24 April 2012
WASHINGTON—Scientists, policy-makers, agency heads and more will gather in Washington, D.C., next week for the inaugural American Geophysical Union (AGU) Science Policy Conference. Members of the news media — including print, broadcast and online journalists — are invited to the event, to be held 1–2 May 2012 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.
Advance online media registration is available through tomorrow (Wednesday, 25 April) at http://bit.ly/Hi899H. News media registrants will receive, at no charge, a badge that provides access to all of the meeting sessions, as well as to the onsite Press Room. No one will be admitted without a valid badge. Members of the news media may also register onsite at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., during the conference. Please be aware that valid photo identification (i.e., driver’s license, passport) is needed to enter the Reagan Building. Everyone will be required to go through security screenings when entering, so please allow extra time.
The Science Policy Conference will feature dozens of eminent speakers from top levels of the government, the military, scientific institutions and societies, universities, environmental organizations, industry, and agriculture. Talks and posters will focus on four main themes: natural hazards (e.g. public safety, economic tolls, national policy), natural resources (e.g. hydraulic fracturing, food security, critical minerals), oceans (e.g. national policy, acidification, sustainability research), and the Arctic (e.g. ecosystem change, transportation and energy development).
Speakers at the meeting will include:
- Christopher Field, Director for the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institute of Washington and Professor at Stanford University
- David Gallo, Director of Special Projects, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, co-expedition leader on a mapping mission to RMS Titanic and co-leader of the successful search for the missing Air France 447 aircraft
- Governor Jim Geringer, Director of Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.
- Rear Admiral Frederick Kenney, Judge Advocate General and Chief Counsel for the U.S. Coast Guard
- Phil Keslin, co-founder of Google Earth
- Marcia McNutt, Director, U.S. Geological Survey
- Kevin Ranker, Washington State Senator, Majority Assistant Whip and Chair of the Committee on Energy, Natural Resources and Marine Waters
Nearly 90 scientists and science policy specialists will give poster presentations on such far-ranging topics as food insecurity and the effects of airborne metal pollution on ocean chemistry. Visit http://bit.ly/GUmnuE to view the full program and list of confirmed speakers.
To browse abstracts of posters, see: http://bit.ly/IBN0aw. (To access all poster abstracts, click on “Search” at the left and then click on the magnifying glass “Search” icon at the bottom of the “Search Criteria” window.) To see electronic copies of some of the posters, go to: http://bit.ly/JvsHi1. (Click “Search” to see all e-posters.)
About AGU
The American Geophysical Union is a not-for-profit society of Earth and space scientists with more than 61,000 members in 146 countries. Established in 1919 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., AGU advances the Earth and space sciences through its scholarly publications, meetings, and outreach programs. For more information, visit www.agu.org.