The Unfulfilled Potential of U.S. Geoscience: Strategic Gaps in Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Efforts
EGU General Assembly 2025
2 May 2025
Download presentation
The American Geosciences Institute, through its GRANDE project, has been evaluating how geoscience programs and professionals have leveraged the impacts of natural disasters to expand research and educational opportunities. We used natural disasters as a proxy for climate change impacts to better understand the community’s strategic response to events and risk tolerance to natural hazards. Given the fact that the discipline understands the causes, impacts, and risks of such natural events, we hypothesized that the geoscience community is particularly well-positioned to lead the way in adaptation and mitigation efforts related to climate and hazard impacts in their professional activities.
Within the United States, our findings indicated that between 2000 and 2020 there was no systemic engagement with climate and hazard impacts in terms of research production, research funding, or educational efforts. Additionally, we conducted several surveys regarding individual responses to natural disasters and climate impacts, including a cost-choice analysis of career decisions. The results showed little material response by geoscientists to specific climate impacts and scant consideration of hazard risk when considering job opportunities.
One noteworthy finding in the cost-choice analysis revealed that US geoscientists were more open to jobs in locations with higher risk when salaries increased above $50,000, and especially so when salaries exceeded $100,000 per year. Except for Millennials, geoscientists across all other generational cohorts consistently opted for jobs with higher salaries regardless of other factors. Those choosing jobs with salaries less than $50,000 per year chose jobs in rural locations with relatively low hazard risk, whereas those choosing higher salary jobs, chose jobs primarily in urban settings, with higher hazard and crime risk. Higher income thresholds appeared to increase risk tolerance overall, with community amenities and resources significantly outweighing environmental risks.
From this analysis, it appears that the US geoscience community is not positioned as a proactive change agent relative to climate impacts on society, and there appears to be no long-term strategic investments in building the research and educational capacity, as well as the labor pool, to meet the expected demand for skilled professionals to address climate change and hazard impacts over the coming decade. Given the increasing frequency and severity of impacts from natural hazards, the cost of a lack of dedicated long-term investment in addressing these issues is staggering. Should the US geoscience community galvanize its focus around addressing climate impacts, the results of this study indicate that financial investments, especially in terms of occupational salaries, must meet a minimum threshold to attract geoscientists into these critical occupations. The drivers of this financial threshold are unknown, but we hypothesize that this is the socially accepted level for fundamental stability for individuals living in the United States, covering expenses such as insurance, healthcare, and housing.
We are interested in engaging in dialogue with colleagues outside of the United States to test whether different social systems provide the needed stability to enable scientists to be more effective agents of change.
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/EGU25-3324.html
Preparing the Geoscience Workforce for a Resilient Future: Skills, Perspectives, and Emerging Opportunities
American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting 2024
11 December 2024
Download presentation
The geoscience workforce plays a critical role in developing solutions to address the challenges resulting from climate change impacts. Early-career and emerging geoscientists will be in the unique position to understand the drivers, opportunities, and mitigation options needed to overcome these challenges. However, are they aware of and actively engaged in developing the skills they need to become effective solution providers?
In this presentation, we will draw on results from our NSF-funded Geoscience Program Adaptation to Natural Disruptive Events (GRANDE) project (#2223004) to explore the perspectives of early-career and mid-to-late career geoscientists about how the geosciences will change over the next decade, including the skills that will be needed to develop solutions for societal issues related to hazards, resource limitations, and climate change impacts. We will discuss the expected transformations in work, research, and higher education that will be driven by integration of new technologies and the research and application spaces that are expected to emerge. We will also examine the expected changes in the demand for geoscience expertise across employment sectors over the coming decade and discuss opportunity spaces for developing the skills and competencies needed for building a resilient future.
https://agu.confex.com/agu/agu24/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1596140
Shaping tomorrow’s geoscientists: Navigating workforce trends and empowering student transitions
AGU/AGI Heads & Chairs Webinar Series
15 November 2024
Download presentation
Watch recording
A discussion of workforce trends and key insights from the GRANDE project on drivers for career choice.
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting 2024
24 September 2024
Download presentation
Disruptive events, such as major storms, earthquakes, wildfires, and volcanic eruptions among others, provide contextual opportunities to engage students, develop curricular materials, and expand research opportunities not only for impacted institutions, but for the geoscience community at large. With climate change recognized as a driver of increased frequency and intensity of various disruptive processes, such as storms, heat waves, wildfires, droughts, and floods, early-career and emerging geoscientists will be the professionals that will not only be addressing the science of this future but will also be living within this environment. They also are in the unique position to understand the drivers, opportunities, and mitigation options better than most of society.
As part of our NSF-funded Geoscience Program Adaptation to Natural Disruptive Events (GRANDE) project (#2223004), we deployed an anonymous fast-response survey to gauge the geoscience community’s perspectives about the current state and future of the geosciences as it relates to impacts from natural disruptive events, anticipated changes to higher education and careers, and the relevance of the geosciences to societal issues. In this presentation, we explore the perspectives of early-career and mid-to-late career geoscientists about how the geosciences will change over the next decade, including the integration of emerging technologies and the expansion of collaborative opportunities to address societal issues related to hazards, resource limitations, and climate change impacts.
https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2024AM/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/401404
Skills for the future: A Journey to Look at Accelerating Change for the Geosciences
AGU/AGI Heads & Chairs Webinar Series
6 September 2024
Download presentation
Watch recording
A discussion of workforce data on how geoscience employment trends are changing within the U.S., including the skillsets that geoscientists will need to succeed in future geoscience careers. Key insights are drawn from the GRANDE project on perceptions around needed skillsets and preparedness of future workforce cohorts. The presentation will lead into a discussion among participants about what they are seeing for their recent graduates and what that means for the next couple years.
