AGU President’s Welcome Statement
Welcome to AGU and to its new Web site! AGU staff has worked very hard to create this engaging and informative Web site to serve both our members and the general public. I hope you like it. If you are an existing member, thank you for your active involvement in AGU and its programs. Your efforts have helped to build a truly extraordinary scholarly society dedicated to the generation and dissemination of knowledge about Earth and space. If you are a visitor, I warmly welcome you to an international scientific society—a Union that serves many scientists and educators around the world, working together on topics of great interest and relevance to our times. As stated simply in our Mission:
“AGU is a worldwide scientific community that advances, through unselfish cooperation in research, the understanding of Earth and space for the benefit of humanity.”
Excellence and integrity in science and scientific communication are in the genes of AGU! Our Union recently passed a major milestone when we achieved 50,000 members. Of these members, approximately 35% come from outside the United States and approximately 20% are students. The sustained growth of AGU and the large and growing involvement of international colleagues, students, and young researchers are things to be proud of. I believe they reflect well on the standards of excellence of the publications and meetings programs, as well as on the unique willingness and ability of the AGU to build—and cross over—interdisciplinary bridges.
The scientific domain of AGU stretches from the planets to the seafloor and to the center of Earth and everything in between. We study the complex coupled physical processes that control and affect the Earth system and its near-Earth space environment. Our work builds knowledge about the very platform that nurtures and sustains all life. There is something here for everyone, and the Union celebrates diversity in all forms: ideas, national origins, disciplines, and personal backgrounds. Again, I extend a warm welcome. Please let us know your thoughts as you navigate this new portal into AGU.
—Tim Killeen, AGU President