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AGI Highlights - 2002
- AGI welcomed three new societies, increasing the Federation
to 40 member societies. The American Rock Mechanics Association, the
International Basement Tectonics Association, and the Society of Mineral
Museum Professionals joined us in supporting our efforts to provide
information services to geoscientists, to serve as a voice of shared
interests in our profession, to play a major role in strengthening
geoscience education, and to increase public awareness of the vital
role the geosciences play in mankind's use of resources and interaction
with the environment. Links to our member societies' web pages can
be found at www.agiweb.org/members.
- AGI's middle-school and high-school Earth-science curricula
projects, Investigating the Earth (IES)™ and EarthComm™,
were completed this spring. Individual student books and teacher guides
for the nine modules in IES™ and the five modules in EarthComm™
are commercially available from our publisher, It's About Time Publishing.
Based on the National Academy of Science's National Science Education
Standards, both curricula are designed to help students understand
fundamental Earth-science concepts. To date, more than 60,000 student
modules of these programs have been sold in 41 states. Visit AGI's
Education web page, www.agiweb.org/education,
for more information.
- Geotimes, AGI's monthly newsmagazine of the Earth
sciences, has consistently expanded its readership since the overhaul
of the magazine's design, presentation and content in 2000. Subscriptions
to the print magazine continue to climb in 2002 as do the number of
people visiting the magazine's web site, www.geotimes.org,
which recently attained the highest hit level since the web site was
launched about four years ago. Last December, the magazine began to
appear on newsstands nationwide and now can be found at more than
300 outlets including most Barnes & Noble bookstores. The staff
continues to enhance the magazine's look while seeking to improve
the timeliness and newsworthiness of its content.
- The AGI Congressional Science Fellowship Program continues
to attract highly qualified geoscience professionals interested in
contributing scientific expertise to the legislative process on Capitol
Hill. This fall, AGI's 2001-2002 fellow, David Curtiss, is completing
an extended year working for the House Republican Conference, chaired
by Representative J.C. Watts of Oklahoma. Larry Kennedy, our 2002-2003
Congressional Fellow, has accepted a position in the office of Senator
Harry Reid of Nevada. The Government Affairs Program remains
focused on increasing federal investment in geoscience research and
education programs. The program's mission is to better inform national
policy makers of the geoscience community's interests and concerns,
and to familiarize and engage geoscientists about policy issues that
directly affect them. More information is available at www.agiweb.org/gap.
- AGI's Earth Science Week continues to be a popular event
and is recognized throughout the Nation, as well as in other countries
around the world, as an annual celebration during the second full
week of October. More than 10,000 Earth Science Week Kits containing
posters, bookmarks, and activities were distributed this year to teachers,
scout leaders, industry representatives, and other organizations.
Earth Science Week 2003 will be celebrated from October 12-18. Visit
www.earthsciweek.org to
see how you can become an important part of this effort. The focus
of this year's Earth Science Week will be on the importance of water
resources.
- By year's end, AGI will have completed and published four new Publications
in 2002. Minerals - Foundations of Society, 3rd edition, provides
an objective overview of non-fuel minerals and the critical role they
play in societies throughout the world. Dinosaurs: The Science
behind the Stories uses dinosaurs to illustrate the nature
and methods of science. Water and the Environment, the
fifth publication in AGI's Environmental Awareness Series, and its
companion poster, Water - The Essential Resource, focus
on the environmental concerns associated with water and how we can
protect and manage our water resources wisely. For a complete listing
of titles available from AGI, visit our Publications Center, www.agiweb.org/pubs.
- GeoRef, AGI's comprehensive geoscience bibliographic database,
now has more than 2.4 million citations. Throughout its history,
GeoRef has included coverage from more than 11,000 serial publications
from around the world. This year, the Information Systems Department
continued work on the Cold Regions Bibliography Project, which focuses
on Antarctic research and exploration and Cold Regions engineering
and physical science information. More information about these services
can be found by visiting www.georef.org
and www.coldregions.org.
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