The summer may be winding down, but things are just heating up for the AAPG Young Professionals (YPs).
We had an awesome time at ACE in Denver this past June with impressive turnouts at both the YP Meet and Greet and the YP networking reception in downtown Denver. Both events were graciously sponsored by Noble Energy and we thank them for their ongoing support of YP initiatives! Feedback from attendees at both events was overwhelmingly positive.
The biggest YP-related news of the meeting came from the House of Delegates. The HoD approved an amendment to the AAPG Bylaws that formally adopted the creation of special interest groups (SIGs) and technical interest groups (TIGs).
The First SIG
The Young Professionals are very excited to share that the Executive Committee approved the YPs as the first AAPG SIG this August. We are looking forward to exploring this new avenue the association has recently created. There is now a dedicated space within the Association from which to progress the mission and vision of the large and growing population of young professional AAPG Members.
The current Young Professionals Membership Committee will comprise the governing body of the new YP SIG with representatives from each Section and Region. The goals of the YP SIG will also remain the same as the currently operating Young Professionals Membership Committee.
The YP SIG will:
- Foster a challenging and successful career in the energy industry for recent graduates and early-career earth scientists.
- Build an understanding of the value of a lasting relationship between AAPG and young professional members.
- Encourage earth scientists to progress to full Member status.
The YP SIG will continue to provide the services that have been established by the YP Committee, including the YP Meet and Greet (held at ACE, ICE and Section/Region meetings), field trips, short courses, networking events and community outreach/volunteer events.
Benefits of Being a SIG
The value of the YP SIG is the ability to have a defined population of AAPG members interested in the activities of young professionals.
One of the major difficulties the YPs have had in recent years has been the inability to adequately identify YPs within the current membership structure. In order to reach what we felt was our targeted demographic, we have been defining YPs as “members under the age of 39.” This is the group who receives all of the YP-oriented communication from AAPG.
Of course, it’s reasonable to assume that some members receiving these communications do not define themselves as YP’s and are not interested in the YP’s.
Additionally, we are missing people who might be very interested in the YPs but are excluded based on our defined age limit.
Now, all members interested in the YP mission and its initiatives have a venue in which to participate: the YP SIG.
The YPs now have the ability to better target our audience, provide focused communication and have a pool of interested individuals to call upon as volunteers for various positions within AAPG and other associated Sectional/ Regional groups: the members of the YP SIG.
Any member of the Association can become part of the YP SIG and benefit from services and programs we provide. We hope all who are interested will join the first SIG of AAPG and help our Association grow!
Be on the lookout for communication on how to join the YP SIG coming soon.