^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ AWG E-MAIL NEWS 20001-5, 11 February 2001 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ CONTENTS: 1) WOMEN IN SCIENCE MEETING AND LUNCHEON 2) NAGT EARLY CAREER FACULTY WORKSHOP 3) NEW ADVANCE PROGRAM AT NSF 4) AGI GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS PROGRAM SPECIAL UPDATE: 2-10-01 5) AMAZON.COM 6) STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES 7) SUBMISSION, ADVERTISING, ADDRESS CHANGE & MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 1) WOMEN IN SCIENCE MEETING AND LUNCHEON San Francisco Hilton Continental Ballroom 4 (Meeting) and Continental Ballroom 6 (Luncheon) Monday, February 19, 2001 Meeting: 9:30 AM - 12 Noon Luncheon: 12 Noon - 2 PM Visit the AWG website (www.awg.org) for the information flyer about this meeting/luncheon and for organizer contact information. 22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 2) NAGT EARLY CAREER FACULTY WORKSHOP The National Association of Geoscience Teachers announces a workshop for Early Career Faculty in the Geosciences: Teaching, Research, and Managing Your Career. Participants must have a faculty teaching position at a 2-year or 4- year college or university and be in their first four years of full-time teaching. These workshops are supported by an Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement grant from the National Science Foundation (and thus are FREE except from travel to and from Williamsburg). The workshop will be June 27-July 1 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. During the workshop, each participant will: Learn about a variety of active learning strategies, different ways to integrate research into geoscience courses, and various grading and assessment techniques. Share ideas and strategies for teaching entry-level courses as well as upper-level courses. Consider successful strategies for advising/supervising undergraduate and graduate research students. Discuss life as an early-career faculty member and explore various ways to balance teaching, research, and service responsibilities. Leave with examples of syllabi, assignments, and activities for various courses, strategies for balancing competing demands, and a support network of other early career faculty. DATES The workshop will begin on Wednesday evening, June 27, 2001 and will end after dinner on Sunday evening, July 1. Participants must attend all sessions. The workshop will have an optional (and strongly recommended) field trip to the National Science Foundation on Monday, July 2; there will be a modest additional charge to participate in this trip. EXPECTATIONS Within one year of the workshop, each participant will write a progress report and will submit either a short (one to two page) letter of advice for other early career faculty or an assignment or activity developed after the workshop to be posted on a Resource Website. ELIGIBILITY Participants in this workshop must hold a teaching position at a 2- or 4- year college or university and be in their first four years of full- time teaching at the time of application. COST The workshop itself is FREE, thanks to a grant from the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education. The grant covers the operational costs of the workshop plus room, board, and workshop materials for the participants. Participants or their home institutions must provide transportation to and from the workshop. Limited funds are available to provide some support for participants whose institutions have limited resources for faculty development support. (We have a few stipends of up to $200 each available for participants with limited financial resources. If you wish to apply for one of these stipends, please include a request for such support with your application and provide a budget of anticipated expenses and other supportsources.) APPLICATION AND SELECTION CRITERIA The workshop size is limited. The final list of participants will be established with the goal of assembling a group representing a wide range of experiences and educational environments. Application materials must be received by February 26, 2001. Your application should include your name, address, phone number and email address as well as a short c.v. and a short statement indicating why you want to attend the workshop and what you hope to gain from attending. Please send this to Heather Macdonald via email (rhmacd@wm.edu) or fax (757-221-2093) by Monday, February 26, 2001 FACILITIES The workshop will be held at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA. Participants will be housed in dorms on campus and will eat meals on campus. Early Career Workshop Project leaders: Heather Macdonald, College of William and Mary Barbara Tewksbury, Hamilton College Richelle Allen-King, Washington State University Randall Richardson, University of Arizona David Mogk, Montana State University Steven Semken, Dine College FOR MORE INFORMATION Please contact Heather Macdonald or 1-757-221-2443 33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 3) NEW ADVANCE PROGRAM AT NSF The notice below describes a new NSF program called ADVANCE, which is the successor to POWRE. It will provide individual and institutional grants to assist in the development of women faculty in science and engineering. Perhaps you would like to forward this to your Dean's office and to otherinterested parties. NSF has announced a new program, ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers. The goal of the ADVANCE program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. To meet this goal, the FY 01 ADVANCE pilot program provides new award opportunities for both individuals and organization through Fellows Awards, Institutional Transformation Awards, and Leadership Awards. With each of the three types of ADVANCE awards, NSF seeks to support new approaches to improving the climate for women in U.S. academic institutions and to facilitate women's advancement to the highest ranks of academic leadership. Creative approaches to realize the goal of this pilot program are sought from men and women. Members of underrepresented minority groups and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. The deadline for the Fellows proposals is staggered by directorates. For Engineering it is August 22, 2001 with Letter of Intent due May 16, 2001. The deadline for the submission of the Institutional Transformation proposals and the Leadership proposals is May 8, 2001, with Letter of Intent due April 2, 2001. Please note that both women and men may be the Principal Investigators on ADVANCE proposals. Please disseminate the information broadly in your communities and encourage them to submit proposals in order to promote the goals of NSF. You can retrieve information by visiting the NSF web site (www.nsf.gov) from the home page and by selecting the "Crosscutting" link, or directly from http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf0169 . If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please feel free to contact me. 44444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444 4) AGI GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS PROGRAM SPECIAL UPDATE: 2-10-01 *** New Faces in Congressional and Administration Leadership IN A NUTSHELL: With Cabinet confirmations complete and congressional committee chairs chosen, the dust is starting to settle in Washington.Many of the key players on issues affecting the geosciences have changed in both Congress and the Administration. This special update provides a snapshot of the new leaders. Freshly confirmed Secretaries of the Interior and Energy are in place along with the new EPA Administrator, but virtually all non-Cabinet level appointments are still waiting to be filled, including the president's science advisor. In the House of Representatives, a six-year term limit for committee chairs, set in 1995 when Republicans gained the majority has taken effect, resulting in a sizeable turnover. The Senate has experience less change in terms of committee chairs, but the even split between the parties has led to numerous shifts in committee procedures and assignments. January was an active month for musical chairs in Washington. President Bush and his transition team focused their early efforts on getting the Cabinet in place and confirmed, a process that was completed February 1st with the confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft. Bush announced his intentions for many of the Cabinet slots well before his inauguration on January 20th, and a number of Senate confirmation hearings had already taken place before Bush was sworn in as president. Of particular interest to the geosciences are Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, and EPA Administrator Carol Browner. But the transition is far from over, and many other positions important to the geoscience community have yet to be filled. The new administration is still full of Clinton holdovers serving on an acting basis while the White House Office of Presidential Appointments -- headed by Deputy Chief of Staff Clay Johnson -- runs nominations through arduous background checks. For example, Norton is the only appointment at the Department of the Interior with the rest of the political hierarchy still in flux. No action has taken place on the president's science advisor, who also serves as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Bush has not announced his intended leadership for many federal agencies of interest to the geoscience, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Many scientific organizations have been encouraging the administration to fill these positions quickly so that science funding will be a priority in the president's first budget request later this spring. Two key science leaders who have been re- appointed are U.S. Geological Survey Director Charles "Chip" Groat and National Science Foundation Director Rita Colwell. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin (appointed in 1992 by the first President Bush) has also been retained, but it is not clear for how long. ** Cabinet Positions Before becoming Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton spent eight years as Attorney General of Colorado. She served in the Reagan Administration as the Interior Department's Associate Solicitor. Often described as a protege of then-Secretary of the Interior James Watt, Norton was supported by property rights groups and opposed by environmental groups. The Senate confirmed her nomination on January 30th in a 74-25 vote. A bio is available at http://www.doi.gov/secretary/. New Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is a former Senator from Michigan who was defeated in the November elections. As a senator, Abraham supported legislation to help boost domestic petroleum production, to speed up development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site, and to eliminate the department that he now heads. Several of his former colleagues stated in his confirmation hearing that he has his work cut out for him by taking over the helm of an agency that many in Congress see as over-extended with a poorly defined mission. He was unanimously confirmed. A bio is available at http://www.energy.gov/aboutus/history/abraham.html. Also unanimously confirmed was former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman to head the Environmental Protection Agency. During her tenure as governor, Whitman worked to balance environmental protection with economic interests. She endorses voluntary compliance by industry instead of top-down regulatory enforcement. At her confirmation hearing, she said: "We will offer the carrot first, but we will not retire the stick." A bio is available at http://www.epa.gov/adminweb/about.htm. President Bush has nominated campaign manager Joe Allbaugh as the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a position that President Clinton gave Cabinet status. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Allbaugh on February 13th. ** House of Representatives ** When Republicans took control of the House of Representatives at the start of the 104th Congress in 1995, one of their first reforms was to establish six-year term limits for committee chairs. With those six years up in 2001, a few committee chairs sought waivers -- most notably Judiciary Committee chair Henry Hyde (R-IL) -- but the House leadership turned them down. As a result, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has traded his chairmanship of the House Science Committee for the top slot on Judiciary, opening up his old job for moderate New York Republican Rep. Sherwood Boehlert. The Science Committee has jurisdiction over several key geoscience-related agencies and programs, including NASA, NSF, DOE research programs, the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP), and the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). Boehlert has pledged to increase the committee's profile and, by extension, the profile of science in Congress. His initial focus will be on science education, energy policy, and the environment with a series of hearings planned for March. New subcommittee chairs include former research physicist Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) atop the Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards; and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), who holds a doctorate in physiology, atop the Subcommittee on Energy. Returning are Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Research Subcommittee Chairman Nick Smith (R-MI). More at http://www.house.gov/science/. Rep. James Hansen (R-UT) will take over the chairmanship of the House Resources Committee with former chair Rep. Don Young (R-AK) staying on as Vice-Chairman. Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-WY) will continue as chair of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Rep. Ken Calvert (R- CA) is the new chair of the Subcommittee on Water and Power; Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO) will chair the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands; Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) will chair the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans; and committee newcomer Rep. Scott McInnis (R-CO) will chair the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health. Rep. Nick Joe Rahall (D-WV) has been announced as the new Ranking Minority Member on the committee. More at http://www.house.gov/resources/. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) chairs the renamed Energy and Commerce Committee (a return to its former name, which was shortened in the 104th Congress to just Commerce). The name change reflects a shift in jurisdiction to focus more on energy policy and environmental regulations. Subcommittee jurisdiction and names have also shifted in the transition. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) chairs the renamed Energy and Air Quality (formerly Energy and Power) Subcommittee, which has authority over a range of topics including national energy policy, nuclear energy and waste, the Clean Air Act, and electricity deregulation. Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-OH) now chairs the Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee. More at http://www.house.gov/commerce/. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) takes over as chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee after edging out Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI) despite Petri's greater seniority. Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE) chairs the Subcommittee on Education Reform, which faces the challenge of reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that was not completed in the last Congress. In the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) will remain chairman of the committee, but the subcommittee chairs have played musical chairs. Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH) moves from the Interior Subcommittee -- where he was a long-standing champion of the USGS -- to the more powerful Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Subcommittee. Rep. Joe Skeen (R-NM) moves from the Agriculture Subcommittee to the Interior Subcommittee. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) will take over as chair of the Commerce-Justice Subcommittee (jurisdiction over NOAA). Rep. Sonny Callahan (R-AL) will replace Rep. Ron Packard as chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee (DOE). Rep. James Walsh (R-NY) will remain as chair of the VA-HUD Subcommittee (NSF, NASA, EPA). More at http://www.house.gov/appropriations/. ** Senate Without six-year term limits, most Senate committees have the same leadership they had in the 106th Congress. But the power-sharing deals brokered in response to the 50-50 party split mean that committees will conduct their business in new ways. Committees have equal representation of Republicans and Democrats, and both the chair and the ranking Democrat will have the authority to bring legislation to the floor for debate and vote, a right that had previously been available only to the chair. Although few full committee chairs changed, quite a few subcommittee chairs have new occupants. In the Appropriations Committee, the defeat of Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA) opened up the chairmanship of the Interior and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which is now headed by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT). Three senators join the committee: Mike DeWine (R-OH), Tim Johnson (D-SD), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). More at http://www.senate.gov/~appropriations/. Over at the Senate Commerce, Science, And Transportation Committee, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) is the new chair of the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space, which has jurisdiction over NSF, NASA, NEHRP, and USGCRP. More at http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/. The Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee keeps the same leadership -- Chair Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and Ranking Democrat Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) -- but gains six new senators: Maria Cantwell (D- WA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Richard Shelby (R-AL). More at http://www.senate.gov/~energy/. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) as the new Ranking Minority Member, along with five other new faces to the committee: Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Tom Carper (D-DE), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), and Arlen Specter (R- PA). More at http://www.senate.gov/~epw/. -Special update prepared by Margaret Baker and David Applegate, AGI Government Affairs Program 55555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555 5) AMAZON.COM Just a reminder that when you want to order something from Amazon.com you should link to their website through the awg website (www.awg.org) so that AWG can earn referral fees for your purchase. 66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666 6) STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES ***Binghamton University-Graduate Fellowships The Department of Geological Sciences at Binghamton University is pleased to announce the immediate availability of four graduate fellowships funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the Graduate Assistantships in Areas of National Need (G.A.A.N.N.) program. These multiyear fellowships (approximately $15k/y) are intended for U.S. citizens pursuing a Ph.D. in any area of computational Earth Sciences. We are actively recruiting students in Hydrogeology (Groundwater contaminant transport modeling), Sedimentary geology: (Modeling of cyclic aspects of the stratigraphic record), Geophysics: (Earthquake ground motion modeling), and Seismology: (Using earthquake data to understand mountain building processes in the Himalayas). Interested students should visit our web page, http://www.geol.binghamton.edu, and contact the Graduate Program Director, Prof. Jenkins at: dmjenks@binghamton.edu. ******************************************** ***Opportunity for undergraduate field-research experience with state geological surveys The primary objectives of the NSF-USGS-sponsored Research Experiences for Undergraduates program that is coordinated by the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) are to train students in scientific field techniques (particularly geologic mapping but also other geological and geophysical approaches) and to excite and encourage students to pursue careers in geoscience. We provide aspiring geologists with a field-based research experience with a mentor/field geologist or geophysicist from a state geological survey. We hope that the students will gain some knowledge about field techniques, heighten their enthusiasm for geologic research, and, if they are really interested, pursue a career that involves a strong appreciation of the value of field work. The mentors serve as not only teachers and mentors but also as scientific collaborators. At the end of the experience, we encourage students to present results of their research to the staff of the state geological survey or at regional scientific meetings. Most student projects run during summer months, but some include field activities during other parts of the year. It is expected that most field projects will be linked to funded research through the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey) or other federal, state, local government or private sector programs. For placing students, the program is administered by individual state geological surveys. State geological surveys in all 50 states and Puerto Rico are eligible to mentor students through this program; students contact state geological surveys directly to inquire about this and other mentoring and intern programs. Individual state surveys may select students who are recommended from geoscience departments and summer field-camp programs nationwide and from the summer field-training program administered by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. The minimum stipend for a student is $350 per week (some may be considerably more), and most mentoring experiences will last at least eight weeks (a minimum of six weeks is required). Please contact the State Geologist in states in which you would like to have the experience this coming summer or fall. Some state geological surveys are allowed to mentor only students from their states, so you may want to consider contacting the surveys in the states in which you either live or go to college. You can get contact information for each of the state geological surveys from AASG's Web page (http://www.kgs.ukans.edu/AASG/AASG.html). When you contact a state geological survey, we suggest that you send a brief letter expressing your interests in the AASG-NSF mentoring program and explaining your level of training (how far along you are in your geological course work, particularly, whether you have already taken a summer field camp, courses in geologic mapping, or other courses with significant amounts of field time) and that you ask a professor to send a letter attesting to your abilities and potential. You must still be an undergraduate at the time of the research experience. 77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777 7) SUBMISSION, ADVERTISING & MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION ***Thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue of AWG E-Mail News. For submissions to AWG E-Mail News, contact Editor Joanne Kluessendorf at editor@awg.org. For advertising, contact the Ad Editor at ads@awg.org. PLEASE SEND AD COPY OR OTHER SUBMISSIONS AS RTF FILES OR AS PART OF AN E-MAIL MESSAGE ***For membership information or to join AWG, visit our website at or contact our business office at