Ernest Chi Fru, Cardiff University, UK
Biography
Ernest is a geomicrobiologist/biogeochemist interested in the biogeochemical evolution of the geobiosphere through Earth history. He was born in anglophone Cameroon, West Africa and later moved to Sweden where he earned a PhD in Geomicrobiology at Gothenburg University in 2006. Subsequent postdoctoral stints took Ernest to the University of East Anglia, Newcastle University and University of Windsor, Canada. In 2011, Ernest took up an Intra-European Marie Curie Fellowship position at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, from where he relocated to Stockholm University with an  ERC starting grant in 2013. Since 2016, Ernest is a senior lecturer in geomicrobiology/biogeochemistry in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University.
Motivation for serving the EAG council
Barriers must be broken in order to gain major steps in bringing about positive change. I became a biogeochemist by chance, not by intention—because the geosciences are not a valued subject in my community as is for example medicine and engineering. This is particularly exacerbated by the lack of role models to promote the geosciences in minority communities. As a visible face in the EAG community, I intend to popularize the geosciences to communities that have traditionally been excluded from this discipline for one reason or the other.