Difference between revisions of "Douglas Rao Candidate Statement"

Latest revision as of 06:01, May 30, 2025

Candidate for President

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Douglas Rao

I am excited to run for the position of President of the Earth Science Information Partners. Having served as Vice President for the past two years, I have a deep appreciation for our community's dedication to empower the use and stewardship for Earth science information. I am looking forward to partnering with the community and ESIP staff to help ESIP navigate the current challenges faced by the community and grow with the community together.

I truly believe that our community is the cornerstone of ESIP. During this turbulent time, ESIP can empower the Earth science information community to become more resilient through innovation, partnership, and mentorship. As an early-career professional, the support and mentoring I received from the ESIP community has altered my career trajectory. It is especially important for us as a community to provide sustained support for members who are impacted by the recent changes.

ESIP's mission has never been more urgent. To achieve this, ESIP should lead in fostering new collaborations and building strategic alliances with diverse public, private, non-profit, and academic entities. to maximize our impact. I think ESIP's spirit is captured by Dr. Jane Goodall's quote: "every individual matters; every individual has a role to play; every individual can make a difference." As President, I am committed to partnering with you to achieve ESIP's mission.

I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to serve as the President of ESIP and would be honored to receive your vote.

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-'''Candidate for Vice President'''
+'''Candidate for President'''
 [[File:Douglas rao portrait.png|thumb|Douglas Rao]]
-I would be honored to be elected to continue serving as the ESIP Vice President.  I'm a research scientist with North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies (NCICS) and is affiliated with NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). I received my Ph.D. in geographical sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park. My research focuses on leveraging geoscience data, statistical modeling, and other emerging technology to monitor climate change and its impacts. I currently work to support the development of the emerging NOAA Center for Artificial Intelligence. He also serves as a member of the Scientific Steering Committee for the Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System, a global research project of Future Earth.  I was also the recipient of the ESIP Catalyst Award in 2020.
-My journey with ESIP started as a Community Fellow for the machine learning cluster between 2018-2020 during the last year of my PhD at the University of Maryland and the first year of my postdoc at NCICS. I never imagined the fellowship would have such an impact on my career trajectory. After joining ESIP, I discovered the world of data management and open science, which was not mentioned during my graduate school time. Since then, I am involved in various ESIP clusters including co-chairing the Data Readiness Cluster and the newly established Wildfires Cluster.
+I am excited to run for the position of President of the Earth Science Information Partners. Having served as Vice President for the past two years, I have a deep appreciation for our community's dedication to empower the use and stewardship for Earth science information. I am looking forward to partnering with the community and ESIP staff to help ESIP navigate the current challenges faced by the community and grow with the community together.
-As an early-career researcher, I am passionate about bringing early-career perspectives into the discussion. During my fellowship with ESIP, a few of the community fellows decided to develop a roadmap to improve data management training for graduate students after we all agreed that we and our peers would have benefited from such training. Previously, I also served as a member of the Executive Committee for the Young Earth System Scientists community, an international network of early-career researchers aiming to elevate global early-career researchers’ voices and perspectives in the Earth system science community.
+I truly believe that our community is the cornerstone of ESIP. During this turbulent time, ESIP can empower the Earth science information community to become more resilient through innovation, partnership, and mentorship. As an early-career professional, the support and mentoring I received from the ESIP community has altered my career trajectory. It is especially important for us as a community to provide sustained support for members who are impacted by the recent changes.
-To me, ESIP is a welcoming and enthusiastic community that strives to bring innovation and foster collaboration in geoscience and informatics. These collaborations and innovations are often driven by specific needs or issues related to Earth information. My participation in ESIP is motivated and sustained by learning from the community and contributing to the shared progress that supports the entire Earth information community beyond a single organization or agency. As ESIP Vice President, I will continue to work with ESIP staff and other volunteer leaders to further strengthen ESIP as a community and an environment that can support robust relationships and collaborations to make Earth science information accessible and actionable to all corners of society.
+ESIP's mission has never been more urgent. To achieve this, ESIP should lead in fostering new collaborations and building strategic alliances with diverse public, private, non-profit, and academic entities. to maximize our impact. I think ESIP's spirit is captured by Dr. Jane Goodall's quote: "every individual matters; every individual has a role to play; every individual can make a difference." As President, I am committed to partnering with you to achieve ESIP's mission.
+I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to serve as the President of ESIP and would be honored to receive your vote.