Catherine Cramer Candidate Statement 2021

Back to 2021 Nominations and Ballot

Catherine Cramer, Senior Consultant at Associated Universities Inc. (AUI), Candidate for At-Large Board Member

Catherine Cramer works at the intersection of data-driven science and learning, specifically as it pertains to the understanding of complexity and its application to data and network sciences, with a focus on underrepresented communities. For over 20 years she has developed tools and programs for the teaching and learning of complex network and data science, centering on identifying, creating, sustaining and growing productive and innovative collaborations and partnerships between research, industry and academia. She worked with the centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE) and the Ocean Literacy initiative from 2004-2014, and was one of the founders of the Network Literacy and Network Science in Education movements. She remains active in both, most recently organizing the 9th annual Network Science in Education symposium as part of the 2020 International School and Conference on Network Science, and is on the Board of the Network Science Society. She is co-editor and co-author of the Springer volume Network Science in Education, published in October 2018. She is currently co-leading the data literacy efforts at the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub, located at the Columbia University Data Science Institute, as well as a Social Network Analysis of the Hub itself.

Increasingly, the revolution in data science is influencing decision-making in many if not most sectors of society. These approaches are also now the only way we can detect the scale and predict the trends and impact of the human footprint on the environment; deepen our understanding of disease, social and political impacts; and, ultimately, our understanding of the human brain. The kinds of questions we ask, the degree of complexity of nature that can be analyzed at all scales, and the complexity of the problems policymakers, industry and citizens are called upon to solve are increasingly interdisciplinary and complex. The proliferation of data has transformed the way we think about nature and ourselves.

Catherine is currently working with Associated Universities Inc (AUI) on bringing together an interdisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners in Earth and space science, data science, and education to explore the convergence of these critical topics in STEM and to articulate a pathway to advance the convergence of Earth-space science practice and education. This effort - the Network for Earth-space Research, Education, and Innovation with Data (NEREID) - will ultimately result in powerful new tools, resources, and learning approaches to support the broader research and education communities. As part of this effort, Catherine has become active with ESIP, and specifically with the Education Committee in helping to develop ways forward in the effort to engage all sectors with data as a way of solving problems at all scales. She and members of the ESIP Education Committee are honored to have received an ESIP Lab Award to bring teachers together to develop a guidebook for Earth Science education tool developers. The opportunity to be an ESIP At-Large Board Member is an ideal way to help forge a strategic path for ESIP that is inclusive, convergent and future-facing. Thank you.