciences; Biogeosciences; Earth and Planetary Surface Processes; Earth and Space Science Informatics; Global Environmental Change; Hydrology; Natural Hazards; Nonlinear Geophysics