Meet 2024 Raskin Scholar Brandon Whitehead

Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) has awarded the 2024 Robert G. Raskin Scholarship to Brandon Whitehead, a graduate student in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences in the School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE) at the University of Florida as well as an environmental data scientist for Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research in New Zealand. Both ESSIE and Manaaki Whenua are ESIP Partners.

The Raskin Scholarship is an annual award made by ESIP to a current graduate student in the Earth or computer sciences who has an interest in community evolution of Earth science data systems. The scholarship is named for longtime ESIP participant Robert G. Raskin, a pioneer in Earth science semantics, and seeks to promote collaboration, research support and exposure for talented students in the Earth or computer sciences.

This year’s award winner has not only met Rob Raskin, but continues his work on the Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology (SWEET) ontology.

“I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Rob Raskin,” wrote Whitehead, the 2024 Raskin Scholar, in his letter of interest. “As one of the custodians of the SWEET ontology, which Rob developed originally, the scholarship would help formalize, and perhaps memorialize, a link to someone who ended up being a significant influence on my life.”

Sometimes the Raskin Scholarship introduces students to ESIP. But Whitehead is no stranger to ESIP. He served as an ESIP Community Fellow in 2015 and from 2021-2023, Whitehead chaired the ESIP Semantic Technologies Committee. He continues to participate in ESIP activities primarily in semantics, soil ontologies and SWEET ontology. 

“Earth science is inherently interdisciplinary, which means we often borrow concepts and terms from other domain sciences like biology, chemistry and physics,” Whitehead said. “In so doing, we inevitably refer to similar concepts using different terms, or to different concepts using similar terms.”

Ontologies map and cross reference any differences or nuances in terminology to ensure shared understanding. Semantics, more broadly, is the study of this meaning making. 

Whitehead has worked on semantics for most of his career and he recently decided to return to school to pursue a PhD. He is working  in the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE) at University of Florida alongside ESIP leader Kathe Todd-Brown, who currently serves on the ESIP Board and chairs the Soil Ontology and Informatics Cluster.

“I first met Brandon during a Soil Ontology and Informatics cluster call,” said Todd-Brown, who is also an assistant professor in ESSIE. “My lab specializes in soil model development and, in theory, we know ontologies could provide critical informatics infrastructure. I’m excited to continue to explore these connections with Brandon linking up soil carbon measurements with soil carbon models.”

At the ESIP Meeting in July, Whitehead presented during a plenary session and awards ceremony.