From Seafloor Mapping to Hammer Awards and AAAS Fellowships........
PRESS CONFERENCE WITH USGS SCIENTISTS: 2:30 p.m. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13 AAAS Press Room
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2:00-5:00 p.m. - Bradford Butman, USGS oceanographer at the Woods Hole Field Center in Woods Hole, Mass., speaks about Predicting the Fate of Contaminants in the New York Bight during a session on Dredging Harbors: What To Do With Toxic Waste. USGS studies involve the use of sophisticated seafloor mapping and sampling equipment to provide a new, detailed regional map of sea floor characteristics offshore of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. Information from this USGS study provides a regional framework for predicting the movement and long-term fate of sediments and associated contaminants. The information can also be used to guide habitat and resource management and develop strategies for monitoring long-term environmental change.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14
* 9:00 a.m.- Noon, Thomas Ahlbrandt, USGS geologist, Denver, Colo., has organized a symposium for the 150th Anniversary of AAAS entitled: "Petroleum: The Past, Present and Future of a Needed Resource". Philadelphia is an appropriate setting for the 150th AAAS meeting because it provides linkages to the early history of AAAS where earth sciences were emphasized, and to American petroleum, which was first discovered in Titusville, Penn. in 1859. Six speakers, representing universities, non-profit state and national organizations, and industry will address petroleum topics ranging from its American origin in Pennsylvania, responsiveness to environmental concerns, forthcoming dramatic changes and technological developments, and the linkage to societal issues.
* 3:00-6:00 p.m. - Gary Waggoner, a USGS biologist at the Center for Biological Informatics in Denver, Colo., is the organizer of a session on Systematic Biology for the New Millennium. During this session, Waggoner will speak about Recognizing the Need for Taxonomic Information: A New Federal Perspective.
Waggoner recently received one of Vice President Al Gore's prestigious Hammer Awards for Reinventing Government. The USGS scientist led an interagency team that developed an online taxonomic name database for the identification of biota.
* evening - Ray Herrmann, a USGS physical scientist, will be inducted into AAAS "Fellowship". Herrmann's specialty is watershed research; he has been instrumental in the development and coordination of the USGS' National Park Service Watershed Ecosystems Program. This program supports national and international investigations regarding the nature and protection of watersheds, use on public lands, and furthers the scientific understanding of ecosystems by studying change as a result of natural and human-derived stress.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 3:00-6:00 p.m. - Gladys Cotter, USGS, Office of Biological Informatics and Outreach in Reston, Va., will help direct the AAAS session, Biological Diversity Information Infrastructure Development: Transnational Initiatives, aimed at opening information access to those focused on questions of biological diversity.
Cotter will speak about Access to Biological Diversity Information: Transnational Initiatives. The USGS has taken the lead in establishing the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII), a computerized connective linking the wealth of biological information resources available through the Internet.
As the nation's largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency, the USGS works in cooperation with more than 2000 organizations across the country to provide reliable, impartial, scientific information to resource managers, planners and other customers. This information is gathered in every state by USGS scientists to minimize the loss of life and property from natural disasters, contribute to the sound conservation, economic and physical development of the nation's natural resources and enhance the quality of life by monitoring water, biological, energy and mineral resources.
Contacts:
Catherine Haecker
ph: (703) 648-4283
fax: (703) 648-4224
Duncan Morrow
(703) 648-4221
(703) 648-4042
Marion Fisher
(703) 648-4583
(703) 648-4588
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
Office of the Director, Eastern Region
150 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
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