Explore AGI Federation Activities in the Latest Issue of AGI Connections

The newsletter highlights AGI news and upcoming events from across the geoscience federation. Help us share important geoscience events by contacting Geoff Camphire, AGI Communications.

In This Issue

Leadership Forum Targets 21st-Century Profession

Evolving demands on the geoscience profession are changing knowledge and skill requirements, leading dozens of geoscience leaders to discuss “The 21st Century Geoscientist” during the AGI Leadership Forum conducted virtually on March 28, 2024. Presentations and conversations probed the nature of geoscientists’ work today, covering a wide range of topics including skills, accessibility, diversity, non-traditional students, non-academic careers, and recent changes in geoscience in higher education.

“Today’s geoscientist is focused on the Earth as a whole and the application of geoscience across disciplines, such as engineering, land use planning, and the safety and betterment of society,” said AGI President Keri Nutter. “While resource identification and responsible extraction are still critical to the function of our modern world and ways of life, the 21st century geoscientist desires to make an impact to help society and the environment.”

Geoscience careers in the evolving workforce ― including issues of accessibility, sustainability, and the energy transition ― was the lead topic. In one exchange AGI Board Member Shirley Jackson emphasized the need to “cast a wider net by recruiting untapped talent from urban and black and brown communities,” starting as early as the K-12 level in engaging young people with geoscience. AGI Geoscience Profession and Higher Education Director Christopher Keane added that geoscientists must talk not only about the science, but also about the opportunities for making contributions to society, fostering apprenticeship programs, and building careers. Aaron Johnson, executive director of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG), suggested that one model might be provided by a higher education program, which AIPG helped develop, certifying that students have graduated with specific skills sought by employers.

“Workforce is one of the biggest challenges facing the geoscience profession,” said Nutter. “Many of our society leaders agree that misalignments exist between what students want and need, what employers expect and offer, what faculty teach and value, and what society demands from geoscientists.”

Key strategies discussed included fostering university-employer partnerships to offer internships and mentoring to enhance student readiness for geoscience careers, as well as K-12 geoscience education expansion to broaden exposure and emphasize diverse career paths, societal benefits in energy and environmental sectors, and alignment of education with the needs of industry and society. “We can communicate the value and impact of geoscience to the public and policymakers through effective storytelling and engaging media to do evidence-based advocacy,” Nutter observed. “Geoscientists must demonstrate publicly that they are innovators and solution providers for climate-related challenges.”

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Geoscience for Sustainability Makes Progress

Since launching in late 2023, AGI’s Geoscience for Sustainability initiative is making strides in marshalling geoscience expertise and understanding to drive transformative action for sustainable change. The effort ― rooted in benchmarks set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and examples outlined in the 2023 Geoscience in Action report ― is starting with programs and projects currently under way.

As a geoscience community member, you are invited to learn about, participate in, and tap into the resources being generated by a growing number of projects spanning policy guidance, education, research, and more. AGI’s 2024 Critical Needs Document, for example, is being developed with input from leading geoscientists to help guide government decisionmakers in ways the geosciences can advance sustainable development and address additional critical needs. (Go online to learn more about how we are preparing for the upcoming 2024 election and view a prior version of the Critical Needs Document.)

“Geoscientists have a keen understanding of Earth’s systems, and the knowledge we can share is needed more than ever to allow policy makers and planners to make wise choices for developing sustainable agriculture, water, and energy supplies, as well as planning proactively to meet future societal needs,” said Delaware State Geologist David Wunsch, who chairs the Critical Needs Document Committee. “Instead of using terms such as subduction zone, aquifer, pleochroism, which are not part of the general public’s lexicon, the current iteration of AGI’s Critical Needs Document emphasizes concepts that are more widely discussed in the political arena, such as sustainability, and integrate explanations and exemplars of how geoscientists are part of the solutions — as opposed to part of the problems, which seems to be the impression of some in our society.”

In K-12 education, AGI is creating sustainability-focused materials that align with the SDGs and the Next Generation Science Standards, building educators’ knowledge of sustainable development through real-world examples, and promoting Geoscience for Sustainability in education settings to promote the importance of geosciences in maintaining environmental integrity and societal prosperity. Examples of such efforts are already visible in the Earth Science Week Webinar Series, the Earth Science Week Online Toolkit and Poster, and an expanding slate of education sustainability partnerships

And AGI’s GeoRef, the premier bibliographic database for the earth sciences, increasing includes tagging to link researchers and students with up-to-date geoscientific data relating to sustainable development. While each tag illuminates a data point relevant to sustainability, this vast collection of tags collectively represents a powerful argument for the integral relevance of geoscience to sustainable development.

Geoscience for Sustainability, beginning with these efforts, is laying the groundwork for a large-scale, multi-year initiative. AGI has made sustainability a key component of our 2023-2026 Vision Statement and Strategic Plan. Visit online today to learn more about Geoscience for Sustainability and how you can engage.

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Graduate Education Spurs ‘Vision and Change’

Vision and Change in the Geosciences: Shaping the Future of Graduate Geoscience Education, a landmark report published in September 2023, promised a bright tomorrow for higher-education geoscience programs that adapt effectively to evolving needs. Some departments already are realizing that promise by tapping into the report’s recommended strategies for transformative change in geoscience graduate education, including earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences.

“Perhaps one of the most adopted changes by graduate programs is the use of IDPs ― Individual Development Plans ― where graduate students with help from their advisors or mentors define a plan to guide their progress towards developing the skills and competencies needed for their preferred future careers,” says Dr. Sharon Mosher of the Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, and a principal investigator of the project.

The report encompasses the efforts of more than 300 geoscientists in the academic and employer communities who worked together since 2018 to develop a shared vision for the future of geoscience graduate education. The report addresses a range of challenges and issues, including the skills and competencies needed for graduate students to be successful in the workforce, the best means of developing these skills and competencies in graduate programs nationally, and the implementation strategies that departmental and program leaders can use to integrate these skills and competencies into graduate programs.

“Geoscience leaders in higher education should read this comprehensive report in depth and discuss it with faculty and graduate students,” says Mosher. “Geoscience graduate enrollments across the country have dropped significantly while employment opportunities have expanded. Graduate programs overall have not kept up with the changes needed to prepare geoscientists to address global and societal geoscience-related challenges. This report not only discusses the skills and competencies needed and how to implement them into graduate education, but also how to better mentor students, interact with external stakeholders, and create transformative change.”

The report was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (Award ICER 1740844). Opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations in the report and related materials are those of the authors, and results and interpretation of survey data are the views of AGI; neither are those of NSF.

The report website features full text and a freely downloadable PDF version, plus a collection of recommendations to academic departments and references to works cited in the report. Hard copies of the report can be purchased through Amazon.com. Learn more about such programs at the AGI Geoscience Workforce Program. For more information, contact AGI Director of Geoscience Profession and Higher Education Christopher Keane.

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IODP Partnership Boosts Earth Science Education

AGI has in recent years forged a powerful educational partnership with the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), an international marine research effort that collects cores from the sea runs the School of Rock (SOR) program enabling educators to enrich their practice while living on the scientific drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution (JR). In fact, AGI Education and Outreach Department staff a few months ago voyaged to sea with teachers, scientists, and crew of the JR during an SOR session designed to undertake reviews and revisions of several of the more than 100 geoscience lessons generated for earth science educators, many of which were done during SOR sessions.

Emphasizing the use of real-world data from sub-seafloor cores collected on the JR to explore earth science concepts and careers, these lessons address questions about fundamental geoscience topics such as plate tectonics, climate change, natural hazards, asteroid impacts, and the diversity of life forms found in Earth’s oceans. “To really address such questions, we have to have data that help us travel back through time to those periods in early Earth history to reconstruct conditions, processes, and events underlying these ideas,” said AGI Education and Outreach Director Ed Robeck.

“IODP has been generating lessons using scientific ocean data for 20 years, and over time some of those lessons have gotten out of date, often in terms of online links, alignment with current standards, or instructional style,” said Sharon Cooper, one of the leaders of the Education and Outreach team at IODP. “We realized that we needed to update those lessons, but we just didn’t have the capacity in-house. So we’ve partnered with Ed and his team, who are taking the lead on revising some of these activities.”

A major part of the work is revising lessons to provide alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as well as for consistency, scientific accuracy, up-to-date pedagogy, and overall effectiveness. Already available on the JR website’s For Educators page are numerous education activities and additional resources. The Cores for Kids activity, for example, enables students to look at data from drill-core samples to explore sediment types, microfossils, and what they tell us about Earth’s history. The Virtual Expedition to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge activity helps students use Google Earth to see how microfossils provide evidence of seafloor spreading.

The JR is one of just a handful of vessels designed specifically to drill into the ocean floor for scientific research. Drill cores recovered from the ocean floor allow educators and students to look back in time and uncover secrets from Earth's past about topics such as geology, climate change, and the origins and some of the extreme conditions in which life still exists. The evidence that cores provide gives a vital foundation and real-world data for understanding key topics addressed in the NGSS.

In a recent NGSS Earth and Space Science Working Group webinar, participants learned how to incorporate free JR resources including lessons, slides, videos, and more into their curricula to make science more real for their students. Attendees took part in activities related to cores and microfossils, and learned how to access resources, including additional classroom activities and core replicas that can be borrowed from IODP for classroom use. “It’s amazing to work with AGI, because the team has great connections, background, and expertise,” said Cooper. “Educators will benefit because they’ll have a really great set of resources to use ― resources that have been vetted, not only by IODP scientists but also by AGI’s pedagogy experts.”

Learn more online about other programs of AGI Education and Outreach. To discuss how AGI can support your organization’s education efforts, contact AGI Education and Outreach Director Ed Robeck.

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Scientific Ocean Drilling Database Makes Impact

In another collaboration with International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), AGI’s Scientific Ocean Drilling Bibliographic Database empowers researchers, students, and others to search bibliographic records from IODP, Deep Sea Drilling Project, Ocean Drilling Program, and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program research spanning from 1969 to the present, as well as additional sources. And while the database is a valuable resource for users, it has proved vital to partners such as IODP.

“The Scientific Ocean Drilling Bibliographic Database has been essential to IODP and its predecessor programs in making program-related publications easily accessible,” said IODP Editor and Report Coordinator Ginny Lowe. “The IODP Publications Department participated in reviewing and testing the database when it was revamped in 2016 and had considerable input into its final appearance and content. IODP regularly sends requests to AGI with lists of program-related publications that are not yet available in the database and also supplements IODP program publication records with keywords, providing another search mechanism.”

The partnership, Lowe added, helps IODP serve its constituency. “The database is used by IODP member organizations who need program-related citation information for their annual reports, and IODP scientists have used the database to generate publication lists for various purposes,” said Lowe.

In addition, she continued, IODP Publications exported content from the database in 2022 to populate the new IODP EndNote library, which is used to generate reference lists for program publications. Content from the Scientific Ocean Drilling Bibliographic Database is useful in documenting the impact of IODP through expedition-related book chapters, journal articles, theses, and conference abstracts.

The success of the database stems from its broad reach and continual upkeep. While roughly 30 percent of the database’s bibliographic records come from publications produced by IODP and its predecessors listed above, about 70 percent are from products such as serial publications, abstracts, conference proceedings, and maps. The database, hosted by AGI, is updated weekly from entries made to the GeoRef database.

Go online to learn more about AGI’s Scientific Ocean Drilling Bibliographic Database and additional programs of AGI Scholarly Information. For more information, contact AGI Director of Scholarly Information Tia Colvin.

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Congressional Fellow Values Policy Experience

These are exciting times to be a geoscientist working in Congress, as two major pieces of legislation — the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act — are making significant investments in the clean energy transition, says Dr. Christine Ray, who is currently completing her term as the 2023-2024 William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellow. The Fisher Fellowship gives geoscientists the unique opportunity to spend a year in Washington, D.C., working as a staff member in the office of a member of Congress or with a congressional committee.

Dr. Ray, who is working in the office of Senator John Hickenlooper on his Energy and Natural Resources team, says: “Working for a western senator on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I spend a lot of time understanding issues and evaluating policy ideas concerning critical minerals and mining, geologic hydrogen, geothermal energy, water resources, and wildfires — all of which are topics rooted deep in the Earth sciences.”

Each year, AGI’s Fisher Fellow joins more than two dozen other scientists and engineers for an intensive orientation program on being a congressional fellow, organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which also guides the placement process and provides educational and collegial programs throughout the year.

“In my experience, scientists are used to following a clear career pipeline from graduate student to postdoc to research scientist. Alternate career paths are rarely discussed, and policy especially was not something I ever believed was an option for me,” says Dr. Ray, who earned her Ph.D. in physics in 2021 under the joint space physics program of the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Southwest Research Institute. “But science is all over the policy world: Congress tells science agencies how to spend their time and money, and that funnels down into the grants that scientists at universities, labs, and other research institutions depend on. Opportunities like the Fisher Fellowship ensure that scientists are at the table during those discussions, and open doors for scientists who are interested in bridging both worlds.”

Learn more online about the Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellowship. For more information, contact AGI Director of Geoscience Profession and Higher Education Christopher Keane.

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New From AGI

  • Order your 2024 Earth Science Week Toolkit, containing a wealth of resources to support Earth Science Week (October 13-19), which celebrates the theme “Earth Science Everywhere.” Also, while supplies last, you still can get the 2023 Earth Science Week Toolkit, which focuses on “Geoscience Innovating for Earth and People.” In addition, see the AGI Store for special pricing on a 3-pack of toolkits addressing topics including earth science everywhere, the geoscience of sustainability, and geoscience innovation.
  • U.S.-based members of AGI Member Societies continue to be able to access free training in geoscience communication through the acclaimed Practical Geocommunication course into next year, thanks to generous support from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.
  • The multi-year Geoscience COVID-19 Impacts Study funded by the National Science Foundation (Award #2029570) examines the short - and long-term effects of the pandemic on the geoscience workforce and academic programs, providing critical insights for the discipline’s future.
  • View a recording of the "Breaking Down Microplastics" Earth Day Webinar, which explores the multifaceted issue of plastic pollution and microplastics.
  • AGI’s new GRANDE (Geoscience Program Adaptation to Natural Disruptive Events) study invites survey participation and posts preliminary results of this multi-year effort to identify established best practices for geoscience academic departments relative to disruptive natural events.
  • Webinars hosted by AGI, available for viewing live and on demand, focus on issues essential to the geoscience profession. Recent events include “Skills for the Future: Geoscience Employment and Careers,” “ADVANCEing Field Safety: Training for Diverse and Inclusive Geoscience Teams,” “AGU Bridge Program: Making Progress on Equity in Geoscience Graduate Education,” “Seafloor Mapping at USGS,” “Changing the Academic Culture Around Mental Health,” and “Bedrock Mapping of Sedimentary Rocks in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.”

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Geoscience Events Calendar

Explore a new online resource designed to help you promote and track events sponsored by geoscience organizations of the AGI Federation: AGI’s Geoscience Event Calendar.

The calendar, available to view for free by anyone, helps conference organizers:

  • Avoid scheduling conflicts and promote collaboration.
  • Improve allocation of resources — such as venues, speakers, and volunteers — by determining when other societies have scheduled events.
  • Increase member engagement, as societies can cross-promote each other’s events.
  • Provide consistent communication about events with a single source of accurate event information, ensuring that all societies can share and be aware of event details.
  • Foster long-term planning of events well in advance, making it easier to secure preferred dates and venues.

Posting events on the calendar is an exclusive benefit of membership in the AGI Federation. Simply contact AGI Communications’ Geoff Camphire at gac@americangeosciences.org for your society’s authorization code to submit an event on the Geoscience Event Calendar.

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