AESE Listserve has been cleaned up

AESE’s Marg Rutka, secretary, Mary Ann Schmidt, business manager, and Jon Sears, webmaster, have recently completed a clean-up of the AESE Listserv® email list to remove bad email addresses and addresses of subscribers who are no longer members of the AESE. The list is down to 101 (from 150) names, which means that less than half of the membership is getting listserve posts. If you haven’t received a listserve post recently, it’s likely because your membership to the AESE has lapsed and your name is no longer on the listserve subscriber list. If you are a member of the AESE and would like to receive and send listserve posts, please visit the Members Only section of the web site and click on “AESE Listserver” (follow instructions therein to subscribe), or contact Marg. If your membership to the AESE has lapsed, please contact Mary Ann Schmidt at the AESE business office to renew.

Call for Abstracts

Call for Abstracts by July 15, 2009

“Earth/Energy/Editing”

Association of Earth Science Editors 43rd Annual Meeting

Doubletree Guest Suites

Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

October 29–November 1, 2009

“Earth/Energy/Editing” is the theme for the 43rd annual meeting of the Association of Earth Science Editors, to be held at the Doubletree Guest Suites in the Uptown District of Houston, Texas, U.S.A., on October 29 through November 1, 2009. AESE members and other interested persons are encouraged to chair a session, give a talk, or participate in a panel discussion. Abstracts must be submitted by July 15, 2009, and can also be submitted for a talk to be presented by a proxy.

Abstracts must be one-paragraph double-spaced Word (doc.) or text (txt.) files with special characters noted.  Be sure to include your contact information.  Further instructions can be found below. Send abstracts to Nicole Barlow, AESE vice president, at nicole@purplerockediting.com, by July 15.

Tentative topics are listed below.  Suggestions for other topics are welcome.

• Online geoscience education
• Interdepartmental publishing/copublishing
• Copyright issues
• Geoarchaeology publishing
• Editing nuts and bolts
• Online manuscript management for books
• Database design/archival techniques
• Freelance editing
• Digital versus print publishing
• Environmental friendly publishing
• International Year of Planet Earth update
• Geology and geography of Texas and area
• The future of the AESE/preview of 2010 meeting in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Hands-on workshop of InDesign/Microsoft Word/Photoshop

Abstract Guidelines

Abstracts should be no more than one paragraph (200 to 300 words). The abstract should be self-contained.  New or unfamiliar terminology should be defined. We discourage the use of commercial names or parenthetical statements.

The abstract should not simply list the topics covered in the talk but should (1) state the scope and principal objectives, (2) describe the methods used, (3) summarize the results, and (4) state the principal conclusions. Do not refer to the paper itself in the abstract such as by saying, “In this presentation, I will discuss….”

The abstract should stand alone as a very short version of the talk rather than as a description of the contents.

Registration

AESE members may register through September 30 for $295 ($345 after that date). The registration fee includes the field trip and all scheduled meals: Thursday night icebreaker (appetizers and cash bar); continental breakfast, midmorning beverages, and midafternoon break during the technical sessions on Friday and Saturday; Friday business meeting luncheon; Saturday awards dinner and Halloween festivities; and box lunch for the Sunday field trip.

The registration form can be downloaded at: http://www.aese.org/AESE2009RegistrationForm.pdf

Field Trip

An all-day field trip to the Galveston will take place on November 1. Participation is included with the conference registration price.

Reservations

The meeting will take place at the Doubletree Guest Suites Houston by the Galleria.  The hotel has reserved a block of rooms for AESE at a conference rate of $129 per night. Contact the Doubletree before September 30 and mention that you will be attending the AESE meeting:

Toll free: 800-222-TREE (-8733)

Direct: 713-961-9000

Contact Information

For more information about the meeting registration, events, or field trip, contact Elsa Kapitan-White, host chair, at kwhite1@sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com. For more information about the technical program or to suggest a topic, chair a session, give a talk, or participate in a panel discussion, contact Nicole Barlow, AESE vice president, at nicole@purplerockediting.com.

Spring Blueline is out

The Spring issue of the Blueline has just been released. It’s another good installment, with more information on the annual meeting (including the official registration form) and a retrospective on the career of long-time member Fred Spilhaus, who recently left AGU (but not the geosciences). Fred has been a member of AESE since 1968, only a year after its founding, and the piece by his colleague and AESE member Judy Holoviak is a fascinating tour through the history of our society.

If you didn’t get the announcement email, you can find the issue in the member’s area of the AESE web site. And if you forgot the login information, contact Mary Ann Schmidt at the AESE business office.

Nominees for AESE Board

The AESE board is pleased to announce the following nominees for the Board of Directors for 2009. Margaret L (Meg) Smath of the Kentucky Geological Survey will be the candidate for vice president, and Beverly Molyneux of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) will be the candidate for the 2009-2012 director seat. More information will appear in the Spring Blueline, due out shortly. Election ballots will be mailed out later this summer.

Annual Meeting planning underway!

At this point, the planning for this year’s annual meeting  is in full swing.  We have exciting technical sessions that are taking shape, such as online geoscience education, interdepartmental/copublishing, geoarchaeology, and using scientific material in nonscientific writing.

In addition to these, we are working on sessions about copyright issues, editing nuts and bolts, and a hands-on workshop or two on programs that are of interest to earth science editors.

We are still in need of more session chairs and speakers — and even if you can’t contribute in these ways, we always welcome more ideas for session topics, potential contacts for session chairs or speakers, or abstracts.  Please email me at nicole@purplerockediting.com.

Looking forward to seeing you in Houston!

Blueline seeks news about AESE members

“AESE News Nuggets,” a regular column in the Blueline, AESE’s quarterly digital newsletter, explores items of interest in members’ careers and lives — new jobs, promotions, retirements, awards, trips, and activities, whether related to geoscience or not. The deadline for the spring issue of Blueline is May 1.  Please send informational blurbs and images to Rowena Mills.

Geosciences and Human Rights

“Human rights” is not a phrase that comes to mind often when working in the geosciences, but that doesn’t mean there’s no connection between the two. Whether it’s scientists finding their work under fire for political reasons, offering sound scientific support for human rights work in the field, or ensuring that scientific research does not itself implicate human rights violations, there are many potential issues to consider.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recently launched a coalition for science and human rights, the aim of which is to “facilitate communication and partnerships on human rights within and across the scientific community, and between the scientific and human rights communities.” AESE has had a liaison with AAAS for many years, and we have been approached about becoming a member or affiliated society of the coalition.

The AESE board feels that this is a worthwhile endeavor. However, in order to join the coalition, we would need to designate a representative to participate in the coalition activities. At the moment, we have no one who is in a position to assume the responsibility, but we are hoping that one of the members would be interested in this unique opportunity.

For more information, visit the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition homepage. Anyone interested in serving as the AESE representative should contact me.

UPDATE: I now have one volunteer. Should we get two, AESE can join as a “Member” society instead of just as an “Affiliated” society.

Winter Blueline is out.

Check your e-mail box–the latest issue of the Blueline is now available (a bit later than I promised, but worth the wait). Meg, Diane, Rowena, and the crew have produced another stellar effort chock-full of interesting news and information.

If you didn’t get the email, you can find the issue in the member’s area of the AESE web site. And if you forgot the login information, contact Mary Ann Schmidt at the AESE business office.

Winter Blueline wrapping up

The next issue of the Blueline is wrapping up this week, and is due for distribution March 1. This issue will have a preview of the 2009 meeting in Houston, as well as reports from some recent conferences. We’ll also have an introduction to the Year of Science 2009, and the International Polar Year. Further goodies include articles on new Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the geology of Sedona, Arizona. (Plus my president’s column, which I’m sure you’re all waiting breathlessly for.)

AESE supports Year of Science 2009

The AESE board has voted to support Year of Science 2009, a yearlong celebration of many aspects of science.  The overarching theme for the year is “How We Know What We Know,” and each month features a different focus.  Participants include those affiliated with the U. S.-based Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) and such international participants as the Royal Ontario Museum and the HMS Beagle Project.  Anyone wishing to be involved in Year of Science 2009 is encouraged to help with local events and to plan activities based on monthly themes.