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AGT+* promotes and facilitates the acquisition and utilization of knowledge in human, animal, and environmental health and associated regulatory sciences.
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Get Ready to Vote On Our New Name!
What a fun and interesting couple of years we’ve had after our 2018 unanimous vote to expand our scope from “toxicology” to “human, animal, and environmental health and safety sciences, and associated regulatory science” as part of
AGT2020
. We had decided at the time to hold off on a name change until after we had a chance to experiment with and grow somewhat into our new identity before making the critical change of a new name and associated acronym, logo, and tagline. And we’ve had a great time doing that by exploring a wide variety of topics, activities, and communication methods.
Eager to find out the plan for the final selection of a new name?
Just scroll down to
Procedure for Membership Voting
below. Otherwise, check out the next few sections first for some context.
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New Social Media Sites
Here's just a sample of some of the many items we've shared on our
website
and our new
Facebook
,
LinkedIn
, and
Twitter
platforms--are you following/liking/commenting/sharing yet?!
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- The effect of the shifting baseline syndrome, which for example inhibits the ability of younger people to remember how much more wildlife there used to be;
- A profound new report by The Lancet Countdown, a consensus of 35 institutions & UN agencies tracking progress across 41 indicators, demonstrating what it will mean for human health to meet the Paris Climate Agreement targets;
Events
Our many events during this time of exploration have included:
- A Summer Picnic at Seneca Creek State Park, MD with over 50 in attendance, August 2018;
- The March 2019 Social with the Society of Toxicology (SOT) National Capital Area Council (NCAC) and Johns Hopkins, at the SOT-Baltimore annual meeting;
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- Our first Science on Tap, on Scientific Integrity Across Federal Agencies Over the Years, by the Union of Concerned Scientists, in Bethesda, MD, May 2019, and another one, The Role of Toxicologists in One Health and Transdisciplinarity, by Dr. A. Alonso Aguirre, George Mason University, in Arlington, VA and via Zoom, November 2019;
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- Our first Summer Science Across the States Webinar, with in-person dinner in Bethesda, MD, August, 2019, featuring speakers from all over the US, including Jim Lazorchak from the Environmental Protection Agency's National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) in Cincinnati, OH; Danielle Buttke, the One Health Coordinator at the National Park Service (NPS), Fort Collins, Colorado; and Syed Imam, from the Food and Drug Administration's National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) in Jefferson, Arkansas;
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- And when the pandemic hit, we cancelled other plans and started a series of virtual (Zoom) Government Science Slams, each with a happy hour followed by several short, intense, and informal talks, from heady to humorous, about whatever floats your boat science-wise. Our next Slam is scheduled for July 9 (see below)!
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Future Plans
In addition to continuing many of the events described above, we would like to upgrade our website to reflect our new mission and provide a better experience for our members. We plan to include a number of members-only features, such as a group discussion portal that is similar to that of the very popular
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
and which would provide access to a wide range of fellow government scientists and others within our core scope.
We also have been discussing and exploring other ways that our group can be more meaningful (e.g., via volunteer work, discussions of science integrity and our oaths of office), not only to us as individuals, but also to the public, who after all is why we are in government science in the first place.
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Procedure for Membership Voting
And so, after a number of recent AGT2020 meetings by the current Council and others to review all of the above, and more, including “homework” assignments of reading through the many survey responses and other feedback from members, testing out combinations of keywords, themes, and acronyms, and getting help from groups such at
Nonprofit Ally
, we have finally narrowed down the choices to three names. We feel confident that these options reflect the wishes of the vast majority of members, and thus it is time to put it to a vote.
We’ve also chosen to use ranked-choice voting, which is perhaps best described via
this site and video
. One of the key benefits of this approach is that even if someone’s first choice does not win, they still provide input into which of the other two choices they prefer, and thus they still have some buy-in and ownership of the new name!
So in the next several weeks, we will do three things:
- Release the three choices with some explanations of why they were chosen;
- Hold a zoom call so that we can discuss with interested members why we narrowed the field to these; and
- Announce that the names are open for a vote.
If you want to vote but have not been an active or dues-paying member
, please rectify that before the vote by visiting
AGT+ Membership
.
* * *
We look forward to this next phase of our organization. Given the increased interest over these past two years from both old and new members across the many events and discussions we have held, we expect that soon we will become a much larger, active, and meaningful organization.
Regards,
The AGT2020 Transition Committee
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Nominations Are Open for AGT+ Council Positions
Nominations are now open for several positions on the AGT Council. Eligibility requirements and job descriptions for these positions are described in the AGT+ Bylaws which are available
here
. If interested, please respond to
secretary@govtox.org
.
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Next GovSciSlam - Special Topic:
Acknowledging Health and Environmental Inequity and Injustice in the US
We're looking forward to our next Government Science Slam and Happy Hour,
Thursday July 9
, this time in collaboration with
Toxicologists of African Origin (TAO)
, as we explore the impact of health and environmental inequities and institutional racism.
This is intended to be an informal, thought provoking opportunity to explore the intersections of science and injustice in the US. Anyone can participate by preparing a short talk (5 minutes max, with 0 to 2 slides) on a related topic that you would like to present. We have included some info and potential topics below if you need some inspiration! In addition to systemic issues, we
would also encourage participants to highlight important contributions from scientists of African origin and other underrepresented groups.
Info, possible topics, and tentative URM Scientists:
GovSciSlam Happy Hour starts at
6:30 pm
. Talks start at
7:00 pm
. Register below for your unique Zoom link.
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Are You Getting These Eblasts Too Close to the Advertised Event?
It could be because your agency is "throttling" emails like these, i.e., delaying them to give bandwidth priority to what IT teams think are higher priority emails. If you want to change your email address, click Update Profile in the footer below. If you want to receive a duplicate eblast, let us know at
membership@govtox.org
.
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How to Join or Update Your Membership
Interested in joining AGT+, or already a member and need to pay your 2020 dues? Go to our membership
page per the button below. Just need to update your email address? Click the Update Profile link at the end of this email.
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*AGT+ voted to expand its scope to human, animal, and environmental health and related regulatory sciences, and we’re still considering a name change. AGT+ is also exploring various other program ideas, such as an awards program, job and expertise database, mentorships, and government science news and articles. Stay tuned! If you have ideas, including regarding our name, please add them to the
AGT+ survey
or
email us
. Thanks!
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AGT
Plus
- Web/Social Media
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