M Parsons Statement

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I have served on the ESIP Board for the last two years, and I am eager to continue in a role where I feel I can amplify the influence and impact of ESIP and ensure that influence continues. I have been involved with ESIP since the early days, and I am pleased to see how it has grown, matured, and generally increased its influence. I would be honored to contribute to the future development and organizational health of ESIP as an at-large member of the Foundation for Earth Science Board.

Over the last couple years, the Board has been working to have ESIP leadership think more strategically about raising the visibility of ESIP while ensuring the sustainability and stability of the incredible work of our community. During my past term, I helped lead strategic initiatives around how ESIP extends internationally, builds a stronger and co-equal partnership with AGU, and ensures stable leadership transitions. It is a gratifying responsibility to help ensure that ESIP continues to do lasting and worthwhile work. An example of this is the recent AGU-led enabling FAIR project which took ESIP work on citation and provenance to routine, mainstream acceptance.

Important issues for ESIP in the next few years will be sustainability of the organization (financially, socially, and organizationally), smart growth into international activity, and ongoing engagement with myriad Federal agencies and other funders while building connections with new research, data, and user communities. I believe my professional background and experience as an on-the-ground data manager and as the first Secretary General of the Research Data Alliance (RDA) bring valuable perspective on these issues. I believe I can continue to provide a useful perspective, dedication to the cause, and connections to related initiatives and organizations such as the International Council for Science, GEO, Force11, NIH’s Big Data to Knowledge initiative, etc.

Over the last 25 years, I have been involved in data management practice, planning, and policy for multiple government agencies (in the US and abroad) and private foundations. I have actively managed many different types of data from remote sensing and field observations of geological and ecological data to Indigenous knowledge of environmental change. Now, I conduct basic and applied research on how researchers and data managers work to make data more accessible and useful.

I think this broad and diverse perspective will continue to strengthen ESIP’s engagement with new communities and revenue sources. I look forward to continuing my service.

More details of my funding and publications at http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7723-0950