Description

As governors were put on the frontlines of COVID-19 decision making last spring, Rebekah Jones was working for the Florida Department of Health helping to maintain geospatial data that informed the statewide emergency shutdown. Florida officials pushed to reopen as soon as possible despite rising COVID-19 infection data and uncertain conditions, and Jones was fired in a clash with supervisors on how best to keep that data fair, accurate and transparent.

Thrust into the spotlight and called out personally by Florida's governor, Jones was undeterred and used her public platform to establish an independent Florida COVID-19 geospatial data dashboard. She has consistently spoken out on the urgency of trusting data science for the sake of public health.

She is both a geographer and a science communicator, and has spread awareness for geography's role in this national emergency. Tune in to hear her story and perspective on how geographers can use their platforms to share research and become better science communicators to those outside the discipline, as well as outside academia.