USAPECS is excited to announce an Early Career Panel on Diversity and Inclusion in the Polar Sciences at the 100th Annual AGU Fall Meeting, in conjunction with Permafrost Young Researchers Network, North America (PYRN-NA) and APECS Alpine Cryosphere.
Date: Monday, December 10th, 2018
Time: 12:30 - 1:30 pm
Location: Convention Center, Career Workshop Room
This panel session will discuss: (1) the current challenges facing minority groups and women in our disciplines, such as barriers to entry for underrepresented groups, sexual harassment at work and in the field, and representation of indigenous knowledge in the polar sciences; (2) what we as individuals can do to bring these issues to the forefront of conversations in scientific organizations and universities; and (3) strategies to promote diversity and inclusion of underrepresented perspectives in the polar sciences. Panelists will offer perspectives based on their own experiences and questions will be taken from the audience.
Meet the panelists:
Emilie Sinkler, UAF
Emilie is a Ph.D. student in glaciology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where she studies ice flow in West Antarctica. She is an instructor for Inspiring Girls Expeditions (www.inspiringgirls.org), which provides tuition-free expeditions for high school girls led by professional women scientists, artists, and outdoor professionals. A major goal of Inspiring Girls Expeditions is to increase the participation and diversity of women in science and outdoor recreation. Emilie is also the President of the Geophysical Institute Graduate Student Association at UAF, where she represents graduate student interests to the administration. She is excited to be a part of the conversation about breaking down barriers in science.
Kaare Erickson, Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation (UIC) Science
Kaare Sikuaq Erickson was raised in the Arctic region of Alaska and now works for UIC Science, an Inupiat owned and operated logistics company that specializes in Arctic science field support. As liaison, Kaare enjoys helping foster good relations between Arctic residents and researchers. UIC Science is a member of the UIC family of companies (Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation) located in Utqiagvik, the northernmost point in the United States.
Allison Mattheis, CSULA
Allison Mattheis is an Associate Professor in the division of Applied and Advanced Studies in Education at California State University Los Angeles. As a teacher and scholar, she is broadly interested in issues of how power is wielded through policy and practice in communities and learning spaces, with the goal of disrupting systems that maintain unjust hierarchies and promoting advocacy and empowerment. She is a member of the Queer in STEM research team, a national mixed methods study of queer-identified individuals in STEM fields, and a co-PI on the ADVANCEGeo project, which is partnering with AGU to address sexual harassment and discrimination in the Geosciences. She taught middle school science for eight years in Springfield, Massachusetts; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Colombia, South America before completing her graduate work in Educational Policy and Leadership at the University of Minnesota. As a white person at a Minority-Serving Institution, she believes it is part of her professional responsibilities to bring people from the backgrounds represented by Cal State L.A. students into the field. Her work as a teacher and scholar is driven by a commitment to empowering teachers as change agents, students as decision makers, and educators as solidarity builders.
Marilyn Raphael, UCLA
Dr. Marilyn Raphael is Professor of Geography at UCLA and served as Department Chair from 2010-2013. Her primary research focus is Southern Hemisphere (SH) atmospheric dynamics and climate change and her major scientific goals are to characterize the Antarctic sea ice variability and to define and understand the interaction between Antarctic sea ice and the large-scale Southern Hemisphere circulation, focusing on interaction at the seasonal, interannual and decadal time scales. Her work includes global climate modeling with an emphasis on improving the simulation of sea ice and the atmosphere in the Southern Hemisphere. She is currently Chair of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s expert group, Antarctic Sea ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt) and Co-Chair of the World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP) Polar Climate Predictability Initiative (PCPI).
For more information and updates on USAPECS events at AGU please visit: http://usapecs.wixsite.com/usapecs/agu-2018-early-career-panel. If you are a Twitter user please help people not at AGU follow the conversation at the event by using the hashtags #inclusioninpolarsci and #AGU100 and tagging @US_APECS in any Tweets.
Find USAPECS @ AGU!
Join USAPECS for an informal social meet-up on Monday night. More details will be announced soon on our AGU webpage and our Twitter (@US_APECS).
Come along to an in-person USAPECS Meeting (open to all polar early career researchers) on Wednesday morning at 7am at the Cambria Hotel Washington, DC (899 O St. NW DC).
USAPECS and APECS will both have posters (and people at them) during the early career researcher poster session on Wednesday afternoon. Come along and ask any questions you might have about how you can get involved!