The Association of American State Geologists (AASG) announced that Dr. Pat Leahy, Executive Director of the American Geosciences Institute, will be the recipient of the 2015 Pick and Gavel Award. AASG is recognizing that awareness of geosciences in this nation has been heightened significantly through effective education and communication under Pat's enthusiastic and creative leadership.
The Pick and Gavel Award was initiated by AASG in 1999 to recognize distinguished friends of geology who have made or are making major contributions to advancing the role that geoscience plays in our society.
The Pick and Gavel Dinner is held in Washington D.C. in mid-March at the Cosmos Club, whose history is steeped in geology. One of its founders and first presidents was John Wesley Powell, 1881 -1894 USGS Director and explorer of the Grand Canyon, and its membership has included many renowned geologists.
The Award consists of a mounted mineral, fossil, or rock, with a symbol that includes a geologist's pick, a policy-maker's gavel, and the Capitol, where geologists and policy-makers work together to respond to the needs of the nation.
The award will be presented at the 2015 Pick and Gavel Award banquet at the Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC, the evening of Tuesday, March 10th. A reception will commence at 6 PM, with dinner following at 7 PM.
