About the U.S. National Committee

On behalf of the U.S. scientific community, the National Academy of Sciences serves as the national adhering organization to the Pacific Science Association (PSA). The PSA is a regional, nongovernmental scientific organization whose basic objectives are to provide a multidisciplinary forum for collaboration and communication among the scientific communities of the region. The principal objectives of the U.S. National Committee are to assist the NAS in fulfilling its membership responsibilities and to ensure effective participation by American scientists in the activities of the PSA.

The PSA, which has been a leader in regional scientific cooperation since the early 1920's, has concentrated its efforts more recently on promoting the contributions of science and technology to human progress in the Pacific. The PSA has task forces working on the regional aspects of such issues as global environmental change, population growth and resource management, biodiversity, globalization, and natural disaster reduction and mitigation. The U.S. National Committee for PSA has been encouraging greater coordination with interagency and intergovernmental bodies on these initiatives, on strengthening the leadership and platform of PSA in contributing to the intergovernmental forums, and on strategic planning to build human and fiscal resources.

The U.S. National Committee strongly supported the strategic planning initiative of the PSA. The Strategic Plan, adopted by the PSA Council at its meetings in 1999 at the Sydney Congress, outlines four scientific goals and two organizational goals. The USNC is doing its part to help the Association realize these goals and their related objectives. Members of the USNC organized symposia for the 2003 and 2007 Pacific Science Congresses, in so doing, collaborating with other organizations and introducing new individuals to the PSA.