Will Farmer Departs NE CASC to Join USGS Drought Initiative
During his three-year tenure at NE CASC, Will Farmer distinguished himself as a creative problem-solver, generous collaborator, and effective leader. While serving the center as Acting Federal Director and Acting Assistant Regional Administrator, Farmer introduced several initiatives that have fueled the center’s growth, elevated its profile, and improved its operation. We are therefore sad to announce that Will has departed NE CASC to assume a new position as Acting Drought Program Manager in the USGS Ecosystem and Water Mission Areas. We wish him the best in his new job and are certain that he will be immensely successful in his future endeavors.
“Will had a profoundly positive impact on NE CASC throughout his time at the center,” said Bethany Bradley, NE CASC University Codirector. “Although his NE CASC appointment was temporary, Will approached his responsibilities with the highest level of dedication and desire to see us succeed. I greatly appreciate his energetic advocacy for our center, his development of new approaches to advancing our mission, and his steadiness in guiding the center’s federal operations, which he sometimes accomplished almost single handedly! Will did a great job, and we will miss him.”
Although Farmer helped enhance NE CASC operations in many key areas–including project solicitation and management, project tracking, and communications–his greatest successes came in the areas of relationship- and community-building. Internally, Will implemented a team-based approach to managing NE CASC operations, a move that forged a more cohesive working environment, improved internal communications, and helped generate new ideas for carrying out the center’s mission. More broadly, Will’s focus on amplifying collaborations helped lead to new connections between NE CASC and a variety of governmental agencies. Most visibly, his interest in broadening NE CASC’s range of collaborations also led to the development of new outreach events–such as our popular Tool Talk Series and Open Houses–that aim to disseminate existing knowledge and build new research partnerships.
Given Farmer’s prioritization of relationship-building, it is not surprising that he earned a reputation as a generous and engaging teammate. “I am extremely grateful to Will for ensuring my smooth transition to the center when I began my NE CASC appointment last fall,” said Carrie Brown-Lima, NE CASC Regional Administrator. “Will has been an amazing partner over the past several months, consistently demonstrating an admirable commitment to NE CASC, an authoritative understanding of climate adaptation science, deep institutional knowledge of the CASC network, and a relentlessly positive attitude. He’s been a wonderful colleague and a major asset to NE CASC.”
Though he will miss working with his NE CASC teammates, Farmer says that his experiences at the center will provide a solid foundation for his new position, where he will focus on aligning USGS drought science with management needs and establish connections between researchers and managers. “NE CASC played a pivotal role in helping me deepen and refine my understanding of relationship-driven science,” Farmer said. “I am looking forward to applying all that I have learned here to a new challenge. And while I am stepping out of my NE CASC role, I am not leaving the NE CASC community. I look forward to watching the continued growth of NE CASC from afar–and to keeping in touch with my NE CASC friends and former colleagues.”
