The National Research Council (NRC) established a Committee on Geography (COG) 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. The name of the committee was changed to the Geographical Sciences Committee (GSC) in 2004 in recognition of the role other disciplines (like spatial statistics, econometrics, regional science, and earth system science) play in providing scientific perspectives on the spaces and places of the Earth. This award renews core support for the Geographical Sciences Committee The mission of the GSC is (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. Studies that the GSC plans to undertake in the next year include a review of the implementation strategy through which the U.S. Geological Survey plans to support geographic research at the USGS, an assessment of land-change science models, and a study of strategic directions for the geographic sciences in the next decade.
Continued support for the GSC will enable this group to continue to advance the role that geographers and related scientists play in a range of contexts in the U.S. and internationally through the IGU. The committee will continue to oversee studies like the recently completed studies that produced the following reports: Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum, GIS for Housing and Urban Development, Research Opportunities in Geography at the U.S. Geological Survey, Down to Earth: Geographical Information for Sustainable Development in Africa, and Community and the Quality of Life: Date Needs for Informed Decision Making. The committee also will continue to improve the effectiveness of the IGU and to promote the effective participation of U.S. geographers in the activities of the IGU.
