Abstract
Allison MacKay
“Y Coordination of the Junior Faculty Mentor Program that receives enthusiastic support from senior environmental engineering and science faculty willing to share their time and wisdom (Membership and Demographics Committee). Support for AEESP members to bring science-informed insight into policy through a successful virtual coffee hour highlighting member engagement in policy work and by assistance to advance nominations to national science boards (Government Affairs Committee). Simplification of the award nomination process, resulting in increased nominations for consideration across faculty and student AEESP award categories (Awards Committee). Sustaining connections with our student members through continuation of the fall Future Faculty webinar series and the coming spring Industry Career series (Student and Post Doc Services Committee). Streamlining the AEESP Foundation Board succession plan and partnering with a fiduciary service to optimize growth of the foundation endowment through investment principles that align with AEESP values (AEESP Foundation Board). Developing strategies to maintain the strong fiscal position of AEESP through future modest increases in revenues as national inflationary factors impact organization expenses (Board). Thoughtful preparation for the regularly scheduled 2023 AEESP Research and Education Conference that builds upon popular features by adding new elements to keep excitement after a pandemic-delayed 2021 event. This will include workshops by other AEESP committees not highlighted specifically here (Conference Planning Committee).
Through each of these activities, it is critical that they provide value to each of our members, no matter their social identity, their technical area of expertise, or the role that they play at their type of academic institution. AEESP membership in the ACCESS+ (Amplifying the Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success) initiative allowed us to undertake an equity scorecard exercise that has set the path for two initiatives. First is the collection of better quantitative data to better inform ourselves about who is our membership—Many thanks to each of you who filled out the demographic survey with your 2023 registration.
Second is the receipt of a small grant from the ACCESS+ team to engage a professional facilitator to assist us to imbed an inclusive lens, which builds upon awareness of social identity, within our individual AEESP committees. We look forward to sharing the outcomes with you at the 2023 conference and to chart a plan for next year on the strong foundation of diversity awareness existing within AEESP.
I continue to be grateful for the dedicated contributions of our all-volunteer organization to share our collective career knowledge, to communicate our scholarship to stakeholders, and to develop the environmental engineering and science workforce.
I look forward to seeing you in Boston in June!
Allison MacKay
AEESP President