Welcome to the new ESIP website!
Welcome 2023 Community Fellows
Welcome 2023 ESIP Community Fellows!
ESIP Community Fellows are graduate students interested in bridging the gap between informatics and Earth science. The 2023 Community Fellows will support ESIP's collaboration areas and meetings in January and July, helping connect the Earth science data community. Which they do while continuing their studies and growing their careers!
This year's class of Community Fellows is a mix of returning fellows and new faces. They span many Earth science and data science fields, bringing together a strong team with interdisciplinary interests and enthusiasm.
Interested in being a 2024 ESIP Community Fellow? Here is how to apply.
Returning Fellows
Mike Mahoney
Information Technology & Interoperability (IT&I) Committee
Mike is a PhD student at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), focusing on predictive modeling and visualization with a focus on natural systems. His current work focuses on using game engines as GIS to visualize landscapes in 3D and VR as a method for scientific communication and outreach. Mike additionally serves on the Carpentries' Geospatial Advisory Committee, and is a part of the Climate and Applied Forest Research Institute at ESF where he develops machine learning models to predict current and historical forest biomass across New York State to help quantify forest carbon sequestration over time.
James (Jake) Gearon
Envirosensing Cluster
James (Jake) Gearon is a PhD student in sedimentology and remote sensing at Indiana University and holds a B.S. and M.S. in geology from the University of Texas at Austin. Broadly, he is a sedimentologist focused on marrying big-data analytics, remote sensing, geostatistics, and sedimentology to investigate the surface—and past surfaces—of the earth. His research centers around uses and combinations of large datasets, novel and established analytical methods, and old-fashioned fieldwork to constrain surface processes, including multi-scale sedimentary dynamics, landscape evolution, ecogeomorpholgy, critical zone processes, depositional architectures, and sediment-water interfaces in both modern and ancient settings.
Daniel Segessenman
Data Stewardship Committee
Daniel is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences (AOES) Department at George Mason University. His research involves compiling, quantifying, and analyzing the spatial, temporal, and physical characteristics of rocks across entire continents. Most recently, Daniel’s work has focused on a period in Earth’s history known as the ‘Dawn of Animals’ (Ediacaran; 635-539 million years ago) to better understand global Earth environments and geologic processes that led to the evolution of some of our most ancient ancestors. As part of the ESIP community, Daniel hopes to continue learning more about leading practices in creating, maintaining, and promoting datasets that are accessible to any individuals who may be interested in them
Morgan Wofford
Open Science Cluster
Morgan Wofford is a doctoral student at the School of Information at the University of Michigan. She is interested in how we create equitable and culturally meaningful access to data while minimizing intentional and unintentional misuse. Her current research draws on digital ethnography to understand how communities evaluate and reuse earth science data from open data repositories. She holds a B.S. in wildlife biology from the University of California, Davis, and an MLIS from the University of California, Los Angeles.
New Fellows
Sruti Modekurty
Community Resilience Cluster
Sruti is currently pursuing an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s in Urban Climate and Sustainability and has a Bachelor's in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests include using open data and machine learning to understand cities as systems and find multi-win climate solutions to help the most vulnerable communities. Previously, she was the Platform Lead at OpenAQ building open-source technology to help communities around the world fight air pollution. She was also a fellow at Blue Ridge Labs, working on tech-enabled solutions for New Yorkers facing housing instability and the UNDP Global Center for Technology, Innovation, & Sustainable Development.
Chad Lanctot
Physical Samples Cluster
Chad is a gradaute student at the University of Tennessee Knoxville's School of Information Sciences. Alongside his master's degree, he is pursuing a graduate certificate in Research Data Management. He is currently an intern with the USGS Science Data Management Team learning how to manage digital repositories. Currently, he is researching data standardization methods of federal emergency management systems by conducting qualitative analyses of current policies and metadata standards.
Kyla Richards
Biological Data Standards Cluster
Kyla is a marine science master’s student at Hawai‘i Pacific University and holds a B.S. in biology from the University of Puget Sound. Her master’s research focuses on population structure in the endemic seagrass of Hawai‘i. Kyla is also a Pathways Intern for the USGS where she is supporting the development and publishing of National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) data.
Chhaya Kulkarni
Data Readiness Cluster
Chhaya is a PhD student at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) pursuing a degree in Information Systems. Her areas of interest are primarily in spatiotemporal data mining. She likes to read non-fiction books, bake, and paint in her spare time.
