Joanne Simpson Medal Remarks from Ankur

Thank you everyone for the kind words on the awarding of the Joanne Simpson Medal for Mid-Career Scientists 2022 from the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the world’s largest earth and space sciences society.

My spouse captured this video of my remarks which you can watch below or at this youtube link. Text of the remarks are below. The citation for the award, by Dan Vimont and Steve Carpenter can be read this link.

A response from me will be posted by AGU at a future date!

Hello, and thank you! I never got to meet Joanne Simpson, the first US woman to earn a meteorology PhD. She persevered against many odds in her life, in a male-dominated profession, all the while building teams that tackled the hardest problems in meteorology. This she did despite being told by Carl-Gustaf Rossby that her work was quote good for a little girl.

I had the privilege to not face anything so egregious, in many respects due to people like Joanne. Instead, I had privilege. Privilege of parents who moved to this country and supported my education. Privilege of running into the most caring advisor, Ken Davis, who demonstrated how to be an ethical scientist with respect for all we are as humans. Privilege to be married to my best friend, Emily, who keeps me grounded and reminds me, my friends here are not famous, even if they may be well known in the field. And together we get to raise three daughters who are a constant source of love.

I got to land at the University of Wisconsin where with students and researchers, we built the Ecometeorology lab. They push me every day into new ideas and collaborations. Together, we watch trees breathe and then some, hoping to leave a mark on making our planet a little more predictable, manageable, and beautiful.

I thank my original nominator, the remarkable John Kutzbach, who died early 2021 after submitting the original nomination. John always stopped to chat and send notes of encouragement when he saw our lab’s work highlighted. His eternal kindness led him nominate me here. I thank my similarly kind colleagues Steve Carpenter and Dan Vimont for carrying it forward.

I acknowledge the many who work often in the backgrounds, supporting teams, using their position to enact justice and build an inclusive environment, most of whom do not get recognized with awards. To all my collaborators, students, co-conspirators, and friends along the way, who are as much a part of this award as anyone - thank you.

CITATION

It is a fitting accolade that Professor Ankur Desai’s career is now honored with the name of Joanne Simpson. Like Simpson, Desai’s career to date has included transformative scientific advances across multiple areas of inquiry, leadership in field projects, combined use of observations and models to advance understanding, and service and outreach in support of our scientific community. And Desai’s unfailing commitment to building a more fair and equitable environment for all members of our community is most certainly inspired by Dr. Simpson’s trailblazing efforts to do the same for women in our field. Professor Ankur Desai’s research includes transformative scientific advances in broad areas of biogeosciences, atmospheric sciences and global environmental change. His research contributions span the science of micrometeorology and eddy covariance flux measurement, observational studies of Earth’s carbon and water cycles, and combining observations and models to characterize how land-atmosphere feedbacks evolve along spatiotemporal scales. Desai’s key insight in understanding terrestrial carbon and water cycles is recognizing that carbon fluxes cannot be viewed in isolation of any one ecosystem, but rather through scaling and synthesis across these. He has used the upper Midwest as proving ground for many of his theories and conceived (including the acronym) and funded the largest project on scaling of land-atmosphere interactions over tall vegetation since BOREAS (Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study) in the late 1990s. CHEESEHEAD (the Chequamegon Heterogeneous Ecosystem Energy-balance Study Enabled by a High-density Extensive Array of Detectors) arose out of the discoveries made in Desai’s lab on a potential breakthrough in solving the riddle of lack of energy balance closure in eddy covariance, which he had tied fundamentally to issues of scale. Professor Desai’s contributions to our field extend well beyond the realm of research. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison he is widely regarded for his outstanding mentoring and teaching, his leadership in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department, and his leadership in advancing an equitable and inclusive environment. And he gives tirelessly to our scientific fields through his editor duties and leadership in national and international communities. So many of us who have had an opportunity to work alongside Professor Ankur Desai consider him a friend and colleague. For that, we are thrilled that he is being awarded the Joanne Simpson Medal for Mid-Career Scientists! — Daniel J. Vimont University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, Wisconsin — Stephen Carpenter University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, Wisconsin — John Kutzbach (deceased) University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, Wisconsin

RESPONSE

To my nominators, thank you, thank you and thank you! John Kutzbach is one of the kindest scientists I have known, a true mensch. His routine uplifting of my work often provided the shot in the arm I needed to keep plowing ahead, even when the research stalled, the funding spigot dried, or barriers felt insurmountable. Likewise for both Steve Carpenter and Dan Vimont, who then carried on that spirit to renominate me after John’s passing. I promise I will not let this get to my head! There are already enough egos in our science, some that deserve chastising. For sure, I’ve adopted a culture of showmanship. It’s what we do to be heard and showcase the work from our labs, especially when you are not of the majority and operate from a marginalized mindset of working twice as hard for half the credit. But, for me, the more important trait is “show-up-ship.” Show up when students pitch new ideas and need help finding resources. Show up when collaborators want to form teams to tackle ideas. Show up when people want to work with your data and code and share it freely. Show up when communities and groups ask to learn about what your research means for them. Show up when journals and funding agencies and departments need you to put in the work. Show up when your friends and family need support. That’s pretty much it! For two decades, our Ecometeorology Lab has made careful measurements and models of the biosphere and its relationship to the atmosphere to make better sense, better decisions and better predictions of the Earth system. Our best findings were rarely “eureka!” moments. It was never a straight path following some preordained scientific method and certainly never by any one person on their own. Rather, the more beloved utterance in science I find is “whoa, that’s cool” or “huh, that’s weird,” often when huddled in groups or teams over a puzzling figure. More often, this is done when the groups are diverse, open to new ideas, and in a place safe for making new connections. I’m fortunate and privileged to have been part of many moments like this. I will rally so that everyone else can too, especially for those with the least opportunity. If you’re reading this — go and nominate someone you admire for an award or do something else kind for them. Show up! — Ankur R. Desai University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, Wisconsin

Meme me :)