Christopher Keane Candidate Statement 2022

Christopher Keane, Director of Geoscience Profession and Higher Education, American Geosciences Institute

I am a past member of the ESIP Nominations Committee and am an active advocate for increased direct engagement of practicing geoscientists with their data colleagues.  I have been part of several projects in NSF’s GeoInformatics efforts as far back as 2001, and led the Department of Energy-sponsored National Geoscience Data Repository System program that eventually evolved into USGIN.  In my role with the American Geosciences Institute, which is a federation of 50 geoscience societies, I work across a wide range of academic, government, and private sector geoscience organizations.   With this extensive network and a passionate desire to increase the direct collaboration between the domain sciences and data community, I would be thrilled to work with the Partnership Committee as a way to expand and strengthen the umbrella of the ESIP community, which is the ideal venue for this interface.  I have extensive experience working on non-profit boards, with 9 years as a member-at-large for the GeoscienceWorld Publishing Aggregate, 2 years as a member-at-large with the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) and 3 years as Treasurer for CPST.  I have also served 3 years as a director for the Brussels-based International Raw Materials Observatory, and currently in a 3-year term as Vice-President for the organization.

The value of ESIP is intractable from its community.  If elected, I look forward to working with colleagues to strengthen and expand the ESIP community, especially with additional engagement with the domain sciences.  I appreciate this opportunity to be consider to serve the earth science data community within ESIP.