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GSA 2015 ANNUAL MEETING & EXPOSITION BALITMORE

Presidential Address &
Awardee Lectures

GSA Presidential Address

Jonathan G. Price James W. Head Jerry X. Mitrovica Brandon Schmandt
Sun., 1 Nov., noon–1:30 p.m.
Baltimore Convention Center (BCC), Room GSA Gold Medal Lectures
327/328/329
GSA continues the celebration with lectures by our three gold
The World is Changing medalists: James Head, Penrose Medal; Jerry Mitrovica, Day
Medal; and Brandon Schmandt, Donath Medal. These lectures
The future is bright for the geosciences from will be held in the Baltimore Convention Center in appropriate
many perspectives. Our science is increasingly global as we recog- technical sessions; dates and times to be announced. Each
nize the challenges of understanding interconnected Earth medalist will present a 20-minute talk reflecting the science of
systems—meeting the rising global demand for mineral and their careers:
energy resources, handling tradeoffs regarding sustainable devel-
opment, and reducing risks of natural disasters that impact the Head: “Planetary Evolution: A Geologic Perspective”
global economy. The geosciences are vital to meeting these
societal challenges. We geoscientists are changing demographi- Mitrovica: “Sea-Level Change from the Paleozoic to the 21st
cally, and GSA’s world is changing as well, to the benefit of our Century: A Record of Controversy”
members, authors, the general public, and science. Our rigorously
peer-reviewed and edited journals are becoming freely accessible Schmandt: “Multi-Scale Mapping of the North America Mantle
on the Web. GSA’s dimensions are growing! and Crust with Seismology”

President’s Medal Lecture

Steven W. Squyres

Robotic Field Geology

Technological advances now allow meaningful
geologic exploration of a planet’s surface to be
carried out robotically. Robotic field geology,
however, requires new techniques and processes that are not
common to traditional field geology. Robotic systems on distant
planets suffer from many limitations, including limited mobility,
tightly constrained data bandwidth to Earth, modest capabilities
for manipulating geologic materials, and long operational laten-
cies. The challenge of robotic field geology is to overcome these
limitations by exploiting the unique strengths that robotic vehicles
possess. These strengths include scientific instrumentation that is
not normally available to a field geologist and the ability to
harness the efforts of a large and experienced team of scientists to
make operational decisions. The Mars Exploration Rover Project
has developed a set of techniques and procedures that have
enabled effective field geology to be carried out on the martian
surface. This talk will review how these techniques and proce-
dures were first developed, and describe how they have been put
to use for more than eleven years of exploration by the robots
Spirit and Opportunity.

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