Skip to Main Content
Board on International Scientific Organizations (BISO) Board on International Scientific Organizations
The National Academies
The National Academies
Home About BISO Subscribe to Our Newsletter
 
Quick Links

The International Visitors Office 
is a good resource for visa-related issues.

                                                   
Contact BISO

Board on International Scientific Organizations
Policy and Global Affairs
The National Academies
500 Fifth Street
Washington, DC 20001 USA
Tel:  +1 202-334-2807
Fax: +1 202-334-2231

                                                   


   
U.S. National Committee for the Pacific Science Association (USNC/PSA)

                    PSA Logo

RECENT & UPCOMING MEETINGS                                                         

Patrick KirchPatrick Kirch Honored with Gregory Medal for Pacific Research
NAS member Patrick V. Kirch has been awarded the 2011 Herbert E. Gregory Medal for Distinguished Service to Science in the Pacific Region. Every four years the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii awards the Gregory Medal to distinguished scientists for their research contributions, leadership, and vision in the Pacific region. Read more...

Photograph copied from newscenter.berkeley.edu


The 22nd Pacific Science Congress

22nd PSA Congress
The Pacific Science Association’s (PSA) Council recently met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during the PSA Congress.  Nancy Davis Lewis, from the East-West Center, was elected President at the meeting.

The theme of the Congress, held June 14-17, was “Meeting the Challenges of Global Change.” The meeting featured programs of the PSA, the ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and the Academy of Sciences of Malaysia.  These included global climate change, hazard reduction, and health and wellbeing.  Several prominent Malaysian government representatives participated in the meeting.

U.S. delegates to the Congress included David Schindel, Smithsonian Institution; Curtis Daehler, University of Hawaii at Manoa; and Barbara Thiers, New York Botanical Garden.  Karumuna Kaijage and Kathie Bailey Mathae attended representing the National Academy of Sciences.  Burke Burnett from the Bishop Museum serves as PSA Executive Secretary.

The USNC for the Pacific Science Association provided travel grants to 3 graduate students.  Congratulations go to Michelle Gaither, Iria Fernandez-Silva, and Derek Skillings.

February 12, 2010
U.S. National Committee for the Pacific Science Association: Inaugural Meeting
East West Center Honolulu, Hawaii

March 2-6, 2009
11th PSA Inter-Congress, Tahiti, French Polynesia
“Pacific Countries and their Ocean Facing Local and Global Changes”
View details about this event...


June 18, 2008

Waimea, Hawaii
Symposium on
“Pacific Science: U.S.-Asia/Pacific Collaboration in Advancing Science in the 21st Century” at the AAAS-Pacific Division meeting





 

 

  USNC/PSA  

About the USNC
Activities & Events
Related Links
Sponsor

Contact the USNC/PSA
Kathie Bailey-Mathae, BISO, Director
Karumuna Kaijage, Program Officer

About the USNC

The U.S. National Committee for the Pacific Science Assocation (USNC/PSA) operates within the National Research Council's Board on International Scientific Organizations, a unit of the Policy and Global Affairs Division.  The Committee represents the U.S. scientific community in the PSA, on behalf of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the U.S. adhering body to the PSA.The principal objectives of the committee are to assist the NAS in fulfilling its membership responsibilities and to ensure effective participation by United States scientists in the activities of the PSA. 

Pacific Science Association logoThe PSA, which has been a leader in regional scientific cooperation since the early 1920's, has concentrated its efforts more recently on promoting the contributions of science and technology to human progress in the Pacific. The PSA has task forces working on the regional aspects of such issues as global environmental change, population growth and resource management, biodiversity, globalization, and natural disaster reduction and mitigation. The U.S. National Committee for PSA has been encouraging greater coordination with interagency and intergovernmental bodies on these initiatives, on strengthening the leadership and platform of PSA in contributing to the intergovernmental forums, and on strategic planning to build human and fiscal resources.

Activities & Events

Every four years the PSA holds a Pacific Science Congress. Themes for congresses tend to be broadly based, touching on all regions of the Pacific and many facets of science and technology.  View a complete list of PSA congresses and intercongresses.

Past Pacific Science Congresses:

Pacific Science Inter-Congresses are held between congresses, generally one in the middle year between congresses, but there have been exceptions. Compared to the Congresses, Inter-Congresses tend to have a more narrow theme and may be sub-regional in focus.

Past Pacific Science Inter-Congresses:

  • 11th Pacific Science Inter-Congress,Tahiti, French Polynesia from March 2-6, 2009
    Theme:
    Pacific Countries and their Ocean: Facing Local and Global Changes
    The sub-themes of the 11th Inter-Congress were: Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development; Climate Change and Ocean Acidification; Health Challenges in the Pacific: Infectious disease, non-communicable disease and health workforce; Culture and Politics: The Cultural and Political Stakes of Modernity; and Economy: Economic Challenges for the Future of the Pacific.  The goals of the Inter-Congress were to assess the knowledge status of local and global changes within Pacific countries; gather Pacific country scientists and other scientists working in the Pacific region; develop beneficial exchanges between all the countries of the Pacific region, and in particular with the scientific communities of French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia; and give young scientists in the Pacific region a stimulating exchange opportunity.
    Learn more about PSA Congress outcomes

Related Links

Sponsor

Support for the USNC/PSA is provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0614728.

To comment on this Web page or report an error, please send feedback to BISO Site Manager.