The Web site, due to launch in late spring of 2004, will be a focal point for information and discussion, as well as a resource clearinghouse. Content will include articles addressing growth and changes in the field, reports on leading research, and information on upcoming meetings, conferences, and programs. It is anticipated that funding agencies, program managers, and scientific societies will regularly submit material. The site is expected to attract a diverse audience of scientists, students, teachers, and media personnel, as well as interested individuals from the general public.
In 2002, the National Science Foundation recognized the scientific need to bridge the earth and life sciences and announced a Biogeoscience Program that coordinates with all the divisions in NSF's Geosciences Directorate. A Biogeoscience Working Group, with members from a variety of scientific disciplines, was created and has been supported through a grant to the American Geophysical Union.
The Biogeoscience Working Group envisioned a Web site that would further establish and support the discipline. "For the practitioners of biogeoscience, a Web site will be of immense help, and it will also reach out to potential contributors from all levels of the educational spectrum," says Greg Cutter, Professor of Oceanography at Old Dominion University and chair of the Biogeoscience Working Group. The group subsequently invited the Geological Society of America to produce this new venture in collaboration with other earth science and ecological scientific societies.
A fundamental role of the Web site is defining and recording the development of biogeoscience. One of its
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Contact: Jay Chapman
jchapman@geosociety.org
303-357-1095
Geological Society of America
1-Mar-2004