webinar

Soil Mapping with the NRCS

Thursday, September 5, 2024

In this free webinar, Sydney Lance, a soil scientist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will discuss her background and work related to soil mapping techniques.

AGI's Early Career Professionals in Mapping Webinar Series features early career geoscience professionals who share their work related to mapping, especially geologic mapping, and experiences entering the geoscience community.

This webinar series is geared towards high school students and the general public.

The webinar has been recorded and posted on AGI's website and YouTube channel.

This webinar series is generously supported by the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program.

YouTube download icon  View all webinars in this series on YouTube

Application of Geologic Mapping in Geothermal Energy

Thursday, August 15, 2024

In this webinar, Nolan Dellerman, a geologist with Cyrq Energy, discusses his background and work related to geothermal energy.

AGI's Early Career Professionals in Mapping Webinar Series features early career geoscience professionals who share their work related to mapping, especially geologic mapping, and experiences entering the geoscience community.

This webinar series is geared towards high school students and the general public. There will be time for live questions from the audience. The webinars will be recorded and posted on AGI's website and YouTube channel.

This webinar series is generously supported by the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program.

YouTube download icon  View all webinars in this series on YouTube

Skills for the Future - Geoscience Employment and Careers

Friday, September 6, 2024

The AGU/AGI Heads and Chairs webinar series is pleased to offer a free online webinar and discussion lead by Christopher Keane and Leila Gonzales from AGI about the latest data on how geoscience employment trends are changing within the U.S., including the skillsets that geoscientists will need to succeed in future geoscience careers. The presentation will lead into a discussion among participants about what they are seeing for their recent graduates and what that means for the next couple years.

Additional Resources

 

Joint Earth Day Statement from AGI and Partners

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — To highlight the vital role that geoscience knowledge plays in fostering action toward sustainability, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) joins the American Geophysical Union and 16 additional global partners in issuing a joint Earth Day 2024 (April 22) statement:

As we celebrate Earth Day, our geoscience communities will continue to promote the conscientious applications of science and find innovative solutions that support sustainable human activities, including our own diverse work and across all sectors of society.

AGI Announces Earth Day Webinar: 'Breaking Down Microplastics'

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) invites students, educators, geoscience professionals, and others to participate in its "Breaking Down Microplastics" Earth Day Webinar and/or view recordings after the premiere on YouTube Live at 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT, Friday, April 19, 2024.

The free webinar will offer insights into the challenges and solutions surrounding plastic pollution. Aimed at the general public and education community, the webinar will feature:

Breaking Down Microplastics

Friday, April 19, 2024

Join us for the premiere of AGI's Earth Day Webinar as we explore the multifaceted issue of plastic pollution and microplastics. This webinar features presentations and a pre-recorded panel discussion, offering valuable insights into the challenges and solutions surrounding plastic pollution. During the premiere, our presenters will be available online to engage with the audience, answering questions and participating in discussions in the chat.

Speaker line-up:

  • Aidan Charron, EARTHDAY.ORG, "Kicking Off Earth Day 2024: Planet vs. Plastics"
  • Dr. Maia McGuire, University of Florida, "Plastic in the ocean: What we do and do not know"
  • Dr. Melissa Lenczewski, Northern Illinois University, "Fate and transport of microplastics in the subsurface and groundwater"
  • Dr. Scott Coffin, California State Water Resources Control Board, "California's adaptive risk management of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems and drinking water"
  • Dr. Amy Suida and Dr. Shannon Gowans, Eckerd College, "Moving from monitoring to advocacy; Reducing single use promotes prevention"
  • Toby Leng, student winner of the 2023 Earth Science Week Video Contest from Manhasset, NY, "Ferrofluid: Revolutionizing the Battle Against Plastic Pollution"​

The webinar will conclude with a kick-off for Earth Science Week 2024, encouraging you to celebrate "Earth Science Everywhere."

AGU Bridge Program: Making Progress on Equity in Geoscience Graduate Education

Friday, April 26, 2024

The AGU Bridge Program is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Earth and space sciences through the dissemination of leading practices in higher education and the facilitation of a graduate application pathway at our partner departments. The program’s goal is to expand outreach and recruitment of students identifying as Hispanic, Black/African American, American Indian, Pacific Islander, Alaskan Native or Native Hawaiian for the AGU Bridge Program to achieve their educational goals in supportive and inclusive environments, thereby raising graduate degree attainment rates for students holding these identities. Join Eva Kostyu, Program Manager, AGU Bridge Program and Pranoti M. Asher, Assistant Director at AGU to learn more about the program and its impact.

Additional Resources

AGU Bridge resources:


Workshops and resources:


Additional Reading:


 

ADVANCEing FieldSafety: Training for diverse and inclusive geoscience teams – A new course and toolkit

Friday, May 3, 2024

ADVANCEing FieldSafety (https://fieldsafe.colorado.edu/) is a program that provides field research teams with the training and tools to promote safe and inclusive environments, identify and mitigate unsafe and harmful behaviors, and create a culture within field teams that reduces the likelihood and impact of these behaviors in the future.

Panelists are:

  • Anne U. Gold - Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Blair Schneider - Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas
  • Mariama Dryák-Vallies - Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Alexandra M. Padilla - Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder

During this webinar, the panelists will discuss:

  • the development of an asynchronous online training course and an accompanying toolkit of references and resources for field teams,
  • the different certification pathways for training participants,
  • how the training addresses the new NSF PAPPG for safe and inclusive field environments (2E9),
  • and our research plan for studying the effectiveness of the training course and Toolkit resources for participants and field teams.

ADVANCEing FieldSafety is an NSF-funded collaboration between CU-Boulder and the ADVANCEGeo Partnership.

 

Juggling work-life balance as a department chair: a community discussion

Friday, March 8, 2024

Managing the demands of the day-to-day work, balancing the need for making progress on one's research, and seeking work-life balance often causes tension in the life of a department chair. Whether you have been a chair for a long time or are a fairly new chair, you have probably experienced this tension. Please join this community discussion to share and learn from each other as we discuss strategies to mitigate these competing demands on your time.

Summary and Recommendations / Examples from the Webinar Discussion

Strategies for Managing Work-Life Balance

The speakers and participants shared some tips and examples of how they cope with the demands of their roles, such as compartmentalization, delegation, communication, praise, and self-care. They also emphasized the importance of setting boundaries, prioritizing tasks, being flexible, and seeking support from peers and mentors. Some of the speakers also mentioned how they have adapted their research and teaching activities during the pandemic.

Challenges and Opportunities for Department Chairs

The speakers and participants also discussed some of the difficulties and benefits of being a department chair, such as dealing with difficult faculty, fostering a positive culture, supporting faculty and students, and redefining success. They also talked about the need for clear expectations, shared governance, and administrative backing. Some of the speakers also shared their experiences of transitioning to the chair role and how they balance their research and service commitments.

Specific Recommendations and Examples from the Discussion

  • Scheduling dedicated uninterrupted time for research.
  • Be very thoughtful about what your priorities are, and very intentional about what parts of your job you were doing before you were chair that you will continue
  • Delegation is key if you can do so, such as empowering committees to do most of the important work in the department.
  • It's important to model work-life balance to the rest of the department, including to students within the department.
  • It's important to communicate to those in the department the importance of self-care and work-life balance.
  • Talking about your hobbies and what you like to do outside of work helps illustrate to others that you implement work-life balance for yourself.
  • Identify what your faculty need to be excellent and try to clear the runway for them to have those opportunities. Example, someone is motivated to do curriculum design, so you make it a valuable part of their portfolio. Find ways for people to take the ball and run with it in ways they want to run with it.
  • Emphasize with junior faculty to have reasonable expectations for their progress towards tenure.
  • Don't send messages outside of business hours. Schedule those messages to show up during office hours.
  • Be understanding that life happens and set a positive work environment.
  • Give yourself grace in research productivity if your meeting requirements are high.
  • Take the time to have lighter weeks when you can to recharge.
  • Use more carrots than sticks.
  • Send out a weekly email during the term to highlight and give kudos to the activities going on in the department – publishing of papers, those who were awarded grants, research covered in the media, etc. Thank and congratulate people when they do not just research but also service.
  • Keep an up-to-date webpage of all the happenings in the department – with pictures of people participating in events and activities, etc.
  • Make it known if you have discretionary funds to help faculty get additional equipment, etc.
  • Let it be known that those who step up to help the department can expect help from the department.
  • Talk up your department and reward your faculty in whatever ways you can when they do step up.
  • Provide appropriate teaching release in exchange for service work.
  • Encourage your students to encourage your faculty to be good citizens to get their projects moving along.
  • If you have a service expectation as part of the faculty job descriptions you can make it clear that it's a serious assessment every year to provide incentive for faculty to engage in service activities.
  • Be intentional about spending a fair amount of time with one-on-one meetings with faculty and among faculty – like coffee dates and lunch dates.
  • Find a way to communicate with your immediate administration (i.e., Dean) to open channels so you have their support and backing.
  • Department meetings every other week opposite faculty meetings to bring speakers in to talk about best practices of teaching and spend time together.
  • Make department groups to address departmental issues that you collectively want to prioritize.
  • Rethink your seminars so that you can spend time building the social fabric of the department. Example, ask department to show up 30 min prior to the lecture, and spend that time eating and interacting together and with the speaker. Then hear the talk afterwards, and then afterwards all the grad students get to interact with the speaker.
  • Gift faculty a set of lunches at the school cafeteria so they can go out to lunch with each other or take their group to lunch. This helps build camaraderie within the department.
  • Keep collaboration going by sending students to different research groups within the department, and delegate the meeting planning and agenda setting to postdocs.
  • As department chair, figure out what you can take off your plate.
  • The leaders I have always admired, what I admired most about them was that they defined their success not as their personal success, but as the success of everybody around them. And so you redefine your success as a department head as your department's success.
  • Have students also be involved in departmental decisions and on committees.
  • In meetings ask everyone for input regardless of rank. Example, start with the students, then non-tenure track, then assistant professors, associate professors, and then full professors to flip the power and influence dynamic and remove the barriers to communication.
  • If you are going to ask junior faculty to do service, give them meaningful service opportunities so they can have that kind of experience, but also let them know it's okay to say no.

Additional context and information

Issues related to work-life balance that were discussed in this webinar corroborate some of the findings from surveys conducted by AGI, one related to the COVID Impacts study, and a more recent one that AGI did for UNESCO of geoscience researchers in Africa. Questions about work-life balance on these surveys were very similar and the results were nearly identical. The results from both studies show that work life balance issues such as childcare, eldercare, health, and other matters have affected the productivity and career aspirations of many geoscientists, regardless of geographic location or career path.

Changing the academic culture around mental health

Friday, February 9, 2024

Mental health is a crucial issue in academia, but issues related to mental health and wellness are often swept under the rug, both at the individual and institutional levels. Mental health challenges can be particularly acute in geoscience, particularly in field, shipboard, laboratory, or virtual environments that are often isolating.

Join Dr. Maureen Long, Professor and Chair, from the Yale University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences to learn how her department addressed issues around disability, mental health, and chronic illness and how she and her colleagues and her institution continue to discuss and implement solutions to ongoing challenges. This webinar will provide an overview of one departments initiatives, a discussion of ongoing challenges, and advice for departmental leaders (including chairs, directors of graduate studies, and DEI committee members) on how to effect change. Please join the conversation to learn and share your strategies with the community.

Additional Resources

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - webinar