Abstract Addressing the challenges facing students and researchers in academia requires reimagining academic traditions to make research and teaching more equitable and effective. Kemeny et al. (2024, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024cn000240 ) proposed 14 alternative academic practices, focused on the physical sciences in the United States, designed to launch discussion. These proposals spanned the graduate student experience, faculty careers, evaluation methods, peer review and publication, and conference norms. It is important to gauge levels of support for these practices in order to inform strategies for implementation. To assess support for the proposed alternative practices, Kemeny et al. included a survey that invited readers to share their quantitative and qualitative evaluations. The survey was open for 18 months and received 83 unique responses. Most practices received mean ratings above neutral, though only six were significantly above the scale midpoint after correction for multiple comparisons. The practice with the highest support was anonymous manuscript review (#9), followed by teaching‐focused faculty leading courses (#2), free conference attendance (#14), a lottery system for grant review (#7), decentralized graduate training by departments (#3), and rotating faculty editing appointments at journals (#10). Women were significantly more likely than men to support the practice of conferences not serving alcohol or hosting bar‐related events ( p , FDR‐corrected = 0.017). Respondents were also invited to propose alternative academic practices, most of which focused on reforms to the graduate student experience. While understanding public perceptions of reimagined academic practices is necessary, institutional constraints, cost, legality, and cultural resistance must also be considered when assessing implementation feasibility.
Abstract Mineralogy has traditionally classified matter primarily through local chemistry and diffraction symmetry. But some physically distinct states of matter differ neither principally in composition nor in obvious diffraction symmetry; they differ in how fluctuations behave over very large distances. Such states may therefore already exist in mineral collections under names such as glass, metamict material, or poorly crystalline phase.
Abstract Climate intervention technologies, Solar Radiation Management (SRM) and marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR), are moving from theoretical proposal to serious policy consideration, yet the scientific communities and governance frameworks shaping these decisions remain concentrated in the Global North, while the populations most exposed to unmitigated climate change and poorly understood interventions are largely in the Global South. This Perspective reflects on more than two decades of research in physical oceanography, coastal risk modeling, and climate science conducted from Benin, West Africa: a doctoral journey to Brazil, the construction of West Africa’s first video‐based coastal monitoring system at Grand Popo beach, an encounter in 2019 with the absence of African voices at a Harvard geoengineering residency, and the 2023 creation of the ICEBERG project. It argues that including African researchers in geoengineering science is a scientific and ethical imperative, not merely a matter of equity. Results from ICEBERG show that Stratospheric Aerosol Injection could cut global sea level rise by roughly 49%, with regional variability current models may underestimate. The Perspective closes with lessons for the next generation of Earth and space scientists in under‐resourced regions.
Abstract The Consortium for the Advancement of Marine Arctic Science (CAMAS) has been created in response to the need for improved capabilities in Earth system modeling, specifically focused on the Arctic marine system. Designed to enable collaborative research, CAMAS has so far carried out a series of 3 hybrid workshops from 2024 to 2026. CAMAS encourages participation from early career scientists (ECSs) and benefits from their strong contributions. Feedback on these workshops from participants was overwhelmingly positive with many compliments on the meeting format that struck a balance between time for high‐quality presentations and time for in‐depth small group discussions. Workshop participants are engaging in multiple ongoing working groups focusing on specific Arctic marine research topics that will lead to peer‐reviewed scientific publications, many led by ECSs.
Abstract Hera is an ESA contribution to the international planetary defense effort. It is a deep‐space mission to the binary asteroid system Didymos and Dimorphos, designed to investigate the effects of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), demonstrate autonomous navigation, and support close‐proximity investigation by two CubeSats. Hera includes a Spacecraft Monitoring Camera (SMC) for situational awareness during critical operations such as CubeSat deployments. Although not a science instrument, the SMC may also provide scientifically useful and outreach imagery. Integration was challenging because the SMC uses a private Packet Utilisation Standard (PUS) Type 210 service, was not modeled in the Hera spacecraft simulator, and was initially unsupported by the spacecraft Central Software (CSW). To enable early testing, a ground toolchain was developed for command generation, telemetry extraction, image reassembly, and PNG conversion. Without direct onboard support, commands and telemetry were encapsulated in PUS Service 2 packets, enabling test‐bench integration. Synthetic telemetry was used to validate the processing chain before restricted hardware access. Bench testing revealed a SpaceWire flow‐control anomaly that could stall the affected communication path, so planned SMC imaging during Hera's March 2025 Mars gravity‐assist flyby was canceled. The issue was subsequently addressed in a later flight‐software version, with cruise‐phase validation planned before asteroid proximity operations. This case shows how low‐level ground access, synthetic data, and staged testing can reduce the risk of deferring non‐launch‐critical onboard functionality until after launch.
