February 17, 2023

In 2022, the NSF Office of the Director engaged the Assistant Director for Geosciences (GEO) and the Head of the NSF GEO Office of Polar Programs (OPP) to discuss the consolidation of their separate advisory committees into a single Advisory Committee focused on the whole Earth system. After discussions with the GEO and OPP Advisory Committee chairs, we are pleased to announce that the Advisory Committee for Geosciences and the Advisory Committee for the Office of Polar Programs will merge into one Advisory Committee of Geosciences effective July 1, 2023.

This merger provides a unique opportunity to focus on the Earth as an interactive system.  Through this new committee, advisory committee members will be able to learn about, and offer, advice on all aspects of the Geoscience enterprise and the wide expanse of programs across the Directorate.

In preparation for the merger, AC-OPP and AC-GEO will have a joint session at their spring meetings.   The AC-OPP meeting will be Wednesday, April 12-Thursday, April 13 and the AC GEO meeting will be Thursday, April 13-Friday, April 14. The joint session will be on Thursday, April 13. The merger, and the opportunities it presents, is anticipated to be one of many topics be discussed at the joint session of the AC meetings in April.

The first full meeting of the newly expanded GEO Advisory Committee is anticipated to be in October 2023.

We recognize that the geosciences community may have several questions about the merger and how the new advisory committee will work. To address these concerns, a virtual town hall has been scheduled for Wednesday, March 1 from 1-2 pm EST. The town hall is open to the public, and more information will be posted on the GEO and OPP websites as it becomes available.

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