Skip Hobbs at Burgess Shale Walcott Quarry in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, a United Nations World Heritage site.

Ammonite Managing Partner G. Warfield “Skip” Hobbs was installed on October 19th as President-Elect of the American Geological Institute at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Oregon. This professional honor follows Skip’s three-year tenure as a board member of the AGI, and earlier position as member society council representative for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

The AGI is a federation of 46 geoscience societies representing over 120,000 professional earth scientists, covering such diverse disciplines as hydrology, seismology, geological engineering, paleontology, volcanology, mining and petroleum, soil science, environmental geology, and geoscience education. Founded in 1948, the American Geological Institute has a full-time staff of over 60 at its headquarters in Arlington Virginia, manages a global online database of over 3 million published geosciences citations, develops K-12 school earth science curricula, and coordinates the interests of its member societies for public outreach and government affairs. The AGI also publishes various online and print monthly newsletters, including Earth Magazine. Congress looks to the AGI to identify and bring experts to Washington to provide objective science-based testimony on such legislative issues as clean water resources, geological hazards, soil conservation, sustainable energy and mineral resource extraction; nuclear waste disposal, carbon sequestration, and climate change.

Hobbs will serve as President-Elect from 2009-2010 and then as AGI President from 2010-2011. He is looking forward to playing a key role in national legislative matters concerning the geosciences, and earth science education. Increasing the role of women and minorities in the geosciences will be one of Skip’s management goals.