Science to Action at AGU Fall Meeting

Community science has the power to transform your science into an impactful force for good!  Join Thriving Earth Exchange staff for this workshop to learn and practice the skills needed to build effective relationships with communities to address critical local needs in climate change, natural hazards and natural resources. Early career scientists and graduate students are encouraged to attend.

Tuesday, 11 December: 10:00 – 12:00 p.m.
Congressional A, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel

Thursday, 13 December: 10:00 – 12:00 p.m.
Congressional A, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel

From a grand challenge to a highly successful AGU Centennial program, Thriving Earth Exchange will have 100 community science projects completed by 2019. Join Thriving Earth Exchange for a special annual reception celebrating our community leaders, scientists, and all those working to increase access and equity in science.

This year’s reception will feature 3-minute pop-up style talks from community leaders and scientists. Stories will share the inspiration, actions, and outcomes of community science collaborations through personal narrative. Attendees can expect engaging tales of community and science, and the opportunity to meet and engage with like-minded individuals and potential new partners.

All are welcome. Prepare to be inspired.

Tuesday, 11 December: 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Grand Central, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel

This workshop will help scientists and community leaders develop collaborative, locally impactful projects together. Thriving Earth Exchange connects Earth and space scientists to communities around the world working toward solutions related to climate change, natural hazards, and natural resources. Check out the communities and their topics/themes for 2018, here. Lunch will be provided.

Wednesday, 12 December: 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Congressional A, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel

This workshop will help scientists interested in learning the necessary skills for successfully participating in collaborative, locally impactful community science projects with environmental justice groups. Learn about how to develop cultural awareness, humility and competence and examine real-life scenarios. Scientists interested in working with environmental justice communities, early career scientists and graduate students are encouraged to attend.

Thursday, 13 December: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Congressional A, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel

Engaged in a community science collaboration and feeling stuck? Looking to get started? Want to learn more about it? Meet with the Thriving Earth Exchange team one-on-one to dig into your specific challenges and questions in this hands-on clinic. Walk away with new strategies to employ community science practices and ways of framing your work to ensure maximum success.

Monday, 10 December: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Geranium, Marriott Marquis

Tuesday, 11 December: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Geranium, Marriott Marquis

Friday, 14, December: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Geranium, Marriott Marquis

Many of the topics we teach in undergraduate geoscience courses address issues where justice is an important challenge. Exploring the relationship between geoscience and environmental justice can strengthen student interest in geoscience and build their ability to work with communities in their geoscience careers. This workshop will focus on two strategies for incorporating environmental justice in your class: case studies and service learning as well as providing a discussion of the challenges of incorporating social issues in your course.

Monday, 10 December: 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Georgetown, Marriott Marquis

A climate change adaptation professional is anyone who considers data and information about future climate change in their research or practice. This includes earth and space scientists along with colleagues from many other sectors. What shared values and objectives unite climate change adaptation professionals? What strategies and actions help ensure effective, equitable, and ethical climate change adaptation practice? What professional training do YOU need to confidently implement those strategies and actions? In this workshop you’ll use American Society of Adaptation Professionals’ (ASAP) Living Guide to the Principles of Climate Change Adaptation (Living Guide) to holistically assess how you are integrating climate change adaptation into your research or practice and identify your professional training needs.

Wednesday, 12 December: 08:00 – 12:20 p.m.
Cabin John/Arlington, Grand Hyatt

Connecting with local decision makers, citizens, and community leaders increases the value of science to society. This has often forced scientists to choose between differing objectives – either develop new research or provide a public service to help communities incorporate science into their investment and decision processes. Fortunately, a variety of models of providing financial support have emerged in recent years aimed at connecting research with the needs of communities and decision-makers. These funding innovations redefine that choice. This Town Hall brings together funders, researchers, and practitioners from multiple fields to build an understanding of the opportunities and challenges specific to supporting research that aims to collaborate with communities and decision-makers. The Town Hall will provide the participants an opportunity to learn about a diversity of funding models and differing objectives of funding organizations. Panelists will represent a diverse set of organizations that fund scientific researchers who work hand-in-hand with practitioners and communities to both advance our knowledge about adaptation and resilience science and ensure these scientific findings are used by practitioners and communities. This event will provide an interactive discussion that highlights successful approaches and funding models for both developing new scientific knowledge and translating those findings into action.

Monday, 10 December: 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Independence D, Marriott Marquis

This townhall will focus on highlighting transdisciplinary research approaches to help societies move toward sustainable development. Over the past 10 years, the Belmont Forum has provided opportunities for international research consortia to engage in inter- and transdisciplinary research on some of the most challenging issues humanity faces today. The international teams have addressed challenges in freshwater security, coastal vulnerability, food security and land use, biodiversity and ecosystem services, climate change and in various environments such as the Arctic and mountain regions. Discussions will focus on best practices and lessons learned from projects supported by the Belmont Forum and will provide the audience with examples of successful transdisciplinary approaches directly from the project investigators. The discussions will also outline emerging ideas for creating a community of transdisciplinary researchers and will highlight new calls for proposals for transdisciplinary research.

Monday, 10 December: 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Liberty M, Marriott Marquis

This town hall is for anyone who wants to learn more about citizen science, especially the opportunities that citizen science can provide for learning Earth and space science.

In late 2018, the National Academy of Science released the report “Learning through Citizen Science: Enhancing Opportunities by Design.” This was the National Academy’s first report on the topic of Citizen Science. A panel of report authors will highlight the key findings from the report and describe strategies that designers of citizen science projects can use to enhance learning and support other desired outcomes. The panel will explore the future of citizen science, including recommendations for additional research and efforts to promulgate effective practices. The session will be interactive, with lots of opportunity for questions, comments, and ideas from the audience. Possible discussion topics may include: a focus on learning opportunities associated with citizen science in the Earth and space sciences, citizen science as part of a constellation of new ideas about science engagement, theories of learning as applied to and informed by geoscience related citizen science, and the intersection of citizen science, education, geoscience with diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Thursday, 13 December: 6:15 – 7:15 p.m.
Independence A-C, Marriott Marquis

In this field trip for members of the media, journalists will learn about how scientists and community members are working together to collect data on air quality in Brandywine and advocate for health in an unincorporated area that has no formal local government. On the tour, led by AGU partner Brandywine | TB Southern Region Neighborhood Coalition (the BTB Coalition), participants will see various sites affecting the community and hear from community residents, local activists and scientists about the issues faced by residents, and how these groups are working together to understand the health risks and advocate for environmental justice.

Space for the tour is limited. Staff journalists representing media organizations, freelance journalists, photographers, videographers, podcasters, bloggers, authors and filmmakers will have first priority for registration. If space is still available on the tour one week before the meeting, AGU will open the tour to public information officers and institutional science communicators. PIOs and institutional science communicators interested in attending should email news@agu.org to be notified if space becomes available.

Hydrology as a research field is inherently linked to solving real world problems in water resources management. Even when addressing the most fundamental research questions, results are highly relevant to a wide variety of stakeholders. Yet, often hydrologic studies go unnoticed, even if studies are in a community’s own “backyard.” How does a hydrologist start and maintain connections to community members or organizations? What does the process look like? What are examples of successful hydrology engagement? This pop-up session of short (5-10 min) talks, in coordination with AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange and AGU’s Sharing Science Program, invites abstracts that outline best practices and lessons learned from doing hydrology for the public good.

Join AGU’s Sharing Science program for screenings of three films from the Physics World series Sustainable Futures. The stories in this special collection explore how science and technology can help tackle some of the key environmental challenges of the 21st century. Films include:

• Mexico City’s troubled relationship with water
• The curious case of the porpoises and the wind farm
• Testing the waters in New Orleans (with a follow-up panel discussion featuring Thriving Earth Exchange staff)

Thursday, 14 December: 8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Science Communication: A Sharing Science Room (Convention Center, 203 A/B)