[CIG-ALL] CIG: A New Year Update from EC Chair(s) and HQ

[Lorraine Hwang]

8 January 2021

Dear Community,

On the behalf of the Executive Committee of CIG, we would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that you had some opportunity over the break to recover from the challenges of 2020, or at least to take a deep breath and prepare for another challenging year. The events of the past week make me thankful for the wonderfully supportive community we have built here over the past 15 years.

CIG will be focused very strongly on a renewal proposal in 2021. Much has taken place both through your direct participation - surveys, elections, and Community Meeting; and behind the scenes including the leadership search and formation of the CIG IV proposal writing committee. 

We are pleased to announce that Bruce Buffett, UC Berkeley, has agreed to Chair the proposal writing group for CIG IV along with Lorraine Hwang, Wolfgang Bangerth, Sylvain Barbot, Ebru Bozdag, Rene Gassmoeller, Laurent Montesi, Maxwell Rudolph, Marc Spiegelman, and Jolante van Wijk.  We feel this is a very strong group that represents both the past and future of CIG. As we form a proposal that will prepare and sustain our community for the challenges ahead while enabling growth of our communities, we are grateful for the input received from you. Look for further opportunities to contribute by writing a science highlight (details will be sent late WInter). Your science will guide us in the next phase of CIG. Look for more details in the February Newsletter. Please feel free to contact the writing group through either Bruce or Lorraine.

The new year always kicks off a flurry of planning activities. We will continue to be operating our workshops and hack events virtually through the summer. Registration is open for the 2nd ASPECT Virtual User Meeting January 25-26 and our first Software Developers Meeting February 23-25 (virtual). Stay tuned as we roll out more opportunities to engage in software development and training.  

Message from Louis Moresi, outgoing EC Chair
I have been the chair of the CIG Executive committee for the past three years and it is time to hand over to new leadership. Katie Cooper of WSU has been elected as the new Chair of the EC and Claire Currie, U. Alberta, will serve as the vice-Chair. I would like to thank everyone involved in the leadership of CIG for their thoughtful and wise contributions in steering CIG through the last two very turbulent years. 
It was a pleasure to work with Louise, Magali and Lorraine as CIG directors and to help implement their combined vision for the future of CIG. It was particularly rewarding to have the opportunity to engage with Louise Kellogg, I learned a great deal about leadership from her and I miss our conversations very much. Many of those conversations revolved around her desire to see CIG thrive and develop to meet the changing research landscape and the evolving needs of the CIG community. We have spent much of the past year talking to you about what you need from CIG and how you would like to see the organisation evolve. We are thankful to all of those who took the time out of their busy schedules to have conversations with us on leadership and vision for CIG IV. 

Message from Katie Cooper, incoming EC Chair
I want to offer deep gratitude to Louis Moresi for his leadership of the EC for the past two transitional years of CIG.  We all benefited from his steady guidance, institutional history, and tendency toward creative and inclusive solutions.  Thank you, Louis. Thank you to Magali Billen and Lorraine Hwang for shepherding CIG through this difficult time while also grieving the loss of a friend, mentor, and colleague. I look forward to serving as the next EC Chair as we shift into preparing the proposal for CIG IV. I’m excited to see the community vision that the proposal writing committee will send forward. I encourage you all to engage with the team as well with the EC and SSC – my inbox is always open. I, too, miss my conversations with Louise and suggest we all embrace her dedication to building and growing a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community within the geosciences.

Please continue to stay safe. I am optimistic in 2021 that science will continue to be our guide through this pandemic and the world will emerge more resilient to the challenges that lie ahead. 

Best Regards,
Lorraine Hwang
Bruce Buffet
Katie Cooper
Louis Moresi



Best,
-Lorraine

*****************************
Lorraine Hwang, Ph.D. - Director
Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics
UC Davis
530.752.3656
geodynamics.org





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.geodynamics.org/pipermail/cig-all/attachments/20210108/9d0184f5/attachment-0001.htm>