FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Maureen Moses (mmoses@agiweb.org; 703-379-2480)

10/23/2013

The American Geosciences Institute Welcomes New Officers

Alexandria, VA – The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is pleased to welcome its new officers elect. Dr. Eric M. Riggs of Texas A&M University will serve as the 2013-2014 President-Elect; former West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey scientist, and current consultant Katharine Lee Avary is the newly elected Member at Large; and Richard Lambert, chief operating officer of the mining and geological consulting group Roscoe Postle Associates, and is the former Vice President-Finance for the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME) is the new treasurer. The new members of the AGI Executive Committee were installed during the Geological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado.

Eric Riggs has a career dedicated to geoscience education, both in research and through a multi-year leadership role at the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. He advocated increased AGI–NAGT involvement and the 2010 joint publication of Living with Earth. He is also a member of, or has also contributed to American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Geological Society of America (GSA), American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and International Geoscience Education Organization and the International Geological Conference. He has held tenured faculty appointments at San Diego State University and Purdue University. Currently he serves as the Assistant Dean for Diversity and Graduate Student Recruitment and Development in the Texas A&M University College of Geosciences, and is appointed as a Research Associate Professor of Geoscience Education in the Department of Geology and Geophysics.

Lee Avary has spent her distinguished career working in the Appalachian basin, and has worked closely with AAPG. In 2011 she was the first woman to receive the John T. Galey Memorial Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Eastern Section AAPG. Avary is affiliated with AAPG, GSA, the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), Society of Petroleum Engineers, National Speleological Society, the Appalachian Geological Society, the Pittsburgh Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Pittsburgh Geological Society. She has also volunteered numerous hours to education and outreach, and mentoring and encouraging students to consider a career in the geosciences.

Richard Lambert has a mining and finance background, and a vast knowledge of 501(C)(3) organizations. He has spent his career providing contracting and consulting services with several fortune 500 companies. He helped the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. (SME) restructure their financing when he served as their VP of finance, and he has also spent time lecturing at the University of Toronto on resource and reserve estimation. In addition, he has been a member of SME since 1975, as well as Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO), Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).

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The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geosciences education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role geosciences play in society’s use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.