One of the most important ways to participate in the SZ4D initiative is to join one of our oversight committees. These committees will allow you to represent your community’s priorities as the SZ4D begins its implementation phase. They will be instrumental in helping to design the overall structure of the SZ4D, the types of instrument arrays that will be necessary to answer the SZ4D science questions, and to build capacity and equity in the initiative.

The way to get involved in these committees is to fill out this form, indicating your interest in serving. If you have anyone else that you’d like to recommend for committee membership, we’d like to know that as well. This information will be compiled by a special committee, called the Committee on Committees, which will develop a slate of potential candidates for each of the oversight committees described below. The Committee on Committee’s membership does not include any members serving on the new committees, so they can dedicate their efforts to ensuring equity, inclusion, and a diversity of viewpoints are built into the SZ4D. This slate will initially be approved by the SZ4D Research Coordination Network steering committee – this approval process will be transferred to the SZ4D Center Steering Committee (described below) once the RCN Steering Committee is replaced by the new, transitional committees.

The SZ4D RCN has developed a set of transitional committees meant to promote involvement in the SZ4D as the program gets going. Each committee has a different level of responsibility, which corresponds to the commitment associated with it. If you are interested in participating in the effort, but your time and capacity are limited, you might consider volunteering for one of our disciplinary working groups or integrative groups. The disciplinary groups will provide scientific input for each of the three major disciplines represented by the SZ4D (Land- and Seascapes, Magmatic Drivers of Eruption, and Faulting and Earthquake Cycles), while the integrative groups will focus on Building Equity and Capacity in the Geosciences and the Modeling Collaboratory for Subduction efforts. These working groups will provide input to the Collective Impact Committee, which provides cross-cutting, scientific input and prioritization to the SZ4D effort. If you are interested and able to dedicate effort to the SZ4D effort, this might be an exciting opportunity to help guide the SZ4D in a way that balances the needs of all of its disciplinary and cross-cutting priorities. Also, the Operations Planning Committee will be responsible for the development and coordination of the actual SZ4D deployments. So, if you’re deeply interested in instrumentation or field campaigns, this committee is for you. Finally, if you’re “all-in” on SZ4D and want to participate in the day-to-day work of the project, we could use your help on the Center Steering Committee. This committee is responsible for moving the project forward based on the directives of the Collective Impact Committee, and the deployment specifications provided by the Operations Planning Committee. This would allow you to be deeply involved in the SZ4D, and to be able to work on behalf of your community to bring the SZ4D to life.