Committee Reports

Communications Committee

Bill Roman, Director

Communications Key to AEG's Success

Communications are key, and failure to properly communicate underlies many of the challenges we face, be they personal, professional, or societal. Often, when analyzing the root causes of the challenges I encounter, I recall the indelible line delivered by the prison warden, as played by Martin Strother, in the movie Cool Hand Luke: “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”

In its Strategic Plan, AEG recognizes the key role of communications in its first goal, which is “to improve the AEG experience and communicate it effectively.” The four objectives of AEG’s communication goal are to: 1) advocate for the profession through public and private outreach, 2) enhance external awareness by strengthening the AEG brand, 3) communicate internally in a cohesive manner, and 4) advocate for the Association and its members.

The Communications Committee (CC) supports AEG’s communication goal by overseeing AEG’s publications and website with a view to maintaining their continuing quality. The CC advises AEG’s Board of Directors (BOD) of ways that publications and other media may be improved and initiates and responds to proposals for enhancing communications within AEG and with outside audiences.

Since the September 2019 Annual Meeting in Asheville, significant communications-related developments include changes in the leadership of the CC, changes in the editorship of AEG News and Cities of the World, launch of a new AEG website, and revision of AEG’s social media policy. As AEG Vice President, Bill Godwin also serves as CC Manager, and Bill Roman became CC Co-chair following the 2019 Annual Meeting.

Monthly Call-ins

Monthly CC call-ins are held primarily to discuss AEG publications, social media, the AEG website, and how the CC can support implementation of AEG’s Strategic Plan. The call-ins are scheduled as a recurring event at noon (ET) on the second Friday of the month. Call-in attendees have included AEG members and leaders including members of AEG’s Executive Council, Regional Directors, Strategic Initiative Coordinators, Section and Committee Chairs, representatives of AEG’s association management, and publication editors and editorial board members. AEG members desiring to contribute to or receive the CC call-in agenda or participate in CC call-ins are welcome to contact the CC Co-chair at wroman@gfnet.com.

Publications

AEG publications are one of the many benefits of AEG membership and include Environmental & Engineering Geoscience, AEG News, AEG Insider, Geology of the Cities of the World, and special publications.

Abdul Shakoor (AEG) and Brian Katz (GSA) continue to serve as co-editors of Environmental & Engineering Geoscience (EEG), which is a quarterly joint publication of AEG and the Environmental & Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of America. AEG members can access the May 2020 issue of EEG through AEG’s website (https://aeg.memberclicks.net/e-eg-journal) and archive issues through geoscienceworld’s website (https://pubs.geoscienceworld. org/eeg). The February 2020 issue was a special publication focusing on Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOAs) guest edited by R. Mark Bailey and Sarah Kalika. EEG’s editors invite contributions concerning all aspects of environmental and engineering geology and related disciplines. In addition to more submissions, EEG’s editors can always use more peer reviewers.

Visty Dalal is the new AEG News acquisitions editor, and Bill Roman is the new AEG News content editor. Visty and Bill are volunteers and have been greatly assisted by the professional services and guidance kindly provided by Andrea Ptak, who continues as the AEG News managing/production editor. Visty welcomes your contributions (see AEG News Acquisitions Editor’s Pen, p. 14), and letters from readers are also welcome (contact news@aegweb.org). AEG News is published five times per year: March (Annual Report and Membership Directory), Spring, Summer, September (Meeting Program with Abstracts), and Winter.

AEG Insider is an e-publication, which is emailed to subscribers on Thursdays. AEG Insider is produced by Colby Horton, vice president of publishing, and Damon Sayles, senior content editor. These weekly messages contain headlines and short news items about AEG, conferences and meeting announcements, and links to other science news.

Ted Toskos has recently assumed the editorship of the Geology of the Cities of the World project, succeeding Bob Anderson, who stepped down in March 2020. The Geology of Sacramento is the next issue scheduled to be released in this series. Discussions are underway concerning future projects and their format. Current and past practitioners in New England are encouraged to contact Ted for reviewing parts of the new Geology of Boston issue, which is currently in the works.

Some items not published as part of a regular series or journal are available through the AEG website ( https://aeg.memberclicks.net/other-publications). Bob Tepel’s Special Publication 7 (Professional Licensure for Geologists, and Exploration of Issues) was recently made available in PDF format through this AEG webpage. Certain publications are available upon request from the Association’s management firm.

AEG Website

AEG’s new website was launched in December 2019. The CC has provided feedback to AEG’s management firm on several website issues, which have been quickly improved or resolved. The Chapter Support Committee has been busy updating web resources available through the Chapter Toolkit webpage (https://aeg.memberclicks.net/chapter-toolkit). The CC welcomes your comments and suggestions for improving AEG’s website.

Social Media

AEG currently has social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. AEG’s management firm recently developed a social media strategy, which was reviewed and approved by the CC. The strategy is a six-page

document, which serves as a guideline for effective use of current and future social media outlets at both the association and chapter levels. The document provides step-by-step instructions for getting started on various social media platforms, guidelines on content to be posted, resources available for creating content, suggestions on posting frequency and the most efficient times to post. The strategy is available on the Member Resources Library Quicklinks webpage (https://aeg.memberclicks.net/member-resources).

Webinars

AEG has also launched a webinar series to stay connected with its membership and encourage communications. Currently attendance at these webinars is free to all but eventually will have a small fee to all non-AEG members. Webinars provide an opportunity to discuss the state of the association as well as to gain insights from an expert on a technical topic, while earning professional development hours, either as a presenter or an attendee. Webinars have allowed us to stay connected while practicing social distancing during this challenging time of pandemic. Webinar presenters currently scheduled for July are Scott Burns, Patty Bryan, and Maddie German. Recorded webinars and a list of webinar topics available to chapters can be found on AEG’s webinar webpage ( https://aeg.memberclicks.net/webinars).

The CC certainly welcomes new members with new ideas on how we can improve the AEG experience and communicate it effectively. Prospective members are encouraged to contact CC Manager Bill Godwin (vp@aegweb.org).

Licensure Committee The “State” of Bill Tracking

Duane Kreuger, AEG Past President In late 2019, AEG entered into a one-year contract with StateScape, a firm with proprietary bill-tracking software that was recommended and selected out of several firms we evaluated. Our contract with StateScape includes language, or key words, that their software uses as search criteria while scanning individual State House and Senate bills that are posted on-line. StateScape’s software searches the House and Senateposted bill listings for every state, every day. When a bill containing one or more of the keywords is detected, the StateScape software sends our volunteers an email automatically with a link to the bill, so the only requirement is that a volunteer check their email.

In the December 2019 issue of AEG News, President Palomares wrote about the importance of volunteers. She is succinct in her assessment that, collectively, our volunteers help shape our identity and are critical to our profession. After the AEG Board of Directors approved the proposal and associated expenses from StateScape, AEG put out a “call for volunteers.” If you want to volunteer for this bill-tracking effort, just send an email to Nate Saraceno (secretary@aegweb.org). It is reassuring to know that our membership cares about bills that could impact geologist registration and the sound practice of geology in their state. The list of volunteers, and associated members, has 70 names on it. We included the Regional Directors, so that there would be coverage for each state. We also included the members of the Licensure Committee.

As of May 21, 2020, StateScape identified 328 bills from 49 sources, which includes 46 states. StateScape notifications provided useful, timely information regarding state bills, and here are a few examples: ■ A member in California reported that a bill would have allowed preferential treatment of some licensure applicants ■ A member in Illinois reported that a bill would have created a potential amendment to their licensing act and generated a review of the need for professional licensure. ■ A member in Missouri, responding to my question “Without

StateScape’s notification, would you have been able to act as quickly?” stated, “Not only could we have not acted quickly, there is a question of whether we would have known about some of the bills at all.” ■ Greg Hempen noted, “Two bills passed in Missouri’s pandemicshortened legislative session, one of which has been signed into law by the Governor. The new legislation affects spouses, who are certified or registered in an occupation or profession in another state, of military personnel transferred to Missouri. The popular legislation enables them to quickly seek reciprocity to have the same occupation or profession in Missouri.” ■ Missouri is my home state, and we issued a “call to action” regarding a bill that would allow a convicted individual to return to their previous profession, as the requirement for

“good moral character” would be repealed. Professionals must have the protection of their fellow citizen’s health and safety first, ahead of their own interests. Interestingly, the summary of the bill was “Fresh Start Act of 2020.” ■ A member in Alabama reported that the registration Board may not have been aware of the proposed changes for PGs in Tennessee. ■ Several volunteers indicated that they would not have had the ability to act as quickly without the StateScape notifications.

There may be some members who did not receive an email notice because of potential ‘spam’ identification. And, there were several volunteers who could not access copies of a bill from the StateScape e-mail links. I have reached out to these volunteers to see if we can find a solution.

Going forward, StateScape is a valuable tool, given the quantity and relevancy of the information it provides via its notification system. Ideally, if other geoscience associations were to realize the value in this system and pledge to participate with us, then AEG could share the cost of an annual subscription while at the same time increasing the number of volunteers who track bills at the state level.

COMMITTEE CHAIRS:

Inspire participation and interest in your group by submitting a report of what you’ve been working on in time for the December issue of AEG News. Send a short synposis to Acquisitions Editor Visty Dalal at news@aegweb.org.