A Secure Future for Energy, Environment and Hazard Mitigation: Retaining Students through the Student-to-Professional Continuum in the Geosciences Webinar Now Online

Alexandria, VA — The American Geological Institute (AGI) has made available the recorded version of the webinar roundtable “A Secure Future for Energy, Environment and Hazard Mitigation: Retaining students through the Student-to-Professional Continuum in the Geosciences.”

The geoscience profession is facing critical human resource issues as a result of its aging workforce and low number of new graduates entering core geoscience occupations. Data from the National Science Foundation’s statistical databases indicates that only 35 percent of geoscience graduates work in core geoscience occupations. The majority of the geoscience workforce will be retiring over the next decade and data from federal sources, professional societies, and industry indicate this growing imbalance in the profession’s age demographics.

Because of increasing pressure to address issues such as energy supply, climate and other environmental concerns, and as seen with the Japan disaster, hazard mitigation, it is estimated that there will be 23 percent increase in geoscience jobs over the next decade.

Future geoscientists will need solid fundamental skills in both geoscience and mathematics that can be applied to many geoscience challenges including water resources, energy, minerals, hazards and climate issues. Given the current trends, many core and specialty geoscience sub-disciplines that are also economically critical are at risk. Without investment in the retention of geoscience university students and the successful transition of geoscience graduates into core geoscience occupations, the sustainability of U.S. geoscience academic infrastructure and pursuit of basic geoscience research is at stake.

To view the presentations and the summaries of the working group discussions visit http://www.agiweb.org/workforce/webinar-videos/GeoWebinar_StdtoECContinuum.html. A PDF summary report of the working group discussions is also posted on this webpage.

“A Secure Future for Energy, Environment and Hazard Mitigation: Retaining students through the Student-to-Professional Continuum in the Geosciences” was co-sponsored by the YES Network USA National Chapter and the Soil Science Society of America.