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The American Geological Institute (AGI) formed with the goal of uniting the
various professional societies in the geoscience community. Fifty-five years
later, the institute continues to seek new ways and ideas on how to facilitate
cooperation among its member societies and represent the entire range of earth
science disciplines.
As part of its mission, AGI held its second annual Leadership Forum in May.
Hosted by the National Academies Board on Earth Sciences and Research in Washington,
D.C., the forum included some 30 participants, including presidents, executive
directors and council representatives from 20 AGI member societies.
With the theme "Improved Effectiveness through Increased Cooperation,"
the forum aimed to find ways to improve communications across the geosciences.
Discussions of critical issues identified important opportunities for intersociety
cooperation. Through the forum process, we expect to increase the effectiveness
of geoscience programs, see a reduction in costly duplication of efforts, improve
service to society members and enhance the public's awareness of the geosciences.
This year's forum was designed and developed with input from the leaders of
AGI member societies. What follows is an overview of the issues addressed and
proposed outcomes:
Ensure a supply of geoscientists
Setting the context for the morning session, AGI's director of technology and
communications, Christopher Keane, noted the decline over the past 10 years
in the enrollment of geoscience majors in university programs. Current enrollments
are now at the same level as the mid-1960s. The decline is largely the result
of perceived fewer job opportunities for geoscience graduates, increased competition
for students by other disciplines, and a continuing overall decline in student
participation in the physical sciences. Working with university department chairs,
private sector companies and federal agencies, AGI proposes to continue monitoring
employment and career opportunities in the geosciences.
Certify more earth science teachers. Robert Ridky, educational coordinator
for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), presented a case for calling on geoscience
departments to increase the number of academic programs that certify earth science
teachers. In an AGI survey of some 400 geoscience departments, only 150 indicated
they offer programs allowing geoscience majors to also obtain earth science
teacher certification. (Geotimes, September 2002). Our nation's schools have
a desperate need for qualified science teachers, particularly in the earth sciences.
In light of the declining university enrollments noted above, this is a potential
growth area for geoscience departments.
Strengthen undergraduate programs. AGI's incoming president Barbara Tewksbury,
who is the Stephen Harper Kirner Professor of Geology at Hamilton College, discussed
a program being conducted by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers
and the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) to strengthen undergraduate
geoscience education. One aim of the program is to bring greater awareness of
emerging geoscience research topics to the undergraduate classroom. It is also
providing support to early career faculty to increase their teaching skills
and help attract geoscience majors to their departments.
Enhance diversity in the earth sciences. Bringing more minorities into
the earth sciences will require greater cooperation within the geoscience community.
That was the message from Jill Karsten, the American Geophysical Union (AGU)
education and career services manager. Hispanics and African Americans make
up 25 percent of the overall U.S. population but only account for 5 percent
of the geoscience degrees granted in this country. AGU hosted a conference last
month to address diversity in the geosciences. The outcomes of the conference
will be featured in the September issue of Geotimes.
Reach out. Cindy Martinez, AGI's project coordinator for professional
development, emphasized the need for geoscience outreach programs. One example
is AGI's annual Earth Science Week, scheduled for the week of Oct. 12 with the
theme of "Eyes on Planet Earth: Monitoring Our Changing World." Martinez
encouraged the participants to spread the word so that the entire geoscience
community takes part in hosting and sponsoring Earth Science Week programs.
She also discussed programs for increasing geoscience representation in national
parks and discussed a new AGI project to develop a television series based on
Rod Redfern's geohistory book Origins, which describes the evolution of continents,
oceans and life. The goal is for the series to be distributed internationally.
Measure constraints on scientific interaction. AGU public affairs manager Pete
Folger wrapped up the human resources portion of the forum by discussing concerns
related to constraints on international scientific interaction in the post-9/11
world. The primary concern is restriction on foreign students and scientists
traveling to the United States. AGU will coordinate a survey of geosocieties
to determine the seriousness of the problem.
Federal geoscience funding
Form a USGS coalition. David Applegate, AGI's director of government affairs
and editor of Geotimes, reviewed the president's fiscal year 2004 budget request
and discussed some of the significant cuts the budget proposes in federal science
programs. Many cuts target the USGS, and AGI is working to establish a coalition
of organizations united by their commitment to the continued vitality of the
unique combination of biological, geological, hydrological and mapping programs
the USGS provides.
Restore DOE's oil and gas research budget. Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau
of Economic Geology with the University of Texas, discussed proposed reductions
to the Department of Energy's (DOE) budget for oil and gas research. Of the
total $23 billion requested for DOE in the fiscal year 2004, only 3 percent
would support energy research; and of the $800 million DOE energy research budget,
only 2 percent is designated for oil and gas research. This situation is in
stark contrast to the fact that, for the next 100 years, the United States and,
to a larger degree, the world will depend on gas resources to sustain economic
development. Tinker requested that all those societies interested in supporting
university-based oil and gas research jointly explore opportunities for restoring
DOE oil and gas research funding.
Sharing and finding information
A key topic at the forum was e-publishing and the need for increasing access
to geoscience information.
Cooperative e-publishing. J. Alexander Speer, executive director of the
Mineralogical Society of America, updated forum participants on GeoScience World,
a proposal for geoscience societies to band together in an electronic aggregate
of their journals and other publications. To date, seven societies, including
AGI, are working collectively to make GeoScience World a reality. The group
expects to have a business plan available for review and consideration early
this fall and is actively soliciting societies to join with them in this effort.
Access through digitizing. American Association of Petroleum Geologists
(AAPG) executive director Rick Fritz presented the data access opportunities
offered by the DataPages initiative. AAPG has digitized and geocoded the association's
entire journal collection from 1918 to the present, making it accessible to
GIS programs, so that subscribers can develop unique geological data sets. Fritz
encouraged other geoscience societies to work with AAPG and make their publications
GIS accessible.
Geoinformatics. AGI's Keane presented the institute's plans for establishing
a Geoinformatics Advisory Committee, which would build a bridge uniting the
private sector, academic community and federal agencies. This bridge would enhance
national support for geoinformatics, which is the plan for implementing a unified
geoscience data and information system integrating research data, analytic tools
and visualization applications into a single system for community-wide access
in research and education. Member societies are invited to nominate candidates
to serve on the committee.
A funding alliance. Jan van Sant, executive director of the AGI Foundation,
called for an alliance of geoscience society foundations. Private-sector support
for many programs is shrinking. We all have witnessed expensive duplication
of programs in some areas. An alliance could provide an open forum for reviewing
areas of mutual interest and a broad scope of foundations that could promote
working together to support critical programs.
The 2003 Leadership Forum was an outstanding success. AGI looks forward to working
cooperatively with its member societies to effectively address issues of mutual
interest within our profession and community. I strongly recommend we continue
to convene the forum annually to assess opportunities and needs calling for
a collective and cooperative approach.
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