Science to Action at Fall Meeting 2020

This workshop will provide attendees with project management training mapped to AGU Thriving Earth Exchange’s community science process. Attendees will learn best practices for collaborating with non-scientists and leave with a basic toolkit for building strong partnerships. It will include project management, facilitation, and engagement basics which can be applied in any cross-disciplinary initiative.

Thursday, 10 December – 08:00-08:45

This workshop will explore ways in which Thriving Earth Exchange’s community science approach is being adapted and implemented by several different countries including Australia, Mongolia and Senegal. It will feature a panel of Thriving Earth Exchange’s international partners from the aforementioned countries describing their motivation to do community science, current projects and expected impact of their community science projects.

Friday, 11 December – 05:00-06:30

The goal of this workshop is to bring together a panel of community leader and scientist teams who are pushing the boundaries of community-driven science in communities ranging from upper-middle class suburbia and inner-city neighborhoods to Latinx, African American, faith-based, indigenous, and other communities throughout the U.S. The panelists will share their experiences working with these various communities, taking a deep dive into how the texture of a community influences the rhythm and flow of community science projects.

Friday, 11 December – 07:30-9:00

This workshop will help people in their search for community science careers. A panel of people who just landed their first community-science job will share their tips and tricks. A second panel of creating jobs at the interface of science and society will talk about the kind of things they look for when they hire. Finally, participants will swap job materials – a resume, a cover letter, or a linked-in profile – and get feedback from each other.

Tuesday, 15 December – 13:00-14:30

Community science has many benefits, including helping inform the development of new policies, as well as the implementation or enforcement of existing ones. In this session, hear from a panel of experts who will discuss examples of how scientists and communities collaborate in response to community challenges with public policy implications. This session is the first in a two-part series.

Thursday, 3 December: 06:30-07:30

Learn about and join us in creating a welcoming community for scientists, artists, communicators, policymakers, social scientists, community members, and other decision-makers who are interested in better connecting science and society.

Wednesday, 2 December: 14:00-15:00

he Science and Society section is excited to announce our Science and Society Early Career and Student Networking Event “Science Beyond the Lab: A Speed-Mentoring Event.” At this hour-long, virtual event, attendees will learn about and discuss how to become involved in science policy, community science, citizen science, science communication, and other non-traditional science experiences. You must be registered for the AGU Fall Meeting to attend. You can still sign up even if you’ve already registered for the Fall Meeting – just re-open your registration and sign up under the Session & Events tab. Also, you don’t have to be a Science and Society section member to join this event!

We are looking for more mentors to join this event! So if you have wisdom that you’d like to share, please register and send an email to [email protected] to let me know that you’ll be joining.

Thursday, 3 December: 14:00-15:00
Event Cost: Free! Just make sure you are registered for the Fall Meeting

Infrastructure is exposed, and potentially vulnerable, to the extremes of climate and weather, including heat waves, storm surge, high winds or floods. While engineering practices and standards evolved to provide acceptably low failure risk over the service lives of infrastructure systems (~ 50 to 100 years), these were premised on historic events. Engineers planning and designing infrastructure for future climate and weather extremes face daunting challenges in trying to quantify these future extremes to ensure continued functionality, durability and safety in the face of increasing budgetary restrictions.

This session presents results from the recently published American Society of Civil Engineers white paper on the hydro-meteorological impacts of climate change on critical infrastructure sectors, and potential mechanisms to prioritize action. We seek to engage a multidisciplinary audience including climate scientists, engineers, emergency managers, resilience and sustainability investigators, insurance experts, and policy makers, to promote dialogue on the topic of climate change and infrastructure. We hope to explore the challenges and opportunities that the engineering profession faces in dealing with these extremes, and to develop a road map for future research in this direction. This is a joint activity of multiple AGU Section (Hydrology, Natural Hazards, Global Environmental Change and Atmospheric Sciences), the AMS Water Resources Committee and the ASCE Committee on Adaptation to a Changing Climate.

Tuesday, 15 December: 16:00 – 17:00

This workshop examines collaborative strategies and methodologies for supporting and accelerating community level climate action across the United States, tribal governments and nations based on feedback from multiple recent listening sessions. Together with the CLEAN Network and as part of a U.S Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) coalition, we will explore culturally responsive methods to deepen climate change education, solutions, civic engagement, and workforce development strategies to support communities in reaching their climate goals and widen the needed impact.

Tuesday, 15 December: 15:00-17:00

When attempting to affect change in public policy, often our tendency is to think big and focus our engagement efforts on influencing federal policy. However, the role of science in decision-making is not limited the federal level. In this session, hear from a panel of experts who will share insights about the importance and power of science policy engagements at the state and local level and how you can start making a difference right in your own community. This session is the second in a two-part series.

Wednesday, 9 December: 10:00 – 11:00

AGU’s new strategic plan’s emphasizes our joint goals of advancing scientific discovery and using the results to address societal challenges. This need is consistent with recent global activation of younger generations toward projects that address racial/economic inequality and social justice. In this spirit, we invite contributions focusing on using our science in collaboration with decision makers, communities, and other stakeholders to benefit society. These could discuss approaches or examples of what we might do. We hope for discussion of what works, what doesn’t, how we can do better, and how these efforts could contribute to increasing diversity in our ranks.

U014 How Can We Implement AGU’s “Science for Solutions” to Address Societal Problems

The session will explore the argument that the creation and legacy of western science has erased and/or delegitimized—non-western–scientific methodologies. An historical explanation will illustrate the origins of western science as a product of colonization; the ways in which western science is systematically centered, and how non-western traditional science, such as Traditional (Indigenous) Ecological Knowledge, African Indigenous methodologies, and Latinx ways of questioning, naming, knowing, and conveying knowledge, have been delegitimized in predominantly white scientific spaces. The panel will offer first-hand accounts for how institutions should be evolving with regard to better ethical scientific practices in communities of color. This session will feature a screening of the film Can We Talk? 3 Difficult Conversations with Underrepresented People of Color: Decolonizing STEM followed by a panel discussion. This will be the third installment in the Can We Talk? film series.

U013 – Centering Ethical Placed-Based Scientific Practices Through the Lenses of Communities of Color

Scientists, practitioners and communities have accelerated their engagement and collaboration to produce decision-relevant and actionable science. In this session, we explore (1) how scientists build and strengthen partnerships with community members and other stakeholders, and (2) how these novel and truly collaborative partnerships lead to decision-relevant tools, resources, or knowledge. We invite on-the-ground stories and experiences, successes and challenges, and best practices that illustrate both increased collaborative capacity and the successful co-production of actionable science including federal, state, local, university, and extension partners, to name a few. Through this collective sharing, we can harness characteristics of effective and transformative partnerships to better understand community needs and deliver stakeholder-driven and decision-relevant science. Together, we continue progress toward interdisciplinary and transformative science that is actionable and equitable.

SY024 Science to Action: Transformative Partnerships and Knowledge Coproduction to Advance Decision-Relevant Science I

SY026 – Science to Action: Transformative Partnerships and Knowledge Coproduction to Advance Decision-Relevant Science II

SY023 – Science to Action: Transformative Partnerships and Knowledge Coproduction to Advance Decision-Relevant Science III Posters

Accelerated by climate change, natural disasters can leave communities-built environments and social institutions with destructive and permanent disruptions. Advances have been made to bridge the knowledge gap between science and applications by defining and quantifying the risk and developing capabilities that visualize or communicate the implications on a community’s built environment and social institutions. However, many challenges remain on quantifying vulnerability and on establishing methods to translate vulnerability and risk to policy actions. Addressing these challenges requires joint efforts between communities, to understand how their social institutions would be affected by hazards, and scientists who can help inform decision-makers about built environment vulnerability. This session aims to highlight and invite presentations showcasing innovative analyses and decision science approaches mitigating the impacts of climate-driven events or long-time horizon hazards on the built environment, consequences on social and economic fabrics; and the role played by community leaders in mitigation and restoration processes.

SY040 – Science to Action: Increasing Communities’ Resilience to Climate Change and Long–Time Horizon Hazards Impacts on the Built Environment and Social Infrastructure I

SY021 – Science to Action: Increasing Communities’ Resilience to Climate Change and Long–Time Horizon Hazards Impacts on the Built Environment and Social Infrastructure II Posters

Water plays a vital role in sustaining and regulating the health of ecosystems and societies. Natural variability and human driven alterations to the hydrologic cycle (i.e. water quantity) drive complex dynamics within human-hydrologic systems and pose challenges to understanding and managing the resource. Additionally, water science that informs management and leads to community action can be illusive. To find scientifically sound, ethical, culturally appropriate, socially compelling, and economically viable water related solutions, we need convergence of scientific research across disciplines as well as a better understanding of and responsiveness to the values, needs and priorities of decision makers, community members, and practitioners. This session welcomes research that addresses historic and emerging problems concerning water quantity or quality through transdisciplinary science. Presentations involving citizen science or community engaged research are encouraged, as are those that demonstrate convergence of methods or theory across fields.

SY039 – Convergent Science, Decision-Making, and Community Action for Addressing Societal Water and Health Needs eLightning

Data can inform and transform global and local decision-making. In water management, a lack of useful data and context hampers our ability to understand water resources and decide how best to manage them. Managing water is increasingly difficult thanks to growing demand, population growth and climate change.
Today, water managers not only need more data that are useful, understandable and available long-term. They also need the right data with the right resolution, latency and format, that can easily plug into decision pipelines. Moreover, organizations must be open to ingesting new data.
This session explores data-driven water and watershed management. How can silos between data producers/scientists and decision-makers be broken down? How are decision-maker priorities uncovered, then translated into needs-driven science? How can water managers build their own capacity to use scientific data in decision-making?
Speakers will share successes, challenges and lessons learned. Talks at the water-energy-food nexus are welcome.

SY036 – Science to Action: Enabling Science- and Data-Driven Water Management I

SY035 – Science to Action: Enabling Science- and Data-Driven Water Management II Posters

Perspectives of Indigenous peoples can bring deep insight to the study and management of complex environmental systems through their holistic approaches to problem solving and ways of knowing. These perspectives can inform and enrich western scientific research and discussions of policy in areas related to sustainability, human-environment interactions, ecosystems, climate adaptation, geohealth, and more. Although western science started to acknowledge the importance of Indigenous knowledges, voices of Indigenous peoples are largely absent from scholarly discourse. With this in mind, we welcome submissions focusing on Indigenous voices and perspectives in environmental sciences and policy emphasizing meaningful collaborations between western scientists and Indigenous communities, or on Indigenous scholars’ experiences walking in both worlds. Submissions may be case studies, syntheses, or other scholarship focusing on one or more Indigenous tribe, group, or organization. We also welcome perspectives discussing relevant issues surrounding community based participation, ethics, data governance, and respect for sacred knowledge.

SY027 – Native Science to Action: How Indigenous Perspectives Inform, Diversify, and Build Capacity in Environmental Science and Policy I

SY020 – Native Science to Action: How Indigenous Perspectives Inform, Diversify, and Build Capacity in Environmental Science and Policy II Posters

Operating rules for most US reservoirs were developed and codified decades ago to reduce risks of dam failure, flooding, and other hazards, while providing for reservoir benefits. Historically, rules were developed so that they did not depend on (then almost nonexistent) skillful weather and inflow forecasts for those risk reductions. Consequently they do not explicitly incorporate much, if any, forecast information. With many recent major improvements in weather and flood forecasting, research and management studies are now evaluating the prospects for a new generation of forecast-informed reservoir operations (FIRO) to improve flood-risk management, water-supply reliability, and environmental/ societal benefits. This session seeks presentations on how FIRO moves from scientific and engineering possibility into decisionmaking and implementation, including (1) physical, hydroclimatic, economic, and legal conditions that affect FIRO’s efficacy, (2) regionally-applicable, decision-relevant criteria for triaging reservoir systems for FIRO viability, and (3) viability assessments and case studies for new FIRO applications.

SY015 – Toward a Generation of Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations: Applicability and Limitations I Posters

This session will showcase new opportunities for engagement of remote and in-person participants from the four directions who are of high benefit to the AGU community, to include innovative use of technology to engage those who are often unable to attend the Fall Meeting. Connecting geographically diverse locations, the session will consist of panel, poster, and eLightning formats as models for expanding inclusion and engagement, and allowing participants to experience the power of place. As remote sensing tells the larger more holistic story of a place, those on the land, the community of the place, tell another important part of the story. This session will connect researchers working with remotely sensed data with indigenous community members who will share their knowledge, their story, of that place along with visual elements from that location.
These relationships are vital. Relating to and experiencing place, through the lens of the stories and people who have lived those stories, is critical to science communication. The session will highlight the soul of communication – stories that connect people to science and place. We welcome abstracts that bring together multiple ways of knowing; practices that encourage our human responsibilities to the Earth and the life systems that sustain us, and communicate lessons learned through more effective storytelling, artful, compelling media, and more impactful results.

A variety of video conference technologies will be used, along with a variety of presentation formats to best meet the needs of the presenters to be included and the information each will share. The conveners seek to bring together satellite data and ground based observations, many ways of knowing, to encompass diverse presenters and create a more complete picture of research areas. This will also bring about equity among participants by allowing for remote participation in the session.

INV13 – Connecting Remote Sensors with Ground Sensors Through the Lens of Relationships, Respect, and Responsibilities

The geosciences often strive to produce knowledge that will help solve pressing societal issues. Despite this motivation, this knowledge is not used in decisions as much as is expected. Understanding why knowledge is not used and identifying strategies to overcome these challenges, requires engagement across many disciplines and inclusion of the communities whose issues we would like to address, especially those that relate to social behavior and decision-making. This session welcomes talks that present social and behavioral findings that illuminate how to forge stronger linkages between science and society, and increase the beneficial use of geoscience knowledge. Insights from varied fields that provide helpful lessons for geoscientists is encouraged, including (but not limited to) anthropology, economics, history, political science, decision science, psychology, and sociology.

SY016 – Science and Society: Social and Behavioral Sciences I

SY013 – Science and Society: Social and Behavioral Sciences II Posters

SY010 – Science and Society: Social and Behavioral Sciences III eLightning 

This session will share experiences in Community Science and Citizen Science. Community Science, using text from the Thriving Earth Exchange, is “the processes by which scientists and communities do science together to advance one or more community priorities. It encourages communities, particularly historically marginalized and oppressed communities, to guide, participate in, learn from, and benefit from science.” Citizen Science, similarly, engages the public to collaborate with scientists to assist in research and monitoring, from local to global investigations. We welcome examples from these growing fields of research that illustrate the importance, value and benefit, to both research and the public, of connecting science with society. We also welcome research about citizen and community science – things like learning outcomes, best-practices, and design strategies – particularly in the context of the geosciences.

SY042 – Science and Society: Community and Citizen Science I

SY011 – Science and Society: Community and Citizen Science II Posters

Do you consider yourself a science communicator or science communication researcher? Does your research group or institution participate in public engagement activities? Have you ever evaluated, studied, or published your education, outreach or engagement efforts? Scientists and communication practitioners engage non-peer audiences through numerous pathways including websites, blogs, public lectures, media interviews, and educational and research collaborations. A considerable amount of time and money is invested in these activities and they play an important role in how different publics come to understand scientific topics, issues, and the research process. However, few opportunities and incentives exist to optimize science communication practices and to evaluate the effectiveness of different engagement approaches. This session, run at both AGU and EGU, encourages critical reflection on science communication best practices and provides an opportunity for the community of science communicators and researchers to share best practices and experiences with evaluation and research in this field.

SY038 – Science and Society: Science Communication Practice, Research, and Reflection I

SY041 – Science and Society: Science Communication Practice, Research, and Reflection II eLightning

SY043 – Science and Society: Science Communication Practice, Research, and Reflection III eLightning

SY032 – Science and Society: Science Communication Practice, Research, and Reflection IV Posters

There is growing demand for opportunities to build capacity to use and apply Earth observations (EO) and geospatial data for societal benefit. In response, the capacity building community is enabling individuals and institutions to build skills and capabilities through a variety of approaches across a range of scales – from local (e.g., in-person trainings and collaborative feasibility studies) to national (e.g., co-development projects with government ministries) to regional (e.g., regional hubs and capacity building networks) to global (e.g., massive open online courses – MOOCs, online webinars, and hackathons). Working at each scale requires consideration of target audience needs and priorities, appropriate formats, and methods for assessing effectiveness. This session will explore the differences between scales and facilitate a knowledge exchange between those working in the EO capacity building and international development realms. Contributors will present case studies that highlight their target audiences, implementation approach, assessment methods, challenges, and best practices.

SY009 – Addressing the Need for Earth Observation Capacity Development at Local, National, Regional, and Global Scales I

SY002 – Addressing the Need for Earth Observation Capacity Development at Local, National, Regional, and Global Scales II Posters

Investors, infrastructure planners, and subnational entities aspire to make climate resilient investments. Presently, uncertainty in future projected climate and weather-related outcomes thwarts their efforts. Practical, scientifically sound guidance is needed to help investors and infrastructure planners make progress toward frameworks and practices that support resilient investments. For example, given a multiplicity of projected futures, should a subset of scenarios be prioritized to promote a more tractable decision-making landscape? How can scientists help convey—while avoiding constraining—uncertainty in projected outcomes? How can scientists contribute to communication of projected variability as well as uncertainty in manner that inspires, rather than overwhelms, efforts toward resilient decision-making? Beyond statistics, what alternative methods and philosophies, such as storylines, have been successful in enabling decision making in the midst of uncertainty? Share success stories of establishment of long-term relationships between scientists and stakeholders; or on production and communication of usable science data, informatics and tools.

SY049 – Beyond Statistics: Providing Science-Based Guidance to Support Resilient Investment in an Uncertain Future I

SY030 – Beyond Statistics: Providing Science-Based Guidance to Support Resilient Investment in an Uncertain Future II Posters

From the expansion of invasive species’ ranges to sea-level rise, changes in climate create new and evolving challenges for our nation’s resource managers and communities. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) network provides science to help managers of fish, wildlife, ecosystems, and cultural resources understand these impacts and strategically adapt to changing conditions. Leveraging a unique, regionally-distributed partnership between the Federal government and top-tier research institutions, the CASC network is ushering in a new era of actionable science to address some of society’s most pressing management challenges. This session will provide insight into the CASC network’s science development process, as well as highlight key scientific results and collaborative products that inform natural and cultural resource management across the country. We encourage presentations describing successful co-production examples, collaborative products incorporated into adaptation by managers, and the theory and practice of use-inspired and useful science.

GC001 – Actionable Climate Science to Advance Fish, Wildlife, Habitat, and Cultural Resource Conservation I

GC002 – Actionable Climate Science to Advance Fish, Wildlife, Habitat, and Cultural Resource Conservation II Posters

Arctic sea ice cover has dramatically declined in recent decades, and more recently in the Antarctic as well. The transition from ice-covered to open water alters the air-sea exchange of momentum, heat, light, freshwater, and gas, enhances surface waves, changes the planktonic ecosystem, and shifts animal migration patterns. Sea ice conditions have also affected Indigenous coastal communities in a variety of ways, including reducing travel and access to subsistence harvesting opportunities. This session focuses on natural variability and long-term changes in the Arctic and Antarctic seasonal and marginal ice zones, gaps in current scientific knowledge, and Indigenous community information needs. This session will include observational, theoretical and numerical investigations that address these topics by connecting sea ice change in the Arctic or Southern Oceans to components within marine, terrestrial, or human systems at local to global scales.

C069 – Sea Ice Change and Variability: Implications for the Climate and Indigenous Communities of High-Latitude Systems I

C065 – Sea Ice Change and Variability: Implications for the Climate and Indigenous Communities of High-Latitude Systems II eLightning

C064 – Sea Ice Change and Variability: Implications for the Climate and Indigenous Communities of High-Latitude Systems III Posters

Rooting learning in places of importance to individual or community can provide motivation and context for learning. This strategy, ‘place-based’ education, is consonant with practices of Indigenous and historically rooted peoples. It has effectively broadened participation in STEM, leveraging human connections to place (sense of place) for context and relevance while teaching Earth science. Place is central to geoscience: geoscientists study and compare specific places to construct understanding of Earth processes and history. Their findings enhance place-making. Geoscience knowledge is location specific, enabling hazards protection, resource extraction and environmental protection for resilience. This session explores how connecting geoscience education to sense of place can strengthen learning and build capacity for all students by means of face-to-face and online strategies, reciprocity in community/educator collaborations; successes for specific audiences; guidance from geoscience education research; and enhanced inter- and transdisciplinary learning and problem solving from place-based learning.

ED046 – Using Place-Based Approaches to Enhance Geoscience Learning I

ED047 – Using Place-Based Approaches to Enhance Geoscience Learning II

Broadening participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is critical, yet Indigenous voices are often lacking; and it is difficult for mainstream researchers to effectively communicate their research, results, and relevance to indigenous communities. Inclusion of diverse perspectives produces innovative problem solving through different modes of critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, and ways of knowing. Climate resiliency is often practiced by people more deeply connected to place; consequently, these communities are more intensely impacted by environmental perturbations. Building capacity engaging sovereign community shapes collaboration with other researchers, and uses an interdisciplinary approach that guides research questions and efforts. Education and research goals that embrace Native input and leadership can drive discovery and innovation to comprehend, adapt to, and mitigate the consequences of climate change. This session presents efforts from Indigenous community members or those working with Indigenous communities engaging in STEM research focused on climate resiliency.

ED049 – A Path Toward Climate Resiliency: Preparing a Future Climate Workforce from Within the Indigenous Community I

ED050 – A Path Toward Climate Resiliency: Preparing a Future Climate Workforce from Within the Indigenous Community II Posters

It is common throughout the world that women and minorities are not well represented in the scientific fields in which they work, nor are they considered when designing and delivering services for resilience to climate change. Most studies do not include gender-disaggregated data or consider how climate information impacts different groups of people. This gap is despite overwhelming evidence that women and minority populations, including indigenous peoples, are able to react, respond, and recover to climate-related shocks in very different ways.

The goal of this session is to showcase work that includes gender or underrepresented groups in their climate service research, design or delivery. In particular, we will consider talks that use remote sensing and or geographic information systems (GIS) to address gendered or minority development issues. These papers will represent the forefront of climate services development and showcase replicable methods for gender and social inclusion in research and applications.

GC027 – Gender and Social Inclusion in Climate Data Services and Analyses I Posters

Scientific pursuits, both within and outside our institutions, have a troubling history and culture of exclusionary and exploitative practices toward traditionally underrepresented groups. Systematic barriers continue to hinder inclusion, which leads to widespread identity-based harassment, lack of racial diversity, disrespect of Indigenous knowledge, and exclusion of people with disabilities, among other consequences. To change this culture, scientific leaders must actively acknowledge and address our biases and be intentional in fostering a culture that sets the expectation of and ensures the physical and emotional safety of all team members. A framework might include implementing a code of conduct, empowering the entire team, and encouraging open and continuous communication. This session brings together researchers, educators, and teams to share experiences and ideas to help our community develop a blueprint for establishing a culture that promotes diversity, inclusion, and equity in science that ensures a safe and respectful workplace, even far afield.

SY037 – Developing a Culture of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in All Our Work, in All Our Places I

SY031 – Developing a Culture of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in All Our Work, in All Our Places II Posters