Description:

For decades the geoscience community, including the disciplines of atmospheric science and meteorology, has lagged behind other STEM fields in creating a diverse workforce that reflects the diversity of the United States.  As our research community continues to grapple with weighty science issues such as Earth system predictability and climate change, understanding the nexus of disease spread and environmental shifts, the impact of sea level rise on the coastal built environment, and changes in land use that will impact biodiversity, ideation and approaches will require that associated societal issues are centered.  But how can we adequately address societal issues when our workforce and scientific community is not reflective of society? The atmospheric science community has a long history of investing in programs and strategies to bring students and scientists who have been marginalized into classrooms and workspaces.  However, there has not been a commiserate effort making those places welcoming, where every individual can bring their full self into that space.  To make progress on creating a workforce that is truly reflective of the greater population, a cultural transformation is needed.  This transformation requires not only a commitment from the atmospheric science community, but also intentional efforts that are based on sound grounding from the social sciences that emphasize the need for belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity and inclusion principles.   This session will explore cultural transformation in the atmospheric science community.  Talks are invited from experts in cultural transformation as well as individuals that have taken on cultural transformation at their institution or in their research and can share their successes, failures, lessons learned and hopes for the future.