SRNAS Assistant Professor John Bailey has been instrumental in organizing the Geological Society of America  Penrose Conference being held in Mountain View, Calif., this week.

Bailey, a research professor with the Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning, helped plan and coordinate the conference, titled "Google Earth: Visualizing the Possibilities for Geoscience Education and Research," and he is leading several sessions.

The conference, being held Jan. 4-8 at the Google Inc. headquarters, is focused on broader dissemination of Google Earth-based educational materials throughout the geoscience community and on coordinated involvement of Google engineers and the Google Earth education team in the development of Google Earth-based geoscience education and research tools. Wish lists from solid-earth scientists to Google engineers are another factor, along with design of a central website and dedicated server for uploading and downloading Google Earth-based visualizations, educational modules, and user-support materials.

Attendees will visit local geologic sites in the Bay area for hands-on demonstrations of field equipment relevant to Google Earth (GigaPan, LIDAR, etc.).