mission statement + research focus

[khufkens]

This should be front and center. Adjusted in the .github README

[stineb]

We should start with statements on the current (soon to be de-activated) ETH group website: here and here.

The current short mission statement is:

We develop new predictive methods for a better understanding of terrestrial ecosystem dynamics.

Suggested change to:

We develop new predictive methods for a better understanding of climate change impacts on land surface processes and ecosystems.

As a long mission statement, we can start with what's currently on my personal website, written in the I-form (to be replaced with 'we'):

_I am a climate and ecosystem scientist with a special interest in interactions between global environmental change and terrestrial ecology and biogeochemistry.

My work provides data-informed predictions of how land ecosystems respond to a changing climate, increasing CO2 and changes in nutrient cycles, and climatic extreme events. I develop process-based models, using eco-evolutionary optimality principles to explain plant traits and their adaptation and acclimation to the environment, and I apply machine learning and data assimilation techniques using diverse ecological data (ecosystem flux measurements, forest inventories, remote sensing, and manipulation experimental data, etc.). In brief, I’m building models, as simple as possible and as complex as necessary to learn the most. All open access, of course.

I am motivated to gain a better understanding of issues that are becoming increasingly pressing to society and policy and that are key to creating a sustainable future.

This is my personal website. Head over here to find the website of my group for Computational Ecosystem Science at ETH Zürich._

[stineb]

Mission statement definition to be added as agenda items for the planned retreat (Nov 2022).