Interests

Climate change

Climate change is one of the major crises of our time. There is no simple action that will magically make climate change go away. Instead, we must all diligently work together, across countries and sectors, to solve the climate crisis. Scientists play a critical role in continually refining understanding of Earth's climate system and the ways in which a changing climate affects coupled natural and human systems. Scientists must also be proactive and collaborative in communicating climate information to guide decisions by community leaders, businesses, and individuals. As 2019-20 AGI Congressional Fellow and professional staff with the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, I helped to develop a comprehensive Congressional climate action plan that includes recommendations for the role of climate science and scientists in solving the climate crisis.

Open science

I believe in science as a critical tool for guiding policy decisions. To serve as a trusted resource in policy debates, scientific findings should be open to the public and transparent for independent scrutiny and tests of reproducibility. Therefore, I strongly support efforts toward increasing public access to research data and publications. As a 2017-19 AAAS S&T Policy Fellow at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), I helped to coordinate NSF's role in activities, such as NSF's EarthCube program and the American Geophysical Union (AGU)-led "Enabling FAIR Data" project, to facilitate access and discovery to research data in the geosciences (i.e., earth, atmospheric, oceanic, and polar sciences).

Data

Our world is now awash in ever-expanding volumes of data. Big data offer exciting new opportunities for science and for business, but they also present a moral obligation to protect privacy, intellectual property, and security. The field of "data science" has grown rapidly to develop techniques for gleaning insight from these big and complicated datasets. In parallel with the growing open science movement, these data science techniques and applications must be guided by policies and practices that ensure the responsible and trustworthy use of big and sensitive datasets.

Environmental management

We depend on earth systems for resources, habitation, and recreation, but we must be good stewards to continue enjoying the bounty provided by our natural environment. Decisions about how to manage the environment should be grounded in science, while also acknowledging the perspectives of different stakeholders. Toward this end, I currently serve as a member of the Oceano Dunes Scientific Advisory Group (SAG), which is advising California State Parks and the San Luis Obispo Air Pollution Control District on management of intensively-used coastal dunes to reduce emissions of particulate dust at Oceano Dunes on California's Central Coast.

Earth and environmental science

I am a geologist at heart, interested in understanding the natural processes that shape our earth and environment. Prior to my transition into policy work, I pursued research to explore the mechanisms by which wind and water move sediment and shape landscapes on the Earth's surface. I am particularly interested in the evolution of river channels, the formation of desert and coastal sand dunes, and the role of these systems in associated environmental processes, such as the emission of airborne dust.

All views expressed on this website are my own and do not reflect the views of my current or previous employers.