Transitions - opportunities for growth, renewal, and gratitude

Authors: Evett, Steven - Steve

Submitted to: CSA News
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/16/2017
Publication Date: 1/4/2018
Citation: Evett, S.R. 2018. Transitions - opportunities for growth, renewal, and gratitude. CSA News Magazine. 63:14-15. https://doi.org/10.2134/csa2018.63.0112

Interpretive Summary: Transitions in life and career represent significant milestones and are cause for both celebration and renewed interest and commitment. The new year brings a transition in leadership of the American Society of Agronomy, and new leadership is welcomed. Transitions can include retirement, as in the case of Dr. B.A. Stewart, an ARS Hall of Famer and 40-year ARS scientist and leader, who retired from West Texas A&M University after 24 years of service as Director of the Dryland Agriculture Institute there. Dr. Stewart’s mastery of transitions holds lessons for us all. As the so-called “Baby Boomers” transition into retirement, we are ill prepared to archive and curate the digital data gathered during their careers. Computer files are wiped and hard disks and other storage media discarded with little thought of the value in those data. In most cases, a conservative estimate of the dollars spent to do the experiments leading to the data would be upwards of $350,000 per scientist per year. As long-term ecological and agro-ecosystem research networks and data intensive modeling efforts such as AgMIP are showing, these long term digital records have enormous value that should not be lost as their originators transition into retirement. Let’s support our senior scientists in the task of assembling, quality checking and imbuing with meaningful metadata the final fruits of their efforts so that we all, and generations to come, can share in the harvest. Along the way we can teach a new generation the value of diligent data management that will surely reap great dividends in years to come.

Technical Abstract: Transitions in life and career represent significant milestones and are cause for both celebration and renewed interest and commitment. The new year brings a transition in leadership of the American Society of Agronomy, and new leadership is welcomed. Transitions can include retirement, as in the case of Dr. B.A. Stewart, an ARS Hall of Famer and 40-year ARS scientist and leader, who retired from West Texas A&M University after 24 years of service as Director of the Dryland Agriculture Institute there. Dr. Stewart’s mastery of transitions holds lessons for us all. As the so-called “Baby Boomers” transition into retirement, we are ill prepared to archive and curate the digital data gathered during their careers. Computer files are wiped and hard disks and other storage media discarded with little thought of the value in those data. In most cases, a conservative estimate of the dollars spent to do the experiments leading to the data would be upwards of $350,000 per scientist per year. As long-term ecological and agro-ecosystem research networks and data intensive modeling efforts such as AgMIP are showing, these long term digital records have enormous value that should not be lost as their originators transition into retirement. Let’s support our senior scientists in the task of assembling, quality checking and imbuing with meaningful metadata the final fruits of their efforts so that we all, and generations to come, can share in the harvest. Along the way we can teach a new generation the value of diligent data management that will surely reap great dividends in years to come.