Brian Wee Candidate Statement 2022

Brian Wee, Founder and Managing Director - Massive Connections, Candidate for At Large Board Member

I am currently co-chair of the ESIP Agriculture and Climate Cluster, from which I’ve led cross-cluster activities on knowledge representation methods applied to agriculture carbon management, wildfire management, climate resilience planning, and avian conservation.  I was a Board member of the Foundation for Earth Science (FES) from 2013 – 2016 when I led a successful effort to incorporate Board feedback on the Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing Act of 2015, since then signed into law (P.L. 114-329) by President Obama.  I am the Founder and Managing Director of Massive Connections, LLC.  In a prior role, I was the science, technology, and policy government-relations lead for the National Ecological Observatory Network.  

My competencies include science (global environmental change, socio-ecological sciences, evolutionary biology), technology (computer science, environmental observation), policy (US civilian science and education, ecosystem services, biodiversity, open data, earth observation), and constituency engagement (Congress, US federal agencies, NGOs, academia, private sector).  I hold a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, a M.Sc. in Computer Science with a focus on knowledge representation, and a B.Sc. in Information Systems and Computer Science.

If elected to the ESIP Board, I look forward to further promoting cross-cluster activities that enable data-driven, science-informed solutions for societal challenges.