GSA Annual Meeting
From Volcanoes to Vineyards: Living with Dynamic Landscape
18-21 October 2009 . Portland, Oregon
Oregon Convention Center
http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/2009/
Registration deadline: Standard, 1 June thru 14 September 2009
Abstract deadline: 11 August 2009
THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES
REPORT TO IUGS FROM IAGC FOR 2007
The IAGC (http://www.iagc.ca) is a pre-eminent international geochemical organisation whose prime objective is to foster co-operation in, and advancement of, geochemistry in its broadest sense. We sponsor meetings and publications organised by our Working Groups to study problems that benefit from international co-operation. The Association's journal, Applied Geochemistry, is issued 12 times a year and periodically publishes special issues on topics of current importance. In addition, a Newsletter is published twice a year and made available to its members (over 500) either electronically or by regular mail for those that prefer a printed copy.
The IAGC has been very active for many years with the involvement of Council Members and ordinary members in making a number of important changes to the IAGC and its method of operation.
IAGC COUNCIL MEETINGS AND NEWS
The major achievements and plans for 2007 discussed during the IAGC Business Meetings are summarized below.
First, IAGC membership surpassed the 500 mark for the first time as the result of a strong recruiting effort at the WRI-12 Symposium, held in Kunming, China from 31 July to 5 August. Over 420 people from more than 25 countries participated in the conference and its 3 post-meeting excursions, with 55 becoming new IAGC members. Because IAGC now has a significant number of members in China, the IAGC Board approved an initiative to set up a satellite business office at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan to manage its Chinese membership. Sixteen of the new Chinese memberships were a gift from IAGC members to Professor Yanzing Wang and his graduate student team to express appreciation for a well-organized and enjoyable WRI-12 conference and another five to geochemists from Morocco and China were a personal gift from Yousif Kharaka, the former Chairman of the WRI Working Group. On behalf of IAGC, I extend a sincere expression of thanks for this kindness.
Second, IAGC bestowed its first set of awards at the 2007 Goldschmidt International Geochemistry Conference, held in Cologne, Germany from 19-24 August. Fred Mackenzie of the University of Hawai'i was selected as the recipient of the first IAGC Vernadsky Medal to honor a distinguished record of scientific accomplishment in geochemistry over the course of a career. Dana Royer of Wesleyan University and Seifu Kebede of the University of Addis Ababa shared the first Ebelmen Award to recognize a geochemist of particular merit and outstanding promise less than 35 years old. The Hitchon Award for most significant paper published in the IAGC journal Applied Geochemistry went to Keara Moore, Brenda Ekwurzel, Bradley Esser, Brent Hudson, and Jean Moran, for their 2006 paper 'Sources of Groundwater Nitrate Revealed Using Residence Time and Isotope Methods' (Applied Geochemistry, 21:1016-1029). Certificates of Recognition for a particular scientific accomplishment in a particular area of geochemistry, excellence in teaching or public service, or meritorious service by an IAGC member to the Association or the international geochemistry community were awarded to U. Aswathanarayana of the Mahadevan International Centre for Water Resources Management, Mike Edmunds of Oxford University, John Gurney of the University of Cape Town, Jochen Hoefs of Göttingen University, Yousif Kharaka of the USGS, Herbert Palme of the University of Cologne, and Zell Peterman of the USGS. The first Faure Award for best student presentation at an IAGC conference will be conferred at the upcoming AIG-7 conference in South Africa as the WRI-12 symposium, by tradition, has had its own set of 'best paper' awards. Congratulations to all IAGC award recipients!
Finally, IAGC celebrated its 40th anniversary on Saturday 18 September, immediately prior to the Goldschmidt Conference. Attended by more than 35 IAGC members and honored guests, this was a particularly memorable event. One founding member and former IAGC Vice President, Karl Hans Wedepohl from Germany, and the 4 most recent IAGC Presidents - Heinrich Wänke from Germany, Gunter Faure from the US, Eric Galimov from Russia, and John Ludden from the UK (formerly of France) - were honored at the ceremony and provided personal perspectives on the development of geochemistry during the past half-century. Mike Edmunds of Oxford University and Balz Kamber of Laurentian University, the Ingerson International Lecturers for 2006/07, provided very interesting talk on two diverse facets of geochemistry - 'Geochemistry's Vital Contribution to Solving Water Resource Problems' and 'Geochemical Fingerprinting: 40 Years of Analytical Development and Real World Applications', respectively. Stephen Moorbath wrapped up the afternoon's activities with an engaging keynote address 'Geochronology - Aims and Reminiscence.' The written versions of these three presentations, together with the IAGC award citationist's and recipient's remarks will be published in the special issue of Applied Geochemistry that will derive from the special symposium IAGC organized at the Goldschmidt conference to honor the memory of founding member Alfred A. Levinson who passed away in late 2005.
The Cologne Goldschmidt Conference provided for IAGC to hold a business meeting, which was attended by the 4 officers, 7 Council members, and 4 Working Group leaders. To better serve the geochemical community, the IAGC Council decided to initiate a new program of PhD student research grants. This program which is being initiated immediately, with the first awards to be made in 2008, is aimed at assisting PhD students in geochemistry with undertaking and acquiring geochemical analyses in support of the student's Dissertation research. Grants of up to $3000 (US) will be awarded to support the analytical needs of a geochemistry PhD student. Grant recipients will also receive a membership to IAGC and an article profiling the recipients will be published in the IAGC Newsletter and posted on the IAGC website.
At the Cologne business meeting, Council also decided to create two new biennial awards - the IAGC Fellow honor that would be a special tribute bestowed on outstanding geochemists who have made significant contributions to a field or sub-field of geochemistry over the course of some extended period of years and the IAGC Distinguished Service Award to recognize outstanding service by an IAGC member to the Association or to the geochemical community that greatly exceeds the normal expectations of voluntary service. It was also decided that the major IAGC would be conferred on a biennial basis and the other awards (Certificate of Recognition, Hitchon Award, and Faure Award) on an annual basis, with a full set of awards to be conferred in 2008 before moving to the alternate year schedule for the Vernadsky Medal, Ebelmen Award, and IAGC Fellow selection.