At the request of the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Geographic Society, and the Association of American Geographers, the National Research Council has assembled a committee of experts to formulate a short list of high priority research questions in the geographical sciences that are relevant to societal needs. Rather than attempting to cover the breadth of the field, the goal is to identify a limited number of questions that can be answered by drawing upon the strengths of the geographical sciences. The questions should be tractable (i.e. there must be a strong likelihood of achieving significant and demonstrable progress in the next five to ten years), and will be written in a clear and compelling way that can be understood by policymakers, scientists in other disciplines, agency managers, and the general public.

To help it address its charge, the committee is seeking input on the following set of questions:

1. What should geographers be studying over the next ten years? Aspects of this question to consider include:

1. What makes geographers particularly suited to answer these questions?
2. What are the consequences of not bringing geographical perspectives to bear on these questions?
3. What kinds of data or infrastructure are most critical to the advancement of geographical research?
4. What new sets of skills and training will geographers need to tackle forthcoming research areas?

2. What are the greatest challenges facing the geographical sciences today?

If your input is longer than a few paragraphs or if you would like to submit a formatted document, please send your input via e-mail to Caetlin Ofiesh.

Comments received by April 30, 2008, will be considered at the committee's next meeting (May 21-23, 2008). However, the committee welcomes any ideas until August 2008. The final report will be released by the end of 2008. Please note that any written comments submitted to the committee (whether by mail, e-mail, fax, or the project's comment form) will be included in the study's public access file.

• Alexander Murphy, Chair, University of Oregon
• Nancy Colleton, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
• Roger Downs, Pennsylvania State University
• Michael Goodchild, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Susan Hanson, Clark University
• Victoria Lawson, University of Washington
• Glen MacDonald, University of California, Los Angeles
• Francis Magilligan, Dartmouth College
• William Moseley, Macalester College
• Colin Polsky, Clark University
• Karen Seto, Stanford University
• Dawn Wright, Oregon State University
• Caetlin Ofiesh, Study Director, National Research Council

^*The committee is provisional until bias and conflict discussions are completed for all members.

Committee Charge and Schedule