Panel Testimonials - 2025 Call for US CLIVAR Panel Members

“I joined the US CLIVAR Phenomena, Observations, and Synthesis (POS) Panel in January 2021, during the mid-stage of my career. During my time on the panel, I participated in monthly panel meetings, web seminars, annual panel meetings, and US CLIVAR summits. For the panel meetings, I organized and co-chaired sessions on a range of topics, presenting the latest scientific insights into oceanographic and climate phenomena and events. I also served on the Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC) for the US CLIVAR workshop titled "Changing Circulation of the Arctic Ocean and Sub-Arctic Seas," where I was involved in planning, organizing, and leading the event. Following the workshop, I contributed to the preparation of the workshop report. Finally, based on discussions during the POS meetings, a workshop addressing one of the research topics raised was proposed to US CLIVAR and subsequently supported by the Inter-Agency Group.

Serving on the US CLIVAR POS panel has been highly beneficial to my career in several ways. It has provided an excellent opportunity to engage with new research topics and the most pressing scientific challenges. Scientists and researchers from private industry, invited to the web seminars and US CLIVAR meetings, offered valuable insights into the latest advancements in science and technology. Participating in US CLIVAR activities has also provided opportunities to expand my professional network and connect with new research groups and industry leaders.” -Dmitry Dukhovskoy, POS Panel

“I used to view US CLIVAR from a distance and never pictured myself participating. A more senior scientist from my institution was involved in US CLIVAR, which brought it closer to me. I applied to join the POS panel right after the pandemic, a time when isolation had become especially challenging, particularly for early-career scientists. Upon joining the POS panel, I was immediately immersed in a group of colleagues who shared a passion for community service and broadening their research horizons. This experience allowed me to connect with incredible colleagues in climate science, people I might never have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. I was also exposed to areas of climate science beyond my own expertise through webinars and annual meetings. As a panel, we brainstormed and organized workshops and working groups. Additionally, conversations with program managers during summit meetings provided me with a broader understanding of the funding mechanisms and landscape in climate science.
Participating in US CLIVAR is a form of community service. It requires a time commitment, but the workload is reasonable. It includes organizing and participating in monthly webinars and sessions during the two-day annual panel meetings and biannual US CLIVAR summit meetings. The level of involvement can also vary. I strongly encourage colleagues who have a solid grasp of a specific relevant topic and are interested in advancing it through community collaboration to consider applying to serve on one of the panels.  I am also happy to answer questions offline.” - Jinbo Wang, POS Panel


“I started on the PPAI right as I was transitioning from early to mid career. The panel benefited my career by extending my network and exposing me to the bigger picture predictability research landscape, particularly external to my agency. Although some of my participation was during Covid, when activities were lower, I participated in annual meetings and summits, organized a webinar series, and contributed to a white paper that will be submitted to a journal.” - Erin Towler, PPAI Panel
 

“I joined the PSMI Panel as a second-year assistant professor during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, much of my early work on the panel focused on convening virtual meetings, webinars, and asynchronous report writing. In recent years, however, the return to vibrant in-person summits and panel meetings has been especially rewarding. These gatherings have improved my understanding of PSMIP's role in enhancing climate model fidelity and fostering collaboration within the scientific community.
Serving on the panel has provided numerous opportunities to engage with outstanding scientists from across the country and to collaborate with program managers and agency representatives. These interactions have facilitated meaningful exchanges of information, enabling the panel to contribute to the strategic direction of US climate modeling efforts while also providing me with valuable insights that have improved the competitiveness of my own proposals. Through my service with PSMIP, I have learned about strategies for data equity and open access, which I have shared with my lab to better train the next generation of scientists. This experience has enriched my ability to support science and will continue to benefit my work even after my tenure with US CLIVAR ends.” - Colin Zarzycki, PSMI Panel
 

“I highly recommend serving on a US CLIVAR panel. I joined during the beginning of the pandemic and it was nice to have a community of scientists that I could interact with even if it was only virtual during the first few years. After we started meeting in person again, I was struck again by the caliber of scientists serving on the US CLIVAR committees. Not only are they among the top experts in their fields, but they are the most committed and passionate people in trying to make their science accessible and useful to society at large. If you have any reservations, put them aside and give US CLIVAR a shot.” - Michelle L'Heureux, PPAI Panel
 

“I joined the PSMIP in January 2021, at the mid-career stage of my professional journey. During nearly four years of service on the panel, I have had the privilege of participating in US CLIVAR summits, panel annual meetings, and webinar series. My involvement mostly included contributing to the discussions on proposing session topics, inviting speakers, and reporting outcomes. Through these activities, I was able to leverage my expertise in process-level to global-scale modeling of aerosols, clouds, atmospheric transport, high-latitude variabilities and systems interaction, to make substantial contributions. My tenure on the panel provided numerous opportunities to connect with fellow panelists (from all three panels), speakers, SSC and inter-agency group members, and other participating researchers. These interactions have significantly enhanced my networking and leadership skills, enriching my professional development.” - Hailong Wang, PSMI Panel
 

“Serving on the US CLIVAR PPAI Panel has had a tremendous impact on my professional career as a climate scientist. I began serving a couple of months before receiving my PhD.  Although I had previous experience working on applied climate projects in my region, as an early career scientist US CLIVAR provided me the opportunity to work with experts across the country, expanding my professional network and broadening my own horizons on the impacts and complexities of climate change. It's easy to say the scientists who served in my panel were brilliant. They were, of course, but what set this group apart was their welcoming nature and willingness to collaborate, making it easy to focus on the science topics of our panel. During my time on the panel, I participated in numerous meetings and webinars, discussions to help form a working group, co-organized a webinar series, attended in-person and virtual annual meetings, and participated in two white papers soon to be submitted to peer-reviewed journals. I firmly believe my experience with US CLIVAR not only helped me attain a new climate scientist job working with the federal government, it also increased my confidence and eagerness to participate in other national and regional level activities. If you're interested in any of the US CLIVAR science goals or research challenges, I recommend you to get involved.” - John Callahan, PPAI Panel