News of the Association

About to Turn A Corner

rior to preparing articles for the AEG News, I usually look back to previous issues to see what was current at the time. I call this Georecall. While this is not a complete remedy for writer’s block, it does afford me the opportunity to see how AEG topics and issues have progressed over the past few years. Needless to say, COVID-19 has dominated our activities the last year and a half.

In last years’ Summer issue, then President Cynthia Palomares reported that she had to cancel a number of Chapter visits due to COVID. This year as President, I have had to “visit” several Chapters via webinars, yet by late this Summer, I hope to make real visits to the three Chapters in the Pacific Northwest and possibly a couple back in the eastern US. I am really looking forward to that and would encourage you to reach out if you would like me to visit your Chapter.

Cynthia also reported the implementation of our national webinar series. I am happy to report that we have held 27 webinars (two by me) since April of 2020. We plan to continue having one or two per month on a variety of topics. If you have an idea for a webinar or know someone else who does, please contact me.

Our upcoming Annual Meeting, planned for September 20–24 in San Antonio, Texas, is going to happen as a face-toface meeting. Recall that last year we had to switch to a virtual format due to COVID. This year’s meeting should be a lot of fun and allow us to meet one another again, attend field trips, and other social functions. This issue of AEG News provides all the

Pinformation you will need to safely attend and participate in AEG’s biggest function of the year. I ask that we all follow the protocols outlined in the meeting William Godwin, 2020–21 AEG President program when it comes to the venue rules. A reflection on our membership for 2021 (see Nate Saraceno’s Treasurer’s report) shows that our membership numbers have actually gone up. This is so encouraging to me and the Executive Council (EC). We were very concerned that membership would dip during the pandemic since members were not allowed to meet in person, and generally trend downward, which has happened with other professional organizations. This good news is really the result of hard work by our Chapters, better functionality of our Memberclicks website platform, and connectivity via Social Media on the happenings with AEG. All this is supported by the desire of geologists to stay connected. As things open up this Summer, please make the effort to invite someone to our Chapter meetings, field trips, or short courses. Introduce them to other AEG members, stay connected and allow them to make a decision to join AEG. I thank many old-timers who did the same for me in the San Francisco Bay area back in the 1980s and 1990s. I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers who spend time and effort to make AEG what it is, a touchstone and voice for practicing geologists. I look forward to seeing you all in San Antonio in September. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me at president@aegweb.org.

In Recognition…

Stuart Hoffman

William Godwin, President of AEG, is recognizing Stuart Hoffman, owner of Star Publishing with a Lifetime Contribution Towards Publishing Excellence Award. Over the years Star Publishing has supported AEG and the geology profession with classic publications such as the Geology of the Cities of the World Series, Engineering Geology Practice in Southern California, Environmental, Groundwater and Engineering Geology, Applications from Oregon, and more recently Applied Geology in California. Publications are a key benefit to membership in AEG and Stuart has been instrumental in providing top notch reference materials.

Founded in 1978, Star has published college/university textbooks, laboratory manuals, specialized reference books for laboratory medicine and clinicians, several engineering and environmental geology books in co-ordination with AEG, and local history books related to California.

Call for Volunteers! Technical Working Groups

Are you an expert in or have an interest in a specific technical issue? AEG TWGs are in place to pursue a technical task or engineering/scientific issue, which is of importance to the membership and in accordance with our objectives.

Major goals of TWGs are to monitor new developments in the special technical fields, bringing them to the attention of our membership through timely articles in AEG News and our website; to cooperate with other professional/technical societies and organizations in organizing and presenting seminars and conferences on the TWG’s technical specialty; and, to formulate draft policy statements and position papers for Board consideration in a professional and timely manner.

The following list of Technical Areas of Focus includes the primary practice specialties of our members: Dams & Levees • Environmental Characterization & Remediation • Coastal Hazards • Geophysics • Hydrogeology (co-chair needed) • Landslides • Naturally Occurring Asbestos • Rock Mechanics • Geologic and Seismic Hazards • Solid, Hazardous & Mine Waste Management • Subsidence • Tunneling

If you are interested in volunteering for a group, please contact Cynthia Palomares at pp@aegweb.org.

Looking for Leaders

Maddie German, 2020–21 AEG Vice President

s the leader the most imposing figure or the loudest voice in the room? Not always, however, it is probable a leader will be involved in thoughtful listening while participating in humble and honest communication. While good leaders possess personal opinions, these don’t drive their agenda. These folks appreciate and respect everyone in their business from the most entry level individual to the president and CEO. They work and inspire others to support the team’s mission. Look around… look in the mirror…do you see this person?

Gaining leadership skills doesn’t happen overnight. Rather they are developed over time with continual focus and energy on cultivating this skill set. One way to develop these essential skills (for AEG, business and life) is by starting small and allowing yourself to accept gradually larger responsibilities. Not all leadership positions are public facing roles (thank goodness) because not everyone ” aspires to lead their local PTA or become President of the United States. You can be a leader within your office, helping keep your team on track and task, or by working behind the scenes in your local AEG Chapter, or organizing a meeting. AEG has many opportunities for members, in various stages of their careers, to bolster their leadership skills.

lHere are some suggestions where anyone can start, right now: ■ joining or co-chairing one of AEGs many Committees or Technical Working Groups; ■ signing up to track geological related legislation in your state; ■ volunteering as an officer for your local Chapter; or ■ running for the Regional Director position in your Region. Of course, AEG has fantastic volunteers who have been working within the organization for many years (extensive gratitude goes out to these dedicated individuals), still, there is Let AEG involvement foster that “ always room for more amazing people to join their ranks! Each new person brings new ideas and energy that continually make AEG better. AEG makes space available to develop new leaders and provides the opportunity for anyone to step up and help. Let AEG involvement foster that leadership skill set in you. Great leaders are curated over time; start the process for yourself. As more amazing members volunteer, our combined leadership energies build a stronger organization and allow our efforts to skill set be more effective. You can make this commitment to become better for yourself, for your life, for your family, for your future in you. and the future of AEG. Step away from the mirror, and instead, let your reflection be projected back from AEGs evolving story. Help us give the opportunity to build a more valuable career and personal skillset to yourself and the rest of our membership. We look forward to working with you!

Leadership Opportunities Immediately Available!

Bolster Your Resume

Practice leadership skills with your fellow geoscientists from across the US and the globe. Share ideas and manage projects while working to support AEG and promote the Geosciences.

Build Friendships

Working together for a common purpose you will build community and form relationships with like-minded individuals. The added bonus is always connecting in-person at the annual meeting.

Choose Your Time Commitment

Operational committees typically meet once per month for one hour. (That is only 12 hours per year). You can commit to as many activities as your schedule allows.

Interested?

Contact the committee co-chairs listed on the website or AEG VP Maddie German at vp@aegweb.org to become involved or get more information.

IMMEDIATE COMMITTEE NEEDS:

K–12 Committee – Enjoy working with students, planning science fairs, and sharing the wonders of the Earth (and beyond) with future generations? This committee is for you! Student & Young Professional Support Committee – A meeting place for college and university students as well as those entering the workforce in their first few years after graduating, to share skills, tips, advice, and stories. Also, for those seeking to help young geologists on their journey with practical advice and knowledge.

Looking Ahead to Build Our Future

Nathan Saraceno, 2020–21 AEG Treasurer

AEG’s fiscal assets consist of monies held in three bank accounts and a separate investment account for Operations, Annual Meeting, and Licensure funds, as well as a Fidelity investment account for the Treasurer’s Reserve.

As of April 30, 2021, our total fiscal assets are at $1,159,932, and the Treasurer’s Reserve balance is $456,920.

Annual Meeting

The upcoming 2021 Annual Meeting will take place in person in San Antonio! We continue to closely monitor the situation as it pertains to the ongoing pandemic, but the outlook is positive. In order to keep safety a number one priority, will be requiring all attendees abide by the CDC and conference center hotel’s COVID guidelines, current at the time of the meeting. In addition to our Special Section beginning on page 12 in this issue, you can read more about the great technical program and exciting field trips we have in store via the Annual Meeting website: www.aegannualmeeting.org. The 2021 Annual Meeting revenue so far this year is on track and totals $52,270 through April 30, 2021, compared with the annual budget of $248,740. Revenue includes registration fees and special event, exhibits, and sponsorship income. As of June 2, full meeting registrants are at 32 attendees. To break even, 155 attendees are needed. We expect at least 200 attendees to register as a majority of meeting registrations generally occur during the month before the Annual Meeting. Therefore, we anticipate to at least meet our budgeted surplus of $28,315. Sponsorships as of June 2 are at $31,090 compared to the budget of $25,000. This is encouraging and may signify general eagerness for attending the in-person meeting.

Kilimanjaro

2021Corporate Sponsors

The University of Arizona

College of Engineering

(888) 658-2042 1209 East 2nd St., Room 100 Tucson, AZ 85721 onlineengineering@arizona.edu https://online.engineering.arizona.edu/online-eng-mining/

Membership Update

Membership revenue for 2021 is $161,594 as of April 30, 2021, compared with the annual budget of $184,225. Total membership is at 1,702 as of April (not counting 708 students), compared to 1,475 this same time last year. Let’s keep this momentum going!

Kilauea

Collier Geophysics, LLC

Phil Sirles, 7711 W 6th Ave., Suite G Lakewood, CO 80214 720-487-9200 https://colliergeophysics.com/

Lettis Consultants International, Inc.

Earth Science Consultants

Ion Bazgan, 1981 N. Broadway, Suite 330 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 (925) 482-0360 http://www.lettisci.com/

AEG News Welcomes Your Feedback.

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Changes, Improvements, & Innovations

As we get back to some level of “normal” this Summer, AEG leadership has been busy! We held online Executive Council (EC) meetings in January and April and an online Board of Directors (BOD) meeting in April. The EC is planning to meet in person for the first time in nearly two years at the Summer EC meeting, held at AEG’s Headquarters office in Ohio. We’re also planning to hold in-person meetings of the EC and BOD during the Annual Meeting in San Antonio.

Membership Workshop

During the April BOD meeting, we held a collaborative workshop discussing AEG’s membership categories, ways to improve recognition of long-time members, and membership recruitment. As Secretary, I have convened a short-term task force to further explore membership and propose improvements to be implemented as soon as the next membership renewal cycle. Let me know if you’re interested in participating!

A Method to Improve Our Efficiency

Following months of research by AEG’s Association Managers, the EC and BOD are starting to use BoardEffect—a software solution that houses meeting invitations, board documents, and facilitates casual communication (similar to Teams and Slack, if you’re familiar with those) by providing the ability to record quick responses instead of “replying all” within an email. This will cut down on the number of emails that members receive, particularly if they’re part of several committees. BoardEffect allows you to customize notification frequencies and export calendar appointments to most of the commonly used calendaring software systems, so you’ll never miss a meeting. Discussion subjects are threaded so committee member comments can be organized, and communication streamlined. With this system, the BOD can vote, submit, and review documents in advance of a meeting, and communicate with each other between meetings. This system also centralizes file storage and eliminates the need for committee members to store files on their personal computers, in DropBox, or Google Docs, or other file storage platforms that get lost or out of date over time. BoardEffect use will be rolled out to AEG’s Operational Committees over the next few months, and we hope this will lead to more efficient leadership of AEG. If you’re worried about learning another “new thing,” Association Manager Sheri Maskow reported that her favorite feature within BoardEffect is unlimited free training sessions!

Minor Bylaw Change

The BOD voted in May to approve a minor change to AEG’s Bylaws, which updates AEG’s Association address to our current headquarters in Brunswick, Ohio. This change was

Sarah Kalika (she/her), 2020–21 AEG Secretary reflected within an Amendment and added to the Bylaws, which AEG members can access via AEG's website under the Member Resources page.

Pronoun Badges at AEG’s Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas

We’re looking forward to holding our Annual Meeting in-person this September and during this meeting you will notice a new feature—pronoun badge stickers! Why are pronouns important? Often, people make assumptions about a person’s gender based on how they look. Sometimes this assumption is not accurate and leads to confusion or embarrassment. Choosing to ignore a preferred pronoun can lead to a potentially harmful environment where members, colleagues, and friends feel like they’re not included or wanted within the geoscience profession. Similar to pronouncing someone’s name correctly, using a preferred pronoun helps foster an environment of respect, and it’s the right thing to do. You might have noticed that I included my preferred pronouns in my byline. At this year’s Annual Meeting, you will be asked to choose a green sticker to self-identify your pronouns. Participation is optional, but when we all identify our pronouns, it eliminates confusion and avoids guesswork! Some examples of pronouns include: she/hers, he/his, they/them, ze/hir, ze/zim, or no pronouns (use a person’s name instead). You can refer to people this way “Becks is giving a presentation this morning, let’s go support them!” or “Zara published a great article, you should ask Zara to tell you about Zara’s work.” It’s okay to ask about a preferred pronoun. What happens if you make a mistake and misgender someone? Don’t worry; but do correct yourself. An example of how to phrase this is, “Is that Mikal? I have been looking forward to seeing him—I mean, her! I read her abstract in the program and her paper looks fascinating.” No need to draw attention to your mistake, just correct your words to reflect Mikal’s pronouns. How do you share your own pronouns? We’ve made it easier by asking everyone to identify their own pronouns using the green sticker. What if you’re not sure, or someone has taken their name badge off? Again, don’t worry! A tactful way to ask is by introducing yourself and normalizing the concept of pronoun identification “Hi, my name is Sam, I go by she.” Are you someone who has never thought about pronouns? If so, you might be privileged that your appearance and name fit both your gender and the pronoun that many people associate with your gender or name, but this is not the case for everyone. Let’s normalize the use of pronouns so we all can feel included. To read more about pronouns, visit https://www.mypronouns.org. See you in September!

Getting Social

A

Sheri Maskow, Association Manager

EG’s presence on social media is continuing to grow, now boasting the following audience numbers:

Instagram – 253 followers

Twitter – 303 followers

LinkedIn – 13,991 group members

Facebook – 4,830 page likes & 321 group members

Additionally, we are working with Sarah Kalika to get the YouTube channel back up and running. The Student & Young Professional Committee will be taking the lead on this initiative and will be discussing how to move forward with collecting content at their upcoming meetings. Look for more details in the coming months! Another exciting new announcement is the implementation of a program called BoardEffect, a board portal software that is easy to use and secure. A board portal is a type of secure, paperless software, or app, that allows you to communicate with board members, share documents, annotate meeting minutes, and more without any of the risks or waste that a paper board book provides. This will aid in managing board materials—including meeting scheduling, collaborations, and reporting. The software offers unlimited storage and has a strong platform for mobile use.

NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION – FOUNDATION REPORT

Foundation Happenings at the Annual Meeting and More

Nichole Wendlandt Vetter

Annual Meeting Events

The AEG Foundation (AEGF) Board of Directors is pleased that we finally can have a face-to-face meeting in September at the Annual Meeting in San Antonio. We are looking forward to honoring our scholarship recipients and thanking our donors in person, as well as reestablishing old relationships.

Funding Opportunities

1) As usual, the Foundation will be holding a Silent Auction during the Annual Meeting. Browsing the auction offerings is an enjoyable pastime during breaks, for meeting attendees and their guests. We encourage our members to donate not only geology-related items but also artwork, collectibles, jewelry, even gourmet baskets of food, wine and beer. 2) AEG is hosting Field Course 1: Texas Hill Country Terroir

Experience to benefit the Foundation (see page 14 for full details on this event). Additionally, individuals who donate between $500 and $999 in support of this wine-focused field trip receive one complimentary ticket for the field trip; donations of $1,000 or more receive two complimentary tickets. 3) Sponsor the AEGF’s Donor Reception at the

Annual Meeting to help offset the cost incurred to host the event. Proceeds from these events will benefit the

Foundation’s Floyd T. Johnston Operations Fund, which directly supports the Foundation’s operating expenses. Donations can be made online at https://www.aegfoundation.org/annual-meeting/.

Charity Compliance

The AEG Foundation has always been registered as a charity in California where it is incorporated as required by California law. Recognizing that current AEG members reside in all but two of the states that require charities to register and knowing that the Foundation’s donation solicitation program reaches every state, the Foundation’s Board of Directors wanted to ensure that it was legally authorized to solicit donations nationwide. The AEG Foundation Board has contracted with Charity Compliance Solutions, Inc. to prepare and submit all required documents and fees to register the AEGF in every state. They will also track state charity registration programs and legislative changes in these programs. As with other AEGF operating expenses, this cost will be budgeted from the Floyd T. Johnston Operations Fund.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Deborah Green, Co-chair

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—What is AEG Doing?

It is no secret that the geosciences are among the least diverse of the STEM fields, and the leadership of AEG recognizes its responsibility as a professional organization to address this important issue. Accordingly, in July 2020 the AEG Executive Council issued the following statement and placed it prominently on our website’s home page.

AEG supports diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Geosciences profession and in our organization. AEG leadership plans to further our efforts in promoting these values by challenging ourselves on what we can do better to encourage underrepresented populations to consider and obtain careers in the Geosciences and to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment within our Association and the Geosciences profession.

In addition, AEG’s Executive Council has joined other geoscience societies, like GSA and AGU, in signing a statement prepared last December by the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), which you can read at: http://bit.ly/AGIDiversity.

Pursuant to the statement’s objectives, during its 2021 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, AEG will hold a symposium on diversity, equity and inclusion issues in the geosciences, which will feature several invited speakers and a panel discussion.

In September 2020, AEG formed the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEIC) as a standing, operational committee in the AEG structure. The committee is charged with coordinating efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Association, and in the environmental and engineering geology profession. One of its roles is to support Chapters in this work. Some Chapters are already active, while others have yet to identify this issue as a focus. Regardless of where your own chapter is on diversity, the DEIC is here to help by serving as a place to share ideas and experiences, and to provide speakers and resources for addressing diversity issues in our profession.

The DEIC members are volunteers from across the spectrum of AEG’s membership who want to make a difference on diversity. We hope other committees, technical working groups, and chapters will consider finding coordinators to work with us on this timely and important issue. Deborah Green and Jennifer Bauer are co-chairing the DEIC and can be reached at DEIC@aegweb.org.

Resolving issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the geosciences will require time, work, and patience. Injustices that have persisted for centuries will not be erased in a few short years. For every successful initiative, there may be others that lead to dead ends. What matters is our commitment and support for one another as we embark on this path, and the DEIC is here to provide structure and resources for that journey. We are working to educate ourselves on the bigger picture, while also beginning to plan (and, hopefully in 2021, to implement) achievable projects that will result in small, but meaningful, steps forward. Please let us know how we can help with your steps forward.

Get ready to experience the culture, history, and geology of San Antonio, Texas…

…all while connecting with your AEG community during it’s in-person Annual Meeting. We’re thrilled to be offering a full in-person meeting again after our one-year hiatus due to covid restrictions. A preview of the offerings can be found on the following pages of this issue of AEG News…

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