 Jack Gilbert, UC San Diego |
 Ashley Shade, Michigan State University and CNRS |
 Jason Stajich, UC Riverside |
The JGI welcomes three new members to their User Executive Committee (UEC) – Jack Gilbert, Ashley Shade, and Jason Stajich! They join six other JGI users already serving on the UEC – go here to view the full roster of members.
Each of the researchers had their own reasons for wishing to serve on the UEC. For microbial ecologist Gilbert at the University of California (UC) San Diego, being on the UEC is an opportunity to help develop the JGI’s community outreach efforts with diversity, equity and inclusion in mind.
Microbiome ecologist Shade became Director of Research at France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in October and maintains a lab at Michigan State University. She aims to help overcome common user bottlenecks in access, analysis and sharing of JGI-generated data. She is also interested in reaching and engaging with new international collaborators and other scientific organizations.
Fungal biologist Stajich from UC Riverside sees the JGI’s open application process for proposal calls as an opportunity to broadly increase access. He aims to be an advocate helping both the scientific and education communities access and build on the JGI’s resources.
The UEC represents the JGI user community and is responsible for providing input and advice on JGI policies and practices that affect users and their access to technical capabilities JGI offers, as well as proposal review procedures and the organization of the JGI Annual Genomics of Energy & Meeting. Any investigator who has been an active user of the JGI at any time in the past two fiscal years is eligible for election to the UEC. Members serve three-year terms and can serve no more than two consecutive terms.
The JGI solicited UEC nominations in late 2022 and the election period concluded on Jan. 6, 2023. With the election, the following UEC members stepped down at the end of their terms: Stephen Giovannoni, Timothy James, Kostas Konstantinidis, Michelle O’Malley, Marie-Noelle Rosso and Kelly Wrighton.