Lessons from the Tohoku-Oki Earthquake

Seven years ago on 11 March 2011, the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake ripped hundreds kilometers of fault northeast of the island of Honshu, spawning a 38-meter-high tsunami that devastated a 1000 km-long stretch of coastline that had been described in the 1700s by Bashō as the most beautiful in all Japan (Ehrlich, 2013). The meltdown … Read more

AGU100 Interview on NPR’s Morning Edition: Reflections on Motherhood and Being a Woman Scientist

We have exciting news about two AGU scientists: Lora Koenig, President-elect for the Cryosphere Sciences Section, and Zoe Courville were featured this morning on the StoryCorps segment of NPR’s Morning Edition program, which airs on hundreds of public radio stations across the nation, in an interview about how they work to balance their love of … Read more

In Celebration of National Groundwater Awareness Week

This week marks the 19thannual National Groundwater Awareness Week, established in 1999 by the non-profit National Groundwater Association to bring public awareness to the water “beneath our feet.”  The themes of this year’s awareness are “Tend, Test and Treat,” referencing the need to recognize the value and potential vulnerability of groundwater, the necessity of monitoring … Read more

In Celebration of Women’s History Month: The Door is Open

This year, I decided to watch my carbon footprint so instead of driving to our off-the grid cabin for a long weekend, I took a bus. Bus connections are not perfect. So, the next thing I knew, I was standing in a museum looking at portraits of suffragettes and anti-suffragettes. The white dressed suffragettes stared … Read more

President Trump’s Proposed 2019 Budget Would Damage the Scientific Enterprise and the Nation

Headshot of Chris McEntee

Today, President Trump unveiled his proposed budget for 2019. Included within this proposal are steep increases in defense spending and infrastructure, much of which comes at the expense of funding for the federal scientific agencies that provide the technical expertise to realize the President’s policy priorities. The NSF would be flat funded, receiving no increase … Read more

International Darwin Day: Back to the Future – The Continued Descent of Humans

Not many ideas in Western culture have generated as much enlightenment and simultaneous division as the concepts Charles Darwin outlined in On The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man. The idea that variation and natural selection drive evolution is the main reason people get flu shots every year or need ramped up antibiotics … Read more

Each One Teach One: A Geoscience Call to Action During Black History Month

African American history and traditions are interwoven with themes of resilience, interconnectedness across generations, strength from spiritualty, and learning from direct experiences. As we celebrate Black History Month in February, I welcomed the opportunity reflect on my own personal and professional experiences, as well as those of other African American professionals, that might serve as … Read more

President Trump Skips Science in His State of the Union Address

Headshot of Chris McEntee

Last night, in his first State of the Union speech to Congress and the American people, President Trump addressed some of the challenges and opportunities facing the nation. In his remarks, the President talked about a number of issues, including immigration and infrastructure, that his Administration has prioritized in the near future. What is especially … Read more

New AGU Senior Management Structure Will Support Better Program Integration

On Thursday, 18 January, we announced a restructuring of AGU’s senior staff team, which is responsible for working in partnership with volunteer leaders and members to advance AGU’s mission, vision and strategic goals. This new structure serves three strategic imperatives that have emerged from my extensive review of AGU’s needs, both now and in the … Read more