Environmental data science (EDS) has been a reoccuring but tangential interest for me for decades. My work on systems ethology involves the study of interacting individuals in a complex environment, and for me dates back to the early 1970s.
In the face of challenges of climate change, I have gotten involved in the 2020s with how to empower people to better use data science to tell their environmental stories, whether that be high-end research at scale (big data and big computing) or in community groups. While I tried to lead an effort to build an NSF center at UW-Madison, I have been pleased that ESIIL was awarded that center at University of Colorado Boulder. I look forward to continuing to work with them in coming years.
My efforts to network around EDS put me in touch with several talented Indigenous Data Scientists who are teaching me much about Data Sovereignty, Traditional Knowledge, and how we might better collaborate in the future to heal the planet. I am curious about how these new conversations and collaborations will evolve my thinking and contributions.