About the Union
Founded in 1961, the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) is a non-governmental scientific organization that promotes and encourages the study of geological problems, especially those of world-wide significance, and supports and facilitates international and interdisciplinary cooperation in the earth sciences. IUGS gives special consideration to initiatives related to the identification and assessment of energy and mineral resources, global change, geologic hazards, and environmental geology. Learn more about the mission of the IUGS.
The U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Geological Sciences (USNC/IUGS) serves as a focal point for U.S. discussions on how to best maintain the viability and relevance of the geological sciences internationally. The committee provides guidance and input to the IUGS on these issues, and plans and implements U.S. participation in furthering the goals and work of the IUGS. The USNC/IUGS works in cooperation with scientific societies and seeks their input on nominations to the committee.
Symposium Scheduled at 2010 AAAS
Jointly organized by the four U.S. national committees for the Earth Sciences, and spearheaded by the USNCs for Soils and Quaternary Research, the symposium "Dust in the Earth System" will be held February 19, 2010 at AAAS Meeting in San Diego, California. Read symposium synopsis and view list of confirmed speakers (17KB PDF).
Joint Earth Sciences U.S. National Committees Activities
The USNC/IUGS and the U.S. National Committees for soil science (IUSS), geodesy and geophysics (IUGG), and quaternary research (INQUA) actively collaborate throughout the year on various activities, including:
“Global Sea Level Rise: Observation, Causes, and Prediction,” a symposium held on February 16, 2009 at the 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.
The three-hour session focused on the scientific understanding of sea level rise as a result of anthropogenic climate change. Leading scientists conveyed the latest findings, highlighted and increased public awareness of the consequences of sea level rise, and its potential social and economic impacts. The speakers included Richard Alley (Penn State), Anny Cazenave (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, France), Georg Kaser (Universität Innsbruck, Austria), Sydney Levitus (NOAA), Stefan Rahmstorf (Universität Potsdam, Germany), and C.K. Shum (The Ohio State University). Discussants included John Church (CSIRO, Australia) and Robert Muir-Wood (Risk Management Solutions, Inc., United Kingdom). The session was moderated by Bill Boicourt (University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science). View speaker presentations.
"Planet Earth: Lessons Ignored, Lessons Learned,” an International Year of Planet Earth-themed symposium at the February 2008 AAAS meeting held in Boston, Massachusetts. The 90-minute symposium included the following presentations:
• I-Earth: Introduction to Planet Earth— Rosemary Knight, Stanford University;
• Soil: Sustaining Food, Energy, and Human Health—Charles W. Rice, Kansas State University and
Ian Pepper, Arizona State University (USNC/Soils current and past members, respectively);
• When the Sahara Was Green—Farouk El-Baz, Boston University (USNC/GS past chair).
View symposium announcement (17KB PDF).
“Global Connections among Earth Sciences, Health, and Policy,” BISO's September 2008 symposium representing the geosciences, biological sciences, chemistry, and the multidisciplinary areas of biodiversity and global change. The three-person advisory committee that helped plan the symposium included a past member of the USNC/Soil Science and the co-chair for medical science of the International Medical Geology Association, an IUGS-affiliate society. View the symposium program and list of speakers (72KB PDF). The event was supported by the National Science Foundation, the American Geological Institute and the Geological Society of America.
Support of the International Year of Planet Earth
The International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) is a multidisciplinary, international project initiated by the IUGS in cooperation with UNESCO and partnership of the other international geoscience unions, as well as about 100 signatory countries, 74 active IYPE national committees, and many other related organizations throughout the world. IYPE’s principal goal is to demonstrate the enormous potential of the Earth sciences as foundations for a safer, healthier and wealthier society.
Learn more about IYPE activities in the United States
The U.S. National Committee for IYPE received grant support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for an IYPE partnership with the National Public Radio (NPR) program EarthSky to produce ten 90-second IYPE-themed radio podcasts. 
EarthSky is a digital media company advocating science as a vital voice in 21st century decision-making. Discover EarthSky science podcasts for the Web community.
Farouk El-Baz, chair of the USNC/GS, is also an active member of the USNC/IYPE, a separate committee headed by Jack Hess, from the Geological Society of America. The earth sciences USNCs sponsored the IYPE-themed symposium "Planet Earth: Lessons Ignored, Lessons Learned” at the February 2008 AAAS Meeting.
Participation in IUGS General Assemblies and International Geological Congresses
IUGS, in collaboration with the National IUGS Committees in the five Nordic countries of Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden, hosted the 33rd International Geological Congress (IGC) in Oslo, Norway in August 6-14, 2008. The 2008 Congress theme was “Earth System Science: Foundation for Sustainable Development.” The U.S. delegation to the IUGS General Assembly was composed by Farouk El-Baz (Chair), Richard Calnan, Jonathan Fink, Priscilla Grew, Grant Heiken, Suzette Kimball, Pat Leahy, and Eldridge Moores. The IGC is designed to create a forum for the broad debate of the most significant advances in the geological sciences, to foster new ideas and models for implementing a close interplay between pure science and its applications, and to promote discussion of the Congress theme.
The next IGC will take place from August 2-10, 2012, in Brisbane, Australia. The website for the meeting is http://www.34igc.org/.
Exploring the Relationship between Geology and Health
The International Medical Geology Association (IMGA) has recently been established as an independent organization, but had its origins as the IUGS commission on medical geology. The USNC/GS remains interested in exploring the relationship between geology and health and may potentially serve to help strengthen links between the geological health and psychological sciences.
Geoscience in the Middle East
The USNC/IUGS is deeply concerned about its colleagues in Iraq and to that end have offered the U.S. State Department their assistance with building up geological science in Iraq and have been tracking the development of Iraqi science through the media. Read more about USNC/IUGS Initiatives.
Geoscience Community News
USNC/IUGS Chair and former BISO Board Member Farouk El-Baz discusses the discovery of an ancient mega-lake in the Darfur region on Al Jazeera English’s Riz Khan. View complete YouTube video (16:50).
- Thomas J. Casadevall, Chair
U.S. Geological Survey - Melody Brown Burkins, Vice Chair
The University of Vermont - Thomas Dunne
University of California, Santa Barbara - Jonathan Fink
Arizona State University - Erik Goodwin
Shell International Exploration and Production - Suzette M. Kimball
U.S. Geological Survey
| - Isabel Montañez
University of California, Davis - Karen L. Prestegaard
University of Maryland - Peter A. Scholle
New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources - M. Nafi Toksöz
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Farouk El-Baz, Past Chair
Boston University
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LIAISON - Richard Calnan, U.S. Geological Survey
Senior Advisor for International Affairs
NRC STAFF Ester Sztein, Assistant Director, BISO
Avihai Ostchega, Senior Program Assistant
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The USNC/IUGS is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. GEO-0701397.
Banner Photo Credits: Capelinhos Volcano, Faial, Azores and Chile's snow-covered Villarica Volcano (Grant Heiken); view from Mt. Whitney's majestic peak at nearly 14,495 ft / 4418m in California's Sequoia National Park (Jill McCarthy)
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The USNC for Geological Sciences functions as the U.S. focal point for the International Geoscience Program (IGCP), a cooperative enterprise of UNESCO and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). 
The Young Earth-Scientists for Society (YES) network, an association of earth-scientists under the age of 35 years representing geological societies from around the world, in collaboration with the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE), is planning its first world congress October 25-28, 2009 in Beijing, China. 