The National Research Council (NRC) established a Geographical Sciences Committee (GSC) in 1997 because spatial and place-based approaches to human-environment science had demonstrated themselves to be of increasing importance in addressing major societal and environmental topics. This award renews core support for the GSC, which has as its mission: (1) to bring the theories and perspectives of the geographical sciences to bear on society's problems; (2) to foster international cooperation by serving as a liaison to other national geographical organizations and initiating collaborative research programs among those organizations; (3) to provide advice to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on all matters pertaining to geography, especially to the NAS Foreign Secretary on matters concerning international organizations, programs, and research; and (4) to serve as the official U.S. liaison to the International Geographical Union (IGU) and promote and facilitate participation of U.S. geographers in the IGU. The GSC undertakes its work through the conduct of special studies and through meetings. The GSC will identify study topics that will meet the needs of the geographical sciences community and incorporate the recommendations of the 2010 NRC report titled "Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences in the Next Decade" into the GSC agenda. The GSC will address both these items through the identification of study tracks related to health; human dimensions of global climate change; and the global recession's role in the restructuring of American society.
Continued support for the GSC will enable this group 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 provides a forum to enable geographers to make assessments on the current state of the science and develop a vision for future research directions. GSC activities will enable the geographic sciences in directly inform public policy at the national level. The committee also will advance the role that geographers and related scientists play in a range of contexts in the U.S. and internationally through the International Geographical Union.
