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A Message from the Assistant Director for NSF’s Geosciences Directorate
Greetings and Happy New Year! I am pleased to share GEO’s first newsletter of 2022 that includes GEO news, exciting research highlights from the last year, as well as funding opportunities for the coming months.
I am thrilled to announce that Dr. Timothy Patten has accepted the position of Deputy Assistant Director for Geosciences and will begin this role on January 18th, 2022. At NSF, Dr. Patten has had broad experience in both the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Engineering (ENG) Directorates. He has held the positions of Program Director and Acting Deputy Division Director in Chemistry, Deputy Division Director for Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET), and acting Deputy Assistant Director in ENG. Before coming to NSF, Dr. Patten was a professor at the University of California, Davis, where he had an active research program in polymer and materials chemistry.
My sincere thanks to Dr. Lina Patino for stepping up to be the Acting Deputy Assistant Director for the past seven months. She has helped and supported me in countless ways. Under her steady leadership, we were able to accomplish many of our goals in 2021.
In this new year, one of my main goals is enhance our communications with the community. We have learned a lot about making virtual communication more effective during the pandemic, but we are always looking for suggestions for improvement. If you have general suggestions you would like to share, please e-mail them to geo-comms@nsf.gov or to me at aisern@nsf.gov. In addition, I strongly encourage you to reach out to the Program Officer managing your NSF-funded awards to share highlights about your projects. We love to share the stories about your research activities as well as your results. We also love stories from your students about their work. We are very happy to discuss how we can help disseminate your results.
I would like to alert you to two important meetings that are coming up in the next few months. The National Science Board meeting is on February 23rd and 24th. For more information, please link to the NSB February meeting. The date has also been set for the spring meeting of the Advisory Committee for Geosciences. Please mark your calendars for April 13th and 14th and monitor the GEO Advisory Committee page for more information as it is available. One of the aspects that makes NSF a dynamic organization is that we are always looking for people to serve on panels and committees. If you are interested in serving on the GEO Advisory Committee, please contact Melissa Lane at mlane@nsf.gov.
If you are interested in working in GEO, we will have several employment opportunities in the coming months. We are always looking for rotators to come and serve as Program Officers (PO) for up to four years. Working as a PO puts you on the cutting edge of research and gives you an opportunity to meet a vast network of geoscience researchers. New opportunities are always being advertised. For more information, follow this link for GEO Career Opportunities.
While many challenges remain, I am confident that 2022 will bring continued progress and advancements in science. I wish you continued success in your endeavors. All your efforts are vital to science and society. NSF and GEO staff are here to support you and we want to hear from you.
 Alexandra R. Isern
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