Core Support for the Geographical Sciences Committee at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides continued core support for the Geographical Sciences Committee (GSC) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Continued support for the GSC will enable this committee to bring academics, private sector and government researchers, and policy makers together through roundtables and studies to reach consensus on the most challenging and significant issues in the geographical sciences. The GSC will continue to provide a forum through which geographers and researchers in related fields may conduct assessments of the current state of the science and explore future research opportunities. The GSC will serve a critical intermediary role by facilitating interactions between government agencies and researchers in academic, nonprofit, and private sector settings, thereby facilitating capabilities for a broad range of researchers and organizations to engage in constructive dialogue at the interface of geographical science and policy at the national level. The committee also will advance the role that geographers and related scientists play internationally through its role as the U.S. national committee for the International Geographical Union. The National Academies established a Geographical Sciences Committee in 1997 to bring the theories and perspectives of the geographical sciences to bear on society's problems. The GSC has provided advice to the National Academies on all matters pertaining to geography. The GSC has fostered international cooperation by serving as a liaison to other national geographical organizations and by initiating collaborative research programs among those organizations, and it has served as the official U.S. liaison to the International Geographical Union (IGU), promoting and facilitating participation of U.S. geographers in the IGU. The GSC undertakes its work through the conduct of special studies and through its meetings. The GSC will identify topics for further study that enable the geographical sciences community to address problems of societal significance. The GSC also will conduct an enhanced range of outreach activities, such as webinars and workshops focusing on topics like the use of geographic information systems to make urban mobility more sustainable and long-term approaches for wildland fire management.