Linkfest: Earth Science Week, AWG's new website, and annual meetings galore

Earth Science Week 2009 will be October 11-17 (ending on the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake!). This year's theme is "Understanding Climate." There are photo, visual arts, and essay contests, and Thursday is going to be the first "Women in Geosciences" day. (And then Friday will be "frantically put posters together for GSA" day. Maybe the people who prefer AGU can make this year's Earth Science Week happen...)

The Association for Women Geoscientists has a new website (at the old address). They're now collecting dues online, but the transition to a paperless world has been rough, and lots of people haven't renewed. So if you mean to be an AWG member, check out the new website and find out if you need to renew. (Their newsletter is also now entirely online. And there's information about scholarships, including two new awards to support women students traveling to geoscience meetings.)

The abstract deadline for the Geological Society of America annual meeting in Portland, Oregon is less than two weeks away - Tuesday, August 11. If you're on Twitter, you can follow @geosociety for reminders of meeting information and 140-character teasers about field trips. Some of the sessions I'm looking forward to include:

Structure/tectonics/metamorphism:
T43. Detachment Dynamics: Heat, Deformation, and Fluids in Extensional Systems
T44. Evaluating Channel Flow in Orogens
T46. Linking Shallow to Deep Crustal Processes in Arc and Collisional Orogens
T50. New Developments in Understanding the Mesozoic Cordilleran Orogen: Linking Forearc, Arc, and Backarc Processes
T71. Fault and Fracture Studies in the Solar System
T73. Melt Microstructures: Evidence for the Presence of Melt and Consequences for Deforming Continental Crust
T74. Pluton Assembly: Duration, Mechanisms, and Structural Controls
T82. Advances in Understanding Metamorphic Processes: Nanoscale to Nappes

Geoscience education:
T98. Earth Science in Place-Based Teaching (Posters)
T99. EarthScope Education and Outreach: Connecting Students, Teachers, and the Public to the Dynamic Landscape of North America
T100. Field Geology Education -- Historical Perspectives and Modern Approaches
T108. Spatial Skills in the Geosciences
T111. Techniques and Tools for Effective Recruitment, Retention and Promotion of Women and Minorities in the Geosciences
T112. The Nature of Geoscience Expertise
T114. What Can We do to Help Our Students Become Better Learners? Fostering the Development of Metacognition and Self-Regulation
T115. Women and Minority Careers in the Geosciences: Successful Strategies for overcoming Challenges
T160. From Virtual Globes to Geoblogs: Digital Innovations in Geoscience Research, Education, and Outreach (Geobloggers Kyle House and Ron Schott are two of the organizers of this session)

...and there's no way I'm going to be able to hang out in all of them, so I'll have to pick and choose.

And if that's not enough, the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting is also accepting abstracts now (with a deadline of September 3. AGU is also on Twitter - @theAGU.