hat does the geoscience community require to do its vital work around

the globe? Targeted information services? Resources for strengthening geoscience education? A voice

representing the shared interests of the profession? Advocacy to raise public awareness about critical geoscience issues?

Yes, these are our needs. And, year after year, the American Geological Institute Foundation answers the call.

The AGI Foundation maintains a tradition of supporting educational, scientific, and charitable activities directly

benefiting AGI’s 44 member societies and the entire geoscience community.

Having recently completed its second decade of work, the AGI Foundation proudly looks back on this period —

the decade spanning from 1995 to 2005 — as a time of many important accomplishments. In that time the foundation

raised more than $8 million to benefit the geosciences.

The AGI Foundation has raised endowment funds totaling over $2 million as a major part of these endeavors,

supporting:! The William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellowship

! The Legendary Geoscientist Award

! The General Unrestricted Endowment

But no foundation’s success can be measured solely in terms of dollars raised. Success depends upon results

attained through strategic investments. Here the AGI Foundation reviews the tangible results achieved through its

support of specific AGI programs and initiatives in the past 10 years — a decade of successful partnership with AGI.

The AGI Foundation

wishes to thank its

current and past Trustees,

as well as the corporate

donors listed on our

Web page and others who

are most responsible

for our success.

For the AGI Foundation, the past decade has been one of groundbreaking innovation, pioneering partnerships,

and important achievements. We have secured funding and partnerships with corporations, foundations, other

organizations, and individuals sharing AGI’s commitment to Earth science. Again and again, we have developed

programmatic funding, “seed money,” for new AGI programs that later became, or are designed to become,

self-sustaining. The foundation thus has provided start-up, development, and matching funds to create an

impressive array of AGI initiatives, events, and publications benefiting the geoscience community.

Earth System Science in the Community (EarthComm)Advancing an inquiry-based vision of Earth science at the high school level, the five-part EarthComm

curriculum has been adopted by major public school systems nationwide, including those of

Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and the state of Florida. Other school systems are

expected to follow. The curriculum, supported by the National Science Foundation and completed

with funding from the AGI Foundation, derives much of its strength from its alignment with the

National Science Education Standards and its problem-solving, community-based model. The

EarthComm Web site offers resources for teachers, students, and parents, as well as information on

program goals and learning approaches. The program’s success is evident in Los Angeles Unified

School District (LAUSD), where a project called CTEL — ChevronTexaco EarthComm Teacher

Enhancement in LAUSD — has brought AGI together with Chevron Corporation and the nation’s

second-largest school district to train more than 650 teachers to help students meet California’s

exacting science standards.

Professional DevelopmentBecause teachers need training to go along with curriculum materials, the AGI Foundation supports

an extensive nationwide professional development program. Thousands of the middle and high

school teachers using EarthComm and IES in 49 states have learned about these curriculum packages’

philosophies, goals and objectives, geoscience content and investigations, assessment approaches,

and teacher resources. AGI staff members either conduct training themselves or identify skilled

trainers from AGI Leadership Training Institutes. AGI continues to maintain and augment

a comprehensive professional development Web site for those conducting such training.

Further capitalizing on the opportunities offered by technology, AGI also is creating

a series of professional development videos and other teaching aids for

IES modules, the response to which so far has been highly positive.

Investigating Earth Systems (IES)To help middle school students gain a solid understanding of the world in which they

live, the AGI Foundation and NSF have supported development of this 10-part, standards-

based Earth science curriculum for grades six to eight. IES stresses inquiry — testing ideas,

observing phenomena, collecting data, using scientific reasoning — and the interrelation

of all Earth systems. With 160,000 books in use nationwide so far, IES is reaching students

in major school systems from Denver to Delaware. The Chicago Public Schools, for example,

expect to be using IES modules in 10,000 middle school classrooms starting in 2006.

GeoSourceEven with all the AGI curricula and training currently available, more remains to be done. The

National Science Education Standards call for teachers to cover key topics in kindergarten through

grade five. That’s why the AGI Foundation is funding development of an online professional devel-

opment tool for K-5 teachers focusing on Earth science. This Web-based resource, GeoSource, will

help teachers understand standards-driven content and plan stimulating, systems-based lessons,

including up-to-date technology and career information. The site will feature targeted content

instruction, lesson plans, classroom activities, links to geoscience teaching resources, downloadable

images from AGI’s ImageBank, cross-curricular recommendations, assessment tools, career

vignettes, literacy strategies, and more. In addition, AGI is planning to produce books for young

children that are both educational and entertaining, dealing with geoscience topics such as Earth

history, energy, and natural hazards. AGI expects to launch GeoSource before 2007.

Web-Based Continuing EducationWith support from the AGI Foundation since 1998, AGI’s Internet-based Multidisciplinary

Education Project offers educational materials enhanced by cutting-edge technology — such as the

Web, modeling and simulation, and game-playing or case-study strategies — for teaching across

disciplines in the Earth sciences. Today the project includes 20 modules and many registered users.

The materials, which relate to petroleum exploration and development, can be used by both univer-

sities and continuing education programs. The Bureau of Economic Geology in Austin, Texas, has

provided content expertise and development. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists,

a major partner, is marketing the project. The most recently developed components, five carbonate

modules, are uniquely suited to experienced professionals expanding their knowledge of carbonate

reservoirs. Additional modules are planned to focus on mineral studies, environmental

assessments, and evaluations of natural hazards.

Why Earth Science?Popular since its creation in 2003, this brochure explains in clear, everyday language

the importance of Earth science education for success in school, careers, informed

decisionmaking, and civic engagement. AGI recently translated Why Earth Science?

into Spanish to ensure that this vital message reaches the widest possible audience.

Among America’s 40 million Hispanics — currently the nation’s largest

minority — three in four speak Spanish at home, according to the U.S. Census

Bureau. The geoscience community recognizes the demand for greater minority

participation. With AGI Foundation support, AGI has distributed over 140,000

brochures to educators, professors, career counselors, museum and park offi-

cials, conference planners, Earth Science Week participants, and many others.

Environmental Awareness SeriesBecause geoscientists’ perspectives are vital to public understanding of envi-

ronmental issues, the AGI Foundation has made a priority of initiating support

for AGI’s popular Environmental Awareness Series. The series addresses major

societal concerns and illuminates the complexity and interconnection of the

natural systems that we all use and depend upon. Colorful and reader-friendly,

the publications provide a balanced review of key issues and topics, such as

soils, water, petroleum, metal mining, aggregates, karst, and geologic mapping.

Many more are on the way. Target audiences for these educational tools

include general readers, legislators, teachers, and students.

William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience FellowshipThe Fisher Fellowship, named after a prominent geoscientist and educator at the

University of Texas at Austin, was created to put professional geoscientists on Capitol

Hill as congressional staffers. Each fellow, following an intensive orientation, spends a

year working as staff in the office of a member of Congress or a congressional committee.

Geoscience fellows are eagerly sought after because of their broad scientific training and

the relevance of geoscience knowledge to real-world issues. Since the program began

in 1998, several former fellows have secured permanent congressional staff positions

or leadership roles in federal agencies. Others have taken their congressional experience

back to the private sector or to state and local government service, where their unique

expertise continues to benefit the community.

ImageBankWant to display a scenic mountain photo in a presentation or show an image of

an erupting volcano to students? To help, the AGI Foundation provided funding

for ImageBank, a service providing high-quality, fully-indexed geoscience images.

This searchable database, which is continually expanding, currently features

roughly 4,500 indexed images available online and a total of 10,000 images managed.

ImageBank has recorded some 5.5 million image views since its creation in 2002. Images

have been used by educators and students worldwide, including top publishers. The site

was honored with a 2004 Scientific American Science and Technology Web Award.

GeoScienceWorldThe AGI Foundation also provided significant start-up funding for the February

2005 launch of GeoScienceWorld, a comprehensive Internet resource of materials from

30 high-impact journals for research and communications in the geosciences, built on a

core database aggregation of peer-reviewed journals indexed, linked, and inter-operable

with AGI’s successful GeoRef database. Several leading geoscience societies and univer-

sity presses collaborate to offer this unprecedented electronic research resource.

Additional EffortsIn addition to supporting the initiatives described above with the award of grants,

AGI Foundation Trustees have been active in supporting important geoscience

efforts through individual activities and endeavors. The influence of these more than

70 geoscience leaders, who currently make up the AGI Foundation Trustees, cannot be

underestimated. Trustees provide valuable advice on trends in industry, government,

and education relating to AGI programs and plans as well as serving as a

resource for AGI, its Executive Committee, and staff.

Legendary Geoscientist AwardThe Legendary Geoscientist Award honors a scientist’s unique contributions and lifetime achievements

in the geosciences. Recipients have accomplished feats of lasting, historic value. Some have been

recognized previously by other professional societies or universities. These individuals are completing

a career marked by extraordinary success. Created in 1999, the award program accepts nominations

from individuals as well as AGI member societies. The award is presented by the AGI Foundation

Chair or a designate at an appropriate national society meeting. The AGI Foundation-funded program

originated with donations from 15 individuals. The current endowment produces sufficient earnings

to ensure awards in perpetuity.

The AGI Foundation plans to continue its vital work in the coming years. We will build on our endowments and extend our

support for Earth science education, initiating creation of instructional materials for elementary-level students and teachers.

Moreover, we will continue to reinforce outreach efforts to promote public awareness about timely geoscience issues.

But our challenge is considerable. With the advent of the new millennium, the geoscience community has learned the

hard lesson that it can no longer rely on traditional sources for support of its necessary education, information, public policy,

and environmental awareness efforts. Industry, government, academia, professional societies, not-for-profit organizations, and

all professionals sharing a common interest in the Earth sciences must join together if this work is to continue and succeed.

Looking toward the future, the AGI Foundation strongly urges professional societies, their foundations, and

other organizations to join together in supporting new Earth science initiatives that benefit all citizens.

Individuals can help advance the AGI Foundation’s endeavors on behalf of the geosciences

with a tax-deductible cash gift, donations of appreciated stock and other property,

life-insurance death proceeds, charitable remainder unitrusts, and bequests of

personal assets and IRA and retirement plans. The AGI Foundation invites

you to explore the financial advantages associated with these options.

To learn more, contact Jan van Sant, Executive Director, AGI Foundation,

10777 Westheimer, Suite 250, Houston, TX 77042-3453, phone (713) 787-6767,

fax (713) 787-6772, or visit online at www.agifoundation.org.

Photo Credits

Front Cover– Antelope Peak, AZ (M. Collier); Blue Marble Earth (NASA); Erupting volcano(Digital Vision); Schwan Glacier, Alaska (B. Molnia). Inside Front Cover– Students by stream(M. Miller); Ocean drilling (WesternGeco). Page 1– Satellite image of sculpted sand andseaweed beds, Bahamas (S. Andrefouet, NASA); Waterspouts (NOAA). Page 2– Mammatusclouds, Cloud to ground lightning, Weather station (NOAA). Page 3– Teacher and students (A. Rhodes). Page 4– Collecting gas samples (T. Casadevall). Page 5– Sunlight on San Franciscopeaks (M. Collier); Golden Gate Bridge through rocks (B. Molnia). Page 6– Colorado River (M. Collier); Stibnite crystals (StoneTrust, Inc.). Page 7– Paleontologists (Dinosaur NatureAssoc.). Page 8– High tech oil exploration (Landmark Corp.); Offshore oil rig (Corbis). Inside Back Cover– Sunset over meteor crater, AZ (M. Collier); Mercury (USGS). Back Cover– Iceberg carved from Alaska’s Bering glacier (B. Molnia).

AGI Foundation

Chairs

Russell G. Slayback, 2003-Present

Dodd DeCamp, 2002-2003

Bruce Appelbaum, 1999-2001

Thomas M Hamilton, 1995-1998

Executive Director

J.F. (Jan) van Sant, 1995-Present

American Geological Institute

Executive Director

Marcus Milling

AGI Foundation10777 Westheimer, Suite 250Houston, TX 77042-3453(713) 787-6767 phone(713) 787-6772 faxwww.agifoundation.org

American Geological Institute4220 King StreetAlexandria, VA 22302-1502(703) 379-2480 phone(703) 379-7563 faxwww.agiweb.org