Statement Ledley

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Tamara Shapiro Ledley

I am running for ESIP President because I believe I can help ESIP move forward in broadening the reach of “making data matter” into communities and organizations for whom Earth science data and information is essential to their decision making processes. Much of my work has focused on making Earth and climate science data and knowledge accessible to teachers and students. I believe that connecting teachers and students with organizations and communities that are dealing with the impacts of environmental and climate change will help students engage in developing the Earth science knowledge and skills that will prepare them for the future.

WHY I PARTICIPATE IN ESIP: I believe that ESIP’s role in the Earth science community is to enable the collective impact of all its members and the broader Earth science data community. ESIP does this by “linking the functional sectors of observation, research, application, education and use of Earth science” (ESIP Mission statement.) The diversity of those sectors is growing as the impacts of environmental and climate change on all aspects of society are becoming urgent. I participate in ESIP because the professional diversity of the Earth science stakeholder community that it serves provides an avenue to network and develop effective collaborations that leads to a larger collective impact of all our efforts.

LEADERSHIP POSITIONS IN ESIP AND BEYOND: I chaired the Education Committee from 2002-04 and 2006-2009. I served as ESIP Vice President from 2004-06, chaired the Constitution and Bylaws committee (now Governance Committee) from 2013-14, and was ESIP Type III Representative from 2009-10. I also served on the ESIP Board of Directors from 2004-17 first in my role as Vice President and then as a Member-at-Large. Other major leadership positions I have held include: Chair, Center for Science Teaching and Learning, TERC (2011-16), Chair, Committee on Global Environmental Change, American Geophysical Union (1996-2000), Chair and co-founder of the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) (2008-16). I was also a 2017 Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow. More detail about my background and work can be found at https://serc.carleton.edu/eet/people/ledley.html.

INVOLVEMENT IN ESIP: I have been involved in ESIP since it was established as part of the Museums Teaching Planet Earth ESIP (now Immersive Earth ESIP). In 2001 I applied for TERC to become an ESIP Partner and served as its representative to the ESIP Assembly through 2016. I led the founding of the Standing Committee for Education and was the first chair. In 2012 I was awarded ESIP’s Presidents Award for significant contributions to the ESIP Federation.

I have worked hard to bring Earth science data effectively to educators and students. I moved that effort forward with an NSF funded effort to develop the award winning Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET, http://serc.carleton.edu/eet), a collaboration of multiple ESIP partners that developed through conversations within the Education Committee. I continued to engage multiple ESIP partners in the EET by coordinating a collaboration between the Education Committee and the Air Quality Cluster to develop an EET activity using air quality data that was supported by FUNding Friday funding in 2008. In 2016 I worked to build deeper partnerships with ESIP by bringing the CLEAN Network into ESIP as a Cluster. This is a mutually beneficial partnership. The CLEAN Network is an active and passionate professionally diverse community of climate literacy stakeholders that provides an avenue to extend ESIP’s reach. ESIP provides the infrastructure support services as well as the ESIP community of data providers and data stewards needed by the CLEAN Network.

ESIP PARTNER AFFILIATION: The ESIP I am currently affiliated with is SERC through my work on the CLEAN Collection, the Earth Exploration Toolbook and EarthLabs projects, and my participation in NAGT/SERC workshops.