Statement Daniels

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Mike Daniels
I am Mike Daniels, the current ESIP Vice President and a veteran science data advocate. I began my career in data science at an early age and, as a first generation college graduate, it has been an amazing ride thus far! During my career at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, I have been privileged to work with some of the best scientists, engineers, technicians and other support staff fielding atmospheric science experiments around the world. I have seen amazing changes in the accessibility of data during that time and it is exciting to be in the midst of a data revolution in the sciences. Through encouraging and building partnerships, innovative data science research will lead to better care of data, reduced time spent on data wrangling and enhanced data transparency. I believe that ESIP is the home and center for earth data science professionals to learn, discuss, innovate, share and support each other in this pursuit. While our community efforts show the value and payoff of common approaches, new partnerships allow us to be inclusive of differing perspectives and solutions in order to achieve the best results. These are the factors that sparked my desire to serve as Partnership Committee Chair.

To further describe my prior history, I have been involved in the NSF EarthCube initiative since its inception and have served as PI and Co-PI on numerous proposals. I have served as an ESIP Board Member (2014-2015 and 2017-2018), a member of the Constitution and ByLaws Committee (2015) and as Chair of the Governance Committee in 2017 and 2018. In 2017, I was the recipient of the ESIP President’s Award in recognition of leading the work our committee did in establishing Policies and Procedures for ESIP. I have also worked on ESIP Lab proposals and have been a participant in various ESIP clusters.

During the past year as ESIP Vice President, my eyes were opened as I learned even more about the extent of ESIP collaborations and partnerships. I was so inspired by the fact that the Summer 2019 ESIP Meeting had almost ⅓ new members, which shows that we are expanding partnerships and building our position as a leader in the earth sciences. In my prior ESIP leadership roles I have had the pleasure of working with Nancy Hoebelheinrich, the current Partnership Committee Chair, for a few years now. If elected, I would continue the work she has begun in terms of streamlining and more carefully describing partnership roles.

I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the earth science data community in this capacity.