Alexandria, VA – Through collaborative efforts with other top scientific societies, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) has helped formulate a list of critical science policy questions to pose to President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the upcoming presidential election.
Many of the questions, which cover topics from natural resources and energy production to climate change and ocean health, require geoscientists and a geoscience literate public to address. "AGI, along with our member societies, is poised to help meet the geoscience challenges that face our nation" said Dr. P. Patrick Leahy, Executive Director for the American Geosciences Institute. "Ensuring a skilled geoscience workforce and a geoscience literate public is a goal that AGI continually works to achieve. We are honored to collaborate with the science and engineering community in formulating questions that focus on these goals for the 2012 Science Debate." The list is now available online at http://www.sciencedebate.org/questions.html.
Other participating organizations include the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society of Chemical Engineering, the Council on Competitiveness, the US Institute of Electricians and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, ScienceDebate.org, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Scientific American magazine served as the media partner for the endeavor.
The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society's use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.