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Why GSA Membership GSA TODAY | www.geosociety.org/gsatoday
Is Important to Me

And to Colleagues in Applied Geoscience Fields

Jonathan G. Price

Ihave appreciated my membership in GSA primarily
because of the science—the peer-reviewed literature in
GSA’s journals and special publications, the new work
presented at GSA Annual and Section Meetings, and
the exchange of information and ideas on field trips and at
specialty meetings.

Most of my career has been in areas of applied geoscience
(mineral exploration, mining, and state geological survey
work related to mineral and energy resources, natural
hazards, and environmental issues). I have found GSA field
trips to be particularly helpful. For example, associated with
the GSA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, Chris Henry,
Don Parker, Dan Barker, and I co-led a field trip about the
igneous geology of Trans-Pecos Texas. About half of the
attendees were individuals whom we invited, specifically
because they were experts either on the types of rocks or the
geographic area that we visited. We learned a tremendous
amount on that trip, because those experts and other geosci-
entists who attended gave us new perspectives on the rocks
that we had been studying for years.

Another example was seeing first-hand the evidence that
John Warme showed us about the Alamo Breccia and
Devonian impact (pretty much dead-center on Area 51 in
Nevada) during a field trip associated with a combined
Cordilleran–Rocky Mountain Section Meeting. I expect that
most of my colleagues in applied areas of geoscience would
agree that they look to GSA primarily for the quality of
science. Because of a disciplinary or business focus, they also
go to the meetings of many of GSA’s Associated Societies; in
my case, these have primarily been the Society of Economic
Geologists (SEG); the Society for Mining, Metallurgy,
Exploration (SME); the Association of American State
Geologists (AASG); the American Institute of Professional
Geologists (AIPG); and, occasionally, American Association
of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Association of
Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG).

The networking opportunities offered at GSA meetings
and on GSA field trips are another major draw for us to
be members.

Jonathan G. Price
GSA President, 2015–2016
GSA member since 1974; GSA Fellow since 1989

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