Geological Society of America Announces 2023–2024 Fellows for Science Policy and Communication

Boulder, Colo., USA: GSA is pleased to welcome three exceptional new Fellows who will join us in our mission to advance geoscience knowledge and discovery through excellent writing, research, and advocacy.

GSA’s 2023–2024 Science Communication Fellow is Arianna Soldati.

Soldati is an assistant professor of volcanology at North Carolina State University. Her lab group works on a variety of topics, ranging from effusive eruptions to critical minerals. She received her Ph.D. in geological sciences from the University of Missouri–Columbia in 2018, where she specialized in lava flow rheology, i.e. how far and how fast can lava flow. This information can help mitigate risk for the 500 million people living near active volcanoes worldwide.

Soldati was part of the inaugural cohort of science communication interns at the 2017 GSA Annual Meeting. She has delivered over 50 public lectures, led countless outreach activities, and written for GSA’s guest blog Speaking of Geoscience, as well as Scientific American, National Geographic, and CNN, among other outlets. Soldati also founded her own traveling outreach program, Science on Wheels , which brings graduate students’ science to adults living in rural communities, giving them the chance to meet a scientist right in their hometown and promoting a positive perception of science.

Josh Martin will serve as GSA’s 2023–2024 Science Policy Fellow.

Martin grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where trips to the Orton Geological Museum and the Center of Science and Industry instilled an early love of science. He majored in geological sciences at Ohio University (OU), along with earning minors in math and physics. Working with the faculty at OU eventually led to interests in mineral physics and planetary geology, which he would later explore during his Ph.D. at Ohio State University, where he developed high-precision models of material properties for use in modeling Earth and rocky exoplanets. Martin also served as a graduate research assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the summer of 2019.

Martin’s interest in policy took off during the spring of 2020, when aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of clear communication between scientists, policymakers, and the public. This led to his participation in various science policy and science communication workshops, as well as the 2022 Geosciences Congressional Visits Day, where he and other geoscientists met with policymakers to advocate for increased funding for the geosciences. After completing his Ph.D. in December 2022, Martin taught introductory geology courses at the University of Dayton in the spring of 2023. His experience teaching underscored just how important it is for students to have educators who are invested in them and their education, further cementing Martin’s interest in policy that can strengthen higher education in the geosciences and across STEM fields.

Robby Goldman will serve as the 38th GSA–U.S. Geological Survey Congressional Science Fellow.

Goldman is a geologist who studies how volcanic eruptions impact human society and how scientists communicate with the public. Goldman recently completed his Ph.D. in geology at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow. Following the 2018 eruption of Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano, Goldman volunteered with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as an NSF graduate research intern to evaluate the USGS Volcano Hazard Program's eruption communication response. This research provided Goldman a unique opportunity, as a Native Hawaiian volcanologist, to learn how volcano science can be conducted for the benefit of Native Hawaiians and other communities vulnerable to volcanic hazards.

Goldman grew up in Los Angeles and received his B.A. in geology (with a minor in physics) from Pomona College in 2015. Prior to beginning his Ph.D., Goldman conducted a one-year Fulbright research fellowship in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he investigated the evolutionary history of New Zealand's Miocene-aged Akaroa Volcanic Complex. Several years after his fellowship, Goldman volunteered with Fulbright Prism, a nonprofit organization providing resources and community for LGBTQ+ Fulbright grantees and alumni.

Following his participation in GSA’s 2017 Geosciences Congressional Visits Day, Goldman developed a passion for science policy outreach that would last throughout his six-year Ph.D. program. Goldman served as the Advocacy Chair of the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign’s Science Policy Group from 2018 to 2019, while also participating in the 2018 AAAS Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering workshop. Furthermore, Goldman participated in the inaugural 2018–2019 class of the American Geophysical Union's Voices for Science Program. Since 2019, Goldman has served on GSA's Geology and Public Policy Committee, a role that he is eager and grateful to continue during his year as the Congressional Science Fellow.

The Geological Society of America (GSA) (https://www.geosociety.org) unites a diverse community of geoscientists in a common purpose to study the mysteries of our planet (and beyond) and share scientific findings. Members and friends around the world, from academia, government, and industry, participate in GSA meetings, publications, and programs at all career levels, to foster professional excellence. GSA values and supports inclusion through cooperative research, public dialogue on earth issues, science education, and the application of geoscience in the service of humankind.

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