OCTOBER 2014 NEWSLETTER
OCTOBER 14, 2014
Dear international and internationally-oriented colleagues:
This year, the GSA International Section (IS) is undergoing a major change. Those of you travelling to the 2014 Annual Meeting in Vancouver next week will find out more about it at the GSA International Section Reception and Awards ceremony, and while visiting our new International booth in the Exhibit Hall (booth #1221). Updates will also appear on the GSA International website. With the help of GSA leadership, the International Section management board members reshaped the International Section into “GSA International” to better serve our society’s strategic goals, and to better serve the needs of all its international members. We hope that you will continue to contribute to, and benefit from, GSA’s International activities by joining the proposed International Interdisciplinary Interest Group once it will have been launched. When the GSA International Committee will have been formed on a more formal level, you will hear more about the new structure and the opportunities to get involved. Stay tuned, updates will be posted on the GSA International website.
Aside from restructuring tasks, GSA IS hosted several key events including the welcoming of overseas participants in a jam-packed ceremony at the GSA’s 125th Anniversary Meeting held in Denver (October 28, 2013). Nazrul Khandaker published a blog titled “A Mem orabl e Gath ering of Ge osc ie ntists host ed b y th e GSA I nte rnatio nal S e ction ” archiv ed som e of th e hi gh- pro fil e le ctur es , pr es ent ation s, and fe ed ba ck provide d b y the part icipant s atte ndin g the r ec ep tion. The reception truly reflected Dr. Burchfiel‘s long-standing collaboration with overseas geoscientists and was honored by the presence of many highly- acclaimed and well-established geologists including Dr. A. M. Celal ŞENGÖR, Dr. Roland Oberhänsli, President, International Union of Geological Sciences, and Dr. Shuwen Dong, Vice- President of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. All of them brought prestige to this reception and greatly appreciated GSA International Section’s efforts to cement the professional relationships among the attending participants. Dr. Marjorie Chan from the University of Utah, the 2014 GSA Distinguished Lecturer, carried out a very successful tour covering a wide geographic region from Korea to India to New Zealand to China. Margie’s up-to-the minute blog postings on the GSA International Section’s webpage are really colorful, full of warmth, rich in cultural details, and certainly consolidating GSA’s globalization theme and bringing geoscience
and society together. With the participation of Dr. Victor Baker (inaugural lecturer touring Europe) and Dr. Marjorie Chan, the tour already has become a strong and viable instrument to promote GSA’s science on a global scale. We wish to thank the initial donor of this Lecture Tour, Robbie Gries.
With the upcoming launching of GSA International as a new and effective platform for international excellence, exchange, and collaboration, we may look forward to an increasingly diverse participation of more and more individuals to not only lead various committees, but foremost, to be directly involved in shaping and defining international geologic themes of global importance. On behalf of the GSA International Section’s Management Board, I would therefore like to invite you to stop by at our new booth called PANGAEA, which will be located in the EXHIBIT area (booth #1221) in Vancouver to share your ideas and provide feedback on the restructuring of the GSA International Section and to foster the new global theme embodying GSA’s strategic vision, mission, and future outlook.
Owing to the many events and strategic opportunities this year, we will append the complete annual report recently submitted to GSA Council. In this report, we provide a more detailed overview over the International Section’s various activities. Foremost, we would like to congratulate the 2014 award winners, Professor Shige Maruyama of Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan (GSA International Honorary Fellow) and Professor Farouk El-Baz (2014
International Section Career Award), as well as the recipients of the international travel grants.
This newsletter will be the last one to be sent out by the GSA International Section. The last business meeting of the IS will be conducted during this GSA annual meeting in Vancouver. From November onward, the GSA International Committee will continue and expand the work of the International Section through the means of the International Interdisciplinary Interest group. I would hereby like to thank all of the International Section management board members who have done all of the work needed to reshape GSA’s International face.
We wish you a successful annual meeting in Vancouver, and a scientifically productive year. Respectfully Yours,
Nazrul I. Khandaker
(GSA International Section Secretary)
October 14, 2014
