Career Pathway Interview: Emily K Read, Chief of the U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Mission Area Web Communications Branch—Bringing Water Data to the Public

Abstract

In this interview, we feature Emily Read, Chief of the U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Mission Area Web Communications Branch (Fig. 1).

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is among the largest water data entities in the United States and is tasked with monitoring, studying, and predicting changes in water quantity and quality throughout the nation. Perhaps most prominently, the USGS maintains thousands of streamgages that provide real-time flow and stage height estimates, with collection of data beginning at some streamgages in the 1890s (https://labs.waterdata.usgs.gov/visualizations/gages-through-the-ages/index.html; Fig. 2). These large volumes of data require massive cyberinfrastructure to not only aggregate the wealth of water data collected by USGS but also interpret and provide those data to a wide range of end users. With billions of website visits annually, the USGS Water Resources Mission Area Web Communications Branch serves users with comprehensive, timely water science information; web navigation; visual design; functionality; user experience; and interactivity across the Water Resources Mission Area web portfolio (https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/integrated-information-dissemination-division).

The Branch is led by Emily Read, Ph.D., a limnologist with expertise in microbial ecology, informatics, and team science (https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/emily-k-read). To get a sense of her career path as a scientist and supervisor in a Federal agency, we interviewed Emily about how she arrived at this position, what her position entails, and what she sees as the frontier for delivering timely water data to the nation.

M.M.: CAN YOU INTRODUCE YOUR BACKGROUND AND THE POSITION THAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN?

E.R.: I am the Chief of Web Communications for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area. In this role, I lead the digital delivery of water data and information in accessible, discoverable, and interoperable formats. Prior to working for the USGS, I was a postdoctoral associate at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, where I worked on continental-scale analysis of water quality and the science of team science. I also served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Bard College. I earned both my undergraduate and master's degrees in environmental science from the University of Arizona and Indiana University, respectively. Finally, I did a Ph.D. in environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. After making the transition from academia to the Federal government following my postdoc, I started as a project manager for data delivery systems at the USGS Water Resources Mission Area. That is what led me to my current role!

M.M.: HOW DID YOU MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM ACADEMIA TO YOUR CURRENT POSITION?

E.R.: Like many postdocs, I considered continuing down the academic path, as that was presented as the most obvious path for people like me completing a Ph.D. and postdoc position in science. In the end, the opportunity to work at the USGS and focus on data-intensive water problems in a very collaborative environment won me over. I knew several people who had joined the USGS after completing engineering degrees at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. This meant I was joining a cohort of early career water resources engineers in the Federal government—that reduced the unknowns of the Federal job for me and made it less of a leap.

M.M.: WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO FOLLOW YOUR CAREER PATH?

E.R.: I have never had career plans extending more than a few years into the future. I tend to take opportunities as they come and pursue project work and collaborations that I find fulfilling. This approach has never let me down! I have to thank my Ph.D. advisor, Trina McMahon (https://mcmahonlab.wisc.edu/people/mcmahon-katherine/), and postdoc advisors, Kathleen Weathers (https://www.caryinstitute.org/science/our-scientists/dr-kathleen-c-weathers) and Paul Hanson (https://limnology.wisc.edu/staff/hanson-paul/), for allowing me to follow my interests and dreams while I was under their leadership—I would not have ended up where I am without their incredible guidance and support. They also set a very high bar for what it means to authentically collaborate, with mutual trust, respect, accountability, and creativity. Today, I love my job at the USGS and the best thing about it is working with incredibly smart, creative, mission-driven technologists and scientists.

M.M.: WHAT WOULD YOU TELL PEOPLE CONSIDERING A CAREER AS A GOVERNMENT SCIENTIST? WHAT DO YOU WISH THAT YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN?

E.R.: Before joining the USGS, my professional experience did not go too much beyond the bounds of academia. When I started at the USGS and got to know the organization, as well as other agencies in the water space, I was blown away by the really cool water science and water resource management efforts going on in government. The working model at USGS—a Federal science bureau within the U.S. Department of Interior—is different from the university setting. In my experience, it has a high level of collaboration and a big emphasis on providing value to the public. It is this focus on applying science and technology for the benefit of society that is most compelling to me, of which I was not aware before coming to government.

M.M.: WHAT EXCITES YOU THE MOST ABOUT YOUR POSITION?

E.R.: My favorite part of my job is working with a team of talented scientists and technologists to make water information findable, accessible, and usable for everyone. Because the USGS has been delivering water data on the web since 1995, we are both a huge fixture in the water science world as a data provider, but we also have a lot of opportunities to modernize and improve our offerings. You can learn more about what our team does, and how we do it here: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/blog/.

MFM declares he is an Associate Editor of L&O Bulletin.