American Association of Geographers

American professional academic organization

The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D. C. The organization was founded on December 29, 1904, in Philadelphia, as the Association of American Geographers, with the American Society of Professional Geographers later amalgamating into it in December 1948 in Madison, Wisconsin. from nearly 100 countries. AAG members are geographers and related professionals who work in the public, private, and academic sectors. In 2016, AAG president Dr. Sarah Witham Bednarz announced in the AAG Newsletter: "Effective January 1, 2016, the AAG will begin to operate under the name "American Association of Geographers", rather than "Association of American Geographers in an effort to re think our systems of representation to acknowledge our growing internationalism." Spearheaded under the presidency of geography professor Eric Sheppard, the name change reflects the US based organization's diversity and inclusion of non American members and participants.

The Annals of the American Association of Geographers and The Professional Geographer are the association's flagship journals. Additional journals published by the organization include the AAG Review of Books, GeoHumanities, and African Geographical Review. The AAG also publishes a monthly newsletter that contains reflections on programs and issues of concern in society of a geographic nature, a jobs column, and accomplishments and innovations of AAG members. The AAG additionally publishes the Guide to Geography Programs in the Americas, a description of programs in higher education in North and South America that offer a geography degree, a geography certificate program, and/or geography courses. Another publication is Earth Interactions.

The AAG has more than 80 specialty or affinity groups, voluntary associations of AAG members who share interests in regions or topics. Specialty groups have long provided a way for geographers with specific interests to collaborate and communicate, including organizing and sponsoring sessions at the annual meeting as well as granting awards to their members. The AAG also offers Knowledge Communities, a set of online tools for collaboration.

Since its founding in 1904, the AAG has held an annual meeting for the geography community. The annual meeting offers upwards of 4,000 papers and presentations on topics as diverse as soil moisture, climate change, population dynamics, political instability, sustainable agriculture, natural hazards, urban landscapes, geography and militarism, and technologies such as geographic information systems. Hands on workshops on methods and technological tools are an important part of these meetings. The annual meetings also offer an extensive exhibit hall featuring publishers, technology companies, universities, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Field trips are offered in the diverse locations that these conferences are held. The annual meetings are held in February, March, or April each year for four to five days. In 2024, the annual meeting will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii from April 16th 20th, 2024. The most recent meeting was held in Denver (2023). During the COVID 19 pandemic, the meetings were held virtually (2020, 2021, and 2022). Prior to the shift online, the annual meetings were held in person in Washington D. C. (2019), New Orleans (2018), Boston (2017), San Francisco (2016), Chicago (2015), Tampa (2014), and others.

In 2005, Duane Marble established the AAG Marble Fund For Geographic Science with the help of ESRI CEO Jack Dangermond. The fund promotes quantitative geography by rewarding student research that focuses on applying GIScience and computers to spatial problems. These awards include the Marble Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Award, the Marble Fund Award for Innovative Master's Research in Quantitative Geography, and the William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography.

The Marble Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Award is named for the Duane Marble and Geographer A. R. Boyle. Like the undergraduate and masters awards, this award seeks to recognize innovative research in quantitative and computational geography. It also has a series of awards for significant books about geography, the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize, the AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography, and the AAG Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography.