Denise Hills Candidate Statement 2023
It is a distinct pleasure to be nominated for ESIP President. Since my first ESIP meeting in 2012, this community has been a major driver of my personal and professional growth. I want to continue to make ESIP an open, accepting, and welcoming place for anyone who wants to get involved in making Earth science data matter.
Over the years, I have been involved in many ESIP activities and collaboration areas, including Data Stewardship (member, co-chair); Partnership (member); Governance (member, chair); Nominations (chair); Community Data (member); and most recently, ESIP VP. My role this past year as ESIP VP has been to help implement the decisions of ESIP’s Board, to represent ESIP to the broader Earth and space science community, to support the ESIP President, and to serve as Chair of the Program Committee and Meetings Committee. Along with ESIP staff, I have helped lead discussions with the Program Committee about how it should evolve to best serve the larger ESIP community. The Meetings Committee was busy this year assisting ESIP staff and the broader community make the best of virtual-only offerings, and transition back to in-person meetings while being mindful equity and access concerns around in-person versus virtual. I also helped establish, and have participated on, the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Advisory Committee. While I certainly felt welcome and included from my first interactions with this community, I know that some may have had different experiences. I am proud of the work of the EDIJ Advisory Committee to start shifting the needle to expand our community.
I’ve served in a variety of leadership positions outside of ESIP as well, including Geological Society of America (Chair, Geoinformatics Division; Secretary-Treasurer, Geology and Society Division; Chair, Energy Division); American Geophysical Union (President, Earth and Space Science Informations; Chair, Position Statement Committee; Member, Falkenberg Awards Committee); Parent Teacher Association (PTA) (Local unit (school) officer; State Secretary; State VP of Programs); and Scouting USA (local unit leader; Black Warrior Council VP of Membership). These roles have given me experience in community governance, working with disparate viewpoints, and building inclusive spaces.
Being a part of ESIP has allowed me to grow in my career. I am an "accidental" informaticist, with little formal training. I am constantly learning more things that I don't know but I know that I can rely on ESIP to help me find the people I need to learn from and collaborate with in order to move geoscience data forward. ESIP is a community that embraces the value of Earth and space science data and works to make it more findable and accessible, more readily usable (e.g., interoperable) and reusable, while maintaining high ethical standards around privacy, openness, and giving appropriate credit.
Thank you for your consideration. There is always work to do in ESIP; I hope that you allow me to further the work I’ve begun as VP these past two years so that we all continue to make ESIP the most rewarding community to participate in. If you want more detail on my career and professional experience, please check out my CV. You can always reach out to me if you have any questions about my vision for the ESIP President or about ESIP in general.
