ADVANCING SCIENCE: SOME RISKS REQUIRED

As the U.S. Geological Survey’s Associate Director for Energy and Mineral Resources, a large part of my role is to set directions to advance science. Sometimes this role puts me out front in a visible leadership position. For example, I changed White House staff’s view on the future of Earth observation and negotiated to ensure 40 more years of the Landsat satellites, and I partnered with Chinese science agencies to put land sector carbon management on the agenda for the Paris Climate Accords. But I also play a supporting role, standing behind our science programs when they take a risk or advance a new direction. For example, our Mineral Resources Program advised successive U.S. Presidential administrations and Congresses that mine waste should be considered a resource for minerals. The program’s initial proposals met with skepticism, but they believed the science had potential to enable new waste management options. I helped them find, and justify, creative ways to advance development of a national mine waste inventory until the effort became so compelling that it garnered budget support. Our Energy Resources Program similarly pursued an area that initially lacked broad support but had great technical promise to transform energy storage. The program invested in a pilot effort investigating the potential for large volumes of naturally occurring hydrogen, despite decades of conventional wisdom that no such resource existed. In both cases, I supported our science programs as they took risks that opened up new areas of study.

In my earliest experiences in visible leadership roles, I was not always certain of my authority to speak for my organization. Fortunately, I found mentors who supported my transition from subject matter expert to organizational leader. I also chose an interdisciplinary doctoral program, and spent time working for the White House, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Those broadening experiences increased my comfort with representing my science and my organization, and showed me the impact that I could achieve by doing so. One of the great rewards of my role today is that I have opportunities both to use my own voice and position to showcase our science portfolio and to put others forward to grow their own voices and reputations as a next generation of science leadership.