From the President’s Office – 1/10/2013
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful and restful holiday season because 2013 is already shaping up to be a busy one.
The House will be back in session next week to consider additional disaster aid funding in response to damage from Hurricane Sandy. We are trying to do what we can to be sure that ocean science facilities and observatory assets that were damaged or destroyed by the hurricane will receive replacement funds. Congress will also soon have to deal with the financial aspects not included in the fiscal cliff deal from earlier this month, including raising the debt ceiling and the looming budget sequester. That has to happen over the next couple of months. So stay tuned. It looks like there is more than one fiscal cliff. We are all still trying to figure out how many there are out there!
Biennially, Ocean Leadership organizes the Ocean Sciences Educators’ Retreat (OSER) for members of our community. At the recent OSER meeting last September, it was reported that there are nearly 2,750 students enrolled in marine science graduate programs but there are only 170 student members of The Oceanography Society (TOS), the only professional society focused solely on the ocean sciences. I was very surprised by such a low number. As you all know, cultivating the next generation of ocean scientists is extremely important to the survival of our field. I would suggest to you that this is one of our collective responsibilities. Thus, I recommend to all of you to urge your graduate students to become TOS members as it provides a unique venue for students to network with other students and scientists as one of the society’s benefits. For more information, click here. 2013 marks the 25th anniversary of TOS so this is an excellent time to encourage the next generation of ocean scientists to become members.
Have a great weekend. It is going to be in the high 60s here!
Bob
