Announcing the 2020 GSIS Best Paper Award Recipient

The committee is very pleased to announce that Dr. Jason W. Karl is the winner of the 2020 Best Paper Award of the Geoscience Information Society for his paper, “Mining Location Information from Life- and Earth-Sciences Studies to Facilitate Knowledge Discovery,” published in Journal of Librarianship & Information Science 51 (4): 1007-21. doi:10.1177/0961000618759413.

Jason’s well-written paper reports the promising results of his project to research and develop automated methods to determine and retrieve accurate location data in map-based resources. He states in the abstract, “The ability to automatically identify and extract location information from published studies opens new possiblities for transforming scientific literature discovery and supporting novel research.”

Jason is Associate Professor & Harold F. Heady Endowed Chair of Rangeland Ecology at the University of Idaho. He is also Editor in Chief of Rangelands, a publication of the Society for Range Management.

A big thanks goes to Bob Tolliver, Caitlin McClurg, Chris Badurek, Elise Gowan, Hannah Collier, Carl Olson, and Monica Pereira for their exemplary service on the Best Paper Committee.

Respectfully,
Kay Johnson
Chair, 2020 GSIS Best Paper Committee

Note: The 2019 award was not offered, so the 2020 award covers papers from 2018 and 2019.

Call for Nominations – The GSIS Mary B. Ansari Distinguished Service Award

Purpose: The GSIS Mary B. Ansari Distinguished Service Award recognizes and honor significant contributions to the geoscience information profession.

History: Named for Mary B. Ansari, a former GSIS President and strong supporter of the Society, the first award was given in 2005.  A list of previous recipients can be viewed at the GSIS website (https://www.geoinfo.org/distinguished-service/)

Eligibility: Membership in the Geoscience Information Society is not a requirement.

Nomination Process: Send committee chair * your name and contact information along with the name, title, and contact information for the person you are nominating for the award. Please provide a statement indicating why the candidate is deserving of this award, a resume or curriculum vita of the nominee and additional letters of support from other individuals endorsing the nomination. Submit materials by e-mail or mail to:*cpmcleod@wustl.edu  / Clara P. McLeod, Washington University CB 1061, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63112  /(314)935-4817.

Deadline for Nominations: July 3

Presentation: The award will be presented at the annual meeting of the Geoscience Information Society. A monetary gift accompanies the award.

Mary B. Ansari Distinguished Service Award Committee

Marie Dvorzak
Ed  Lener
Clara P. McLeod, chair

COVID-19 Impact Study

Participate in the Geoscience COVID-19 study to help our community better understand how geoscientists, employers and educational institutions are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The American Geosciences Institute is conducting a year-long study to understand the impacts on geoscientists, employers and educational institutions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to discover which of these changes will become permanent.

This survey is open to all geoscientists, including geoscience students, retired, and not currently employed, who reside in the United States, and are at least 18 years old, as well as representatives from employers of geoscientists in the United States.

The results of this survey will be valuable in helping geoscience academic institutions, geoscience employers and decision makers to understand the structural impacts on the geoscience enterprise from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results from the study will be reported only in aggregate and in a manner that ensures the confidentiality of the responses. Participation is voluntary, and participants may discontinue their participation at any time.

For more information and to participate in the study, please visit https://www.americangeosciences.org/workforce/covid19

If you have any questions about this study, please contact Leila Gonzales at lmg@americangeosciences.org

Funding for this project is provided by the National Science Foundation (Award #2029570). The results and interpretation of the survey are the views of the American Geosciences Institute and not those of the National Science Foundation.

Call for Nominations for GSIS Best Paper Award 2019/2020

The Best Paper Award Committee of the Geoscience Information Society (GSIS) is accepting nominations for the 2019/2020 Best Paper Award.  The committee is looking for original, significant and scholarly papers published in 2018 or 2019 in the field of geoscience information.  The papers must demonstrate effective professional communication and appeal to the broader geoscience information community. 

Please send nominations by June 19, 2020 to the chair of the committee, Kay Johnson, at kjohnson497@radford.edu.  The nomination should include a detailed citation, and, if available, a link to the paper.  For a list of previous award recipients, see: https://www.geoinfo.org/best-paper/

You know the best geoscience information papers out there, and we welcome your suggestions!

I am pleased and privilged to serve on the committee with Hannah Collier, Chris Badurek, Elise Gowen, Caitlin McClurg, Carl Olson, Monica Pereria and Bob Tolliver.

Thanks,
Kay
Kay G. Johnson
Head, Collection and Technical Services
McConnell Library, Radford University
kjohnson497@radford.edu