Remember to Submit Your AGU Abstracts by AUG 4th!

The GSA 2011 meeting abstract deadline just passed, and now it's time to focus on getting those abstracts ready for the AGU 2011 Fall Meeting! Did you know about the sessions that the YES Network is convening at the AGU 2011 meeting? If not, here's the information. Please consider submitting an abstract to one of the following sessions that the YES Network is convening.

ED32: Innovative Education, Outreach, and Communication (EOC) Activities by Early Career Scientists (ECS)
Beyond research, scientists are expected to communicate their science. EOC activities by scientists enhance public understanding of pressing topics, foster scientific literacy among the public, open lines of communication with scientists, and inspire young people to consider science careers. EOC skill development is crucial for ECS. While important for obtaining funding, ECS training generally does not cultivate EOC skills. ECS efficacy in EOC occurs through practical experience and professional development activities. This session aims to highlight innovative EOC activities initiated and conducted by ECS, as well as professional development activities designed to foster these skills.

ED49: The Student-to-Professional Continuum: How to Retain Students and Successfully Transition Graduates into Geoscience Careers 
Description: Since the mid-1990's geoscience degree completion rates have remained near 12% for undergraduates and 20% for graduate students. Furthermore, data from NSF indicates that only 30 percent of geoscience graduates work in core geoscience occupations. The US and other developed nations are beginning to see the loss of technical skills in the geoscience workforce, both within academia, government, and industry sectors. The implementation of successful retention and student-to-professional transition strategies are critical for bolstering the supply of new graduates to geoscience occupations.

ED51: Using International Networks to Develop the Future Global Geoscience Workforce
As the geoscience workforce becomes increasingly global, geoscience graduates need to be equipped with strong geoscience skills and experience in international collaboration. Data from the IUGS Global Geoscience Taskforce indicates that developed nations face the immediate need to replace the current wave of retiring geoscientists while developing nations need to bolster human and capital infrastructure to support the training of future geoscientists. International geoscience networks, which remove geographical constraints and connect geoscientists via the web, may help solve the unequal distribution of geoscience capacity while providing geoscience students with the ability to develop international experience.

New YES Network USA Page on Facebook!

Hi All!
We've created a brand new YES Network USA page on Facebook!  "Like" our page to share new stories, events and news on Facebook and get involved! 

May 24th - Free AGU Webinar: Introduction to Negotiation Strategy and Tactics

Introduction to Negotiation Strategy and Tactics
Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Time: 1500h–1600h EDT (1900h–2000h UTC)

Registration link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/561533048

Did you know that the salary of your very first job after graduation determines your salaries for the rest of your life? Learn the basics of how to create a win-win situation and negotiate right from start to finish in the job decision process. Clarifying your needs and wants, and those of the other party are key. The negotiation skills you learn are valuable in that they can be applied to any situation in your professional (and even personal) life. For more information about this webinar, please visit: http://www.agu.org/careers/careers_in_science/

Student-to-Professional Continuum Survey

Please take a few moments to share your thoughts about what methods you think are best for attracting students to geoscience university programs, retaining students through their academic careers and also helping them transition into geoscience careers. The survey is posted on the YES Network website at: http://www.networkyes.org/index.php/std2profsurvey/

Please share your thoughts in the survey, and pass this information along to your colleagues!

Webinar Roundtable on Student Retention and Student-to-Professional Transitions

Join us for this AGI GeoConnection webinar!  We especially encourage geoscience students and early-career geoscientists to participate in this webinar.

"A Secure Future for Energy, Environment and Hazard Mitigation: Retaining students through the Student-to-Professional Continuum in the Geosciences. "

The geoscience profession is facing critical human resource issues as a result of its aging workforce and trickle of new graduates entering core geoscience occupations. Since the mid-1990's the geoscience degree completion rates have hovered near 12 percent for undergraduates and near 20 percent for graduate students. Furthermore, data from the National Science Foundation’s 2006 statistical databases indicates that only 30 percent of geoscience graduates work in core geoscience occupations. The majority of the geoscience workforce will be retiring over the next decade and data from federal sources, professional societies, and industry indicate this growing imbalance in the profession’s age demographics. Over the past three years, the age demographics for geoscientists in academia and the federal government indicate an acceleration in the loss of senior geoscientists from the profession.

Because of increasing pressure to address issues such as energy supply, climate and other environmental concerns, and as seen with the Japan disaster, strengthening hazard mitigation, there is an expected 23 percent increase in geoscience jobs over the next decade on top of a wave of nearly 50 percent of existing geoscientists retiring during the same time. The U.S. is beginning to see the loss of fundamental technical skills in the geoscience workforce, both within academia and in the applied sectors. Across all fields, future geoscientists will need solid fundamental skills in both geoscience and mathematics that can be applied to different geoscience challenges including water resources, energy, minerals, hazards and climate issues. Given the current trends, many core and specialty geoscience sub-disciplines that are also economically critical are at risk of extinction. Without properly targeted investment in the retention geoscience university students and the successful transition of geoscience graduates into core geoscience occupations, the sustainability of U.S. geoscience academic infrastructure and pursuit of basic geoscience research is at risk.

This roundtable will be a live web-cast. The roundtable will commence with a brief presentation that highlights these main issues and will be followed by Skype chat-based discussion groups on the following topics.

1. How do we successfully retain geoscience students in US university programs?
2. How do we successfully transition geoscience graduates into geoscience occupations?

Roundtable moderators will present their discussion group summaries at the end of the roundtable session. If you would like to serve as a roundtable moderator, please contact Leila Gonzales at lmg@agiweb.

This webinar is co-sponsored by the YES Network's USA National Chapter.

This webinar has been submitted to the Obama Administration’s “Roundtables with Young Americans” initiative, and we have also requested that a person from the Administration be in attendance during this session.  *Note: If you would like to have your contact information included in the final report submitted to the Obama Administration's Youth Team, please make sure to fill in the name, address, and email fields on the registration page.

For more information, including registration details, please visit AGI's GeoWebinar page.

YES Network sessions at the GSA 2011 meeting

Time is moving fast this year! We already have three sessions accepted for the Geological Society of America's 2011 annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN this October, a short course that we're co-organizing with the Arizona State Geological Survey and AGI, and a networking luncheon that we're co-organizing with GSA and AGI. We have a lot of activities (yes, even more than what I just listed) planned for GSA. See the YES Network website for more info : http://www.networkyes.org/index.php/meetings/gsa_2011/

So, you ask, "How can I get involved?". Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Submit an abstract to one of the YES Network's topical sessions, and invite others whom you think might be interested in these sessions to submit abstracts as well.
  
• Join the planning team and help us organize the different YES Network activities. Email Mary Seid (yesnetwork.usa[at]gmail.com) to let her know you'd like to be part of the organizing team. 

 Stay tuned for more posts!

YES Network at the AGU Fall Meeting

We're gearing up for all of the YES Network activities next week at AGU with lots of things on our schedule. Our schedule of events is posted on the YES Network's blog, and we'll be keeping that blog updated with information about what's happening at the meeting.

Will you be at AGU next week? If so, let us know by emailing us at (yesnetwork.usa[at]gmail.com)!

If you are not attending the AGU meeting next week, check in with us at our Facebook page or on the YES Network blog, or at the YES Network's home page (we've got them all linked now, so you can easily follow us by checking any of these places).  We hope to see you all in San Francisco next week!