American Geophysical Union Earns a 2020 ASAE Power of A Summit Award

 

From ASAE:

The American Geophysical Union earned a 2020 ASAE Power of A Summit Award for its Centennial Grants Program which rallied the Earth and space sciences (ESS) community around the world to showcase the value of their science and its benefit to humanity. ASAE honored the program in the category of the Power of Global Development. AGU members and stakeholders were empowered to educate and inspire communities and policymakers worldwide about the ESS issues most pertinent to them.

Through the Centennial grants program, 155 projects were funded worldwide, with grants of up to $10,000. Over half of the grants were awarded for activities outside of the United States, which reached well over two million people in 31 countries. AGU provided grantees with educational resources and toolkits as well as access to an online community to share best practices with each other and set each of their projects up for success from the start.

Some of the projects include:

  • Organizing LGBTQ+ scientists and others in the scientific community in Lagos, Nigeria to affirm marginalized individuals’ experiences, increase their visibility, and commit to freeing the Nigerian science community’s environment of homophobia and transphobia.
  • Educating young women in Malawi about water sanitation and personal hygiene.
  • Building disaster resilience for the vital tourism sector in St. Kitts.
  • Organizing the first-ever conference for young Earth scientists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Developing engaging videos about ESS topics in Spanish for the general public in Latin America; and
  • Inspiring high school women to pursue careers in space science and engineering in Estonia.

Last year, AGU earned a 2019 Power of A Summit Award for its Thriving Earth Exchange to help scientists and community leaders work together to solve local challenges related to natural resources, climate change, and natural hazards.

ASAE’s Power of A (association) Awards, the industry’s highest honor, recognize the association community’s valuable contributions on the local, national and global levels.  The Power of A Awards reward the outstanding accomplishments of associations and industry professionals who work tirelessly to solve problems, and strengthen lives, the workforce, the economy, and the world.