BAMOS Vol 33 No.3 September 2020 | Page 4

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BAMOS Sep 2020

President ’ s report

Angela Maharaj
It has been a mixed bag of a season since the last issue of BAMOS . We have enjoyed fairly good weather up until the recent East coast lows . While most of the country is still suffering from severe rainfall deficiencies , south eastern Australia has enjoyed some good rain and a La Nina alert brings hope of a wetter than average spring . And of course , while most of the country has thus far been lucky enough to stave off a second wave of COVID‐19 , our thoughts are with our Victorian friends and colleagues who have suffered through a second wave and a second lockdown .
In acknowledgement of the continuing disruption from COVID‐19 , we have extended the deadline for the AMOS awards to 1 October 2020 . Up for nomination this year are the Meyers Medal ( early career ), Morton Medal ( leadership and mentorship ), Gibbs Medal ( operational forecasting ) and the AMOS Science Outreach Award . Please consider nominating a worthy recipient for these awards . See the AMOS Award web pages at www . amos . org . au for the selection criteria and the nomination process .
Over June and July , AMOS took part in the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action ’ s ( ELCA ) virtual bushfire and climate summit , together with hundreds of participants from across Australia , to coordinate a national response to the Australian climate and bushfire crisis . A number of AMOS members lent their scientific expertise to the discussions , considered the views of other stakeholders and listened to the experiences of stricken communities . My deepest gratitude to those members for representing AMOS in this important national discussion . You can read the recommendations that arose from the summit online .
I hope AMOS members took the opportunity to enjoy some National Science Week activities throughout August including the public lecture and panel discussion on “ Bushfires , the Atmosphere and the Marine Environment ” jointly presented by AMOS ( Tasmanian Regional Centre ) and the Australian Marine Science Association ( AMSA ). I would like to extend my gratitude to the Tasmanian Regional Centre for organising and running National Science Week events for five straight years .
This year ’ s National Science Week school theme was “ Deep Blue : innovations for the future of our oceans ”, a highly relevant theme for AMOS .
Speaking of schools , you may have heard the news of Sir Ken Robinson ’ s passing in late August . Robinson was a well‐known author and educator but is perhaps even more famous for having the most popular TED talk ever , currently sitting at over 66.3 million views . In that talk , entitled “ Do schools kill creativity ?” Robinson makes some witty observations about university professors and cautions against a purely utilitarian view of education . Robinson advocates the importance of nurturing creativity ( defined as the process of having original ideas of value ) and argues that creativity is harnessed through the interaction of different disciplinary ways of thinking . This resonates with AMOS in that while the subjects that underpin most of our professional work are STEM‐based , we are most effective and impactful when we collaborate across a variety of disciplines . Our universities are currently facing some serious challenges , which may lead to a further separation of arts and sciences at a time when our profession is starting to reap the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration . One has only to browse through the content of a BAMOS issue to see just how much art , history , literature , philosophy and ethics enrichen and advance our sciences . If you haven ’ t viewed Sir Ken Robinson ’ s TED talk , do yourself a favour and watch it online .
The Climate Stripes / Climate Colours initiative , which integrates science and visualisation to improve communication of climate data , is an example of such creative thinking . AMOS has now added innovation and public health safety to that initiative ’ s list of attributes by creating the AMOS Climate Colours reusable facemask . The stripes on our face masks show the last 50 years of Australian mean temperature anomalies . You can read more about what these stripes mean at https :// showyourstripes . info /. I would like to thank Catherine de Burgh‐Day , Andrew Watkins and Sonya Fiddes for conceiving and organising this activity and to everyone who purchased the masks . The proceeds of the sale will help AMOS raise funds in what is looking to be a financially volatile year .