The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) has released a report assessing the academic experiences of Master’s candidates in geology, geography or hybrid geology-geography programs. The study titled, “Geoscience Career Master’s Preparation Survey” sought to understand students’ experiences, their career goals and interests, and how well they are being prepared to enter into non-academic positions. Students surveyed mostly wanted to pursue government or industry-related positions, and that individuals ranging from research advisors and faculty, to significant others and family members influenced their career decisions. [Read More]

Scientists have been wondering for decades whether Romer’s Gap exists because tetrapod fossils from that time were not preserved, or because their fossils simply have not been discovered yet. These new fossils are starting to close the gap and change the way scientists interpret the way Earth’s history. Read more in the September issue of EARTH Magazine: http://bit.ly/1 UzxBzJ. For more of the science behind the headlines, read the September issue, which includes stories on the geology behind one of the world’s largest silic igneous provinces and one of the top 10 beaches on the planet: Australia’s Whitsunday Islands. [Read More]

The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is pleased to announce the release of a community consensus statement on access and inclusion of geoscientists with disabilities. This statement was inspired by the 2014 AGI Leadership Forum, which brought together the Executive Directors and Presidents of AGI’s Member Societies to discuss the issue of access and inclusion of persons with disabilities in the geosciences. The meeting was facilitated by the Executive Director of the International Association for Geoscience Diversity (IAGD) Christopher Atchison, which illuminated the challenges faced by geoscientists living with disabilities, as well as addressed strategies for increasing accessibility within the discipline. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers are pleased to welcome Baylor University Professor, Dr. Vincent Cronin as the Editor of the Physical Geology Lab Manual, starting with the 11th Edition. As Editor, Cronin will have a prominent role in setting the direction of geoscience education nationally. He was selected because of his distinguished career teaching at the university level and the strong vision he articulated for the direction of future lab manual editions. [Read More]

GeoRef staff are actively updating the database with references to a variety of national geologic map collections. Many of the maps were produced in Canada, East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania), and Europe (Spain, France, Belgium). This has been facilitated by an agreement between the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) and the Geological Society of London (GSL), a member of the AGI federation, that allows AGI access to the GSL library and its collection of more than 40,000 maps. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - Science teachers and students can go online today to use a new educational resource of the Earth Science Week website, the “Visualizing Earth Systems” page, which features instructive visualizations of Earth science phenomena. Educators know the power of compelling visualizations, those that graphically depict data in ways that help students grasp challenging concepts. Now Earth science teachers have a collection of such visualizations, right at their fingertips at http://www. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - The theme of inclusion in the geosciences is gaining traction in the community. Geoscience instructors and field trip leaders are learning how to make accommodations for individuals with different barriers to being in the field. In the September issue, EARTH Magazine reports on a successful fully accessible field trip that took place during the 2014 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.* Following the Sea-to-Sky highway in British Columbia, faculty and students on the trip learned that “many barriers common in geoscience instruction can be overcome by focusing on students’ abilities rather than on their inabilities or challenges, thus creating a rewarding community of learning for all students,” wrote authors Christopher Atchison of the University of Cincinnati and Brett Gilley of the University of British Columbia. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - The American Geosciences Institute’s (AGI) Center for Geoscience and Society is pleased to release two reports concerning geosciences education in the United States. The reports were developed in response to the need for comprehensive monitoring of the U.S. educational system in terms of the instruction of geoscience content and participation in geoscience-related learning experiences. The reports are based on data pertaining to science education collected from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. [Read More]

Alexandria, Va. - It now appears that, of the many moons of Jupiter and Saturn, two of them may have oceans beneath their icy exteriors. Scientists studying Jupiter’s moon Ganymede - the largest moon in the solar system and the only one with its own magnetic field, which frequently sparks aurorae - used the Hubble space telescope to detect ultraviolet light emitted by the aurorae, which were less active than expected, given the moon’s magnetic field. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - The United States’ Icebreaker Fleet, operated by the U.S. Coast Guard, consists of just two ships that are used for everything from search and rescue to national security operations to scientific research. In the August cover story, EARTH Magazine examines the various roles icebreakers play, especially in Arctic research, and how insufficient funding is affecting the icebreakers’ roles. Icebreakers are becoming more important every year, as more commerce is conducted in Arctic regions as seasonal ice cover decreases. [Read More]