OCB is seeking nominations for new Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) members, including a new early career member! The deadline for submitting nominations is December 1. The term begins January 2024.
To qualify for the early career spot, a nominee must have completed a PhD within the last 4 years; both postdoctoral researchers and new faculty members are eligible. For the early career nominees who are currently postdocs, a letter of support from the nominee’s postdoctoral advisor is required in addition to filling out the nomination form. This letter of support should be sent to hbenway@whoi.edu.
The SSC members scheduled to rotate off at the end of 2023 are:
- Randelle Bundy (UW) - cycling of bioactive trace metals, chemical speciation of iron, copper, nickel and cobalt, impacts on microbial community structure in the ocean, connecting trace metals with productivity and the carbon cycle
- Victoria Coles (UMCES) - observation and modeling of ocean and estuarine circulation; climate impact; biogeochemical, ecological, and genomic modeling
- Xinping Hu (Texas A&M Univ-Corpus Christi) - estuarine carbon cycle under changing climate conditions and marginal sea acidification
- Susanne Menden-Deuer (URI) - marine planktonic food web structure and function, plankton ecology
- Emily Osborne (NOAA/AOML) - ocean biogeochemistry, emphasis on evaluating ocean carbon dynamics and associated impacts to calcifying marine organisms, ocean observations, climate change impacts, paleoclimate
We are especially interested in filling the following expertise gaps:
- Air-sea gas exchange
- Marginal sea biogeochemistry and anthropogenic disturbance, including acidification, eutrophication, and hypoxia
- Role of fish and fisheries in biogeochemical cycles and marine food webs
- Extreme event (e.g., tropical storms, wildfires) impacts on biogeochemical fluxes and ecosystems in the aquatic continuum
Please cast a diverse net in submitting nominations. We are seeking to entrain new voices and ideas in OCB! Nominees should be at US-based institutions (including Univ. Puerto Rico, Univ. Virgin Islands or in other US territories, minority-serving institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, etc.). Please submit your nomination(s) HERE by December 1.
Self-nominations are welcome! Nominees are evaluated using a rubric that includes consideration of geography (balance across the SSC), science expertise, career stage and other diversity and equity measures. We encourage re-nomination if a prior nomination round was not successful. OCB SSC members serve a 3-year term. For more information on the OCB SSC, including a list of current and previous SSC members, the SSC charge and terms of reference, and links to the past year of SSC minutes, please visit the SSC page of the OCB website.
