Raj Pandya

Biography

Rajul (Raj) Pandya is the founding director of the American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange (TEX). TEX helps volunteer scientists and community leaders work together to use science, especially earth and space science, to tackle community issues and advance local priorities related to sustainability and resilience. While at TEX, Raj helped launch and lead the Resilience Dialogues – a public-private partnership that uses facilitated online dialogues to help subject matter experts and community leaders work together to take steps toward community resilience.

Raj has led education programs at a National Center for Atmospheric Research, mentored students, taught in college and high school, brought diverse communities and scientists together internationally and in the US, and worked to advance educational technology in atmospheric sciences. He has led multi-disciplinary efforts to increase diversity in the sciences, manage meningitis vaccines more effectively in Africa, and improve student learning of weather and climate. Raj is a founding member of the board of the Citizen Science Association, former commissioner of Education and Human Resources for the American Meteorological Society, serves on the board for Public Lab, and chairs the National Academies committee on “Designing Citizen Science to Support Science Learning.” He holds a Ph.D. from University of Washington in Atmospheric Science. He lives in Colorado with his partner Amy (a physician his parents call ‘the real doctor’), their horse-loving daughter Maya, and their dog Nala.