THE AMERICAN GEOSCIENCES INSTITUTE (AGI) AT 75, GLOBAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CHALLENGES IN SUPPORT OF THE GEOSCIENCES

As we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), it is appropriate to retrospectively recount its evolving global accomplishments and identify serious challenges facing the geoscience community. The geosciences are disciplinary diverse and require expertise spanning many academic and professional specialities. There are many learned societies that have individual memberships that ably serve their constituents. AGI is unique in that it was founded as a federation of currently, more than 50 societies (including both international and global) to address common problems. One example of a global leadership by AGI is the development and maintenance of an English-language geoscience abstracting database called GeoRef. Essentially, all geoscience students in the US and abroad have familiarity with GeoRef and it considered essential by the research community. Over the years, GeoRef has grown to more than 4 million entries from journals that are translated from more than 60 languages. It is truly a unique asset of the geoscience community. The future of the geosciences is unsettled based on an AGI publication entitled “Status of Geoscience Recent Graduates 2021â€. Unlike the international picture, enrollment and graduation are declining in the U.S. due in part to declining employment opportunities, lack of interest in the field, and a changing social attitude toward higher education to list a few. AGI’s role keeping track of the global geoscience workforce and pipeline is critical over the next few years if successful strategies are to be developed.