AAAS Pacific Division

What AAAS Pacific Division does

AAAS Pacific Division was a regional scientific society and nonprofit division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), operating for over 100 years from its founding around 1922 until its dissolution in 2024. It served the Pacific region of the United States, organizing annual scientific meetings at host universities (such as the 2024 meeting at the University of San Diego on June 17-20), virtual forums, student research conferences, educator workshops, and interdisciplinary sessions covering topics including crossing disciplines, science and policy, and public engagement with science. Its core programs were event-based rather than technology-based, with student travel grants, research awards, certificates of participation, and mentoring by science experts as primary offerings.

The organization's membership model was entirely free, with the website explicitly stating "Subscribe - It's free!" and operating without paid tiers. Distribution occurred through a basic website (aaaspd.org), social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), email newsletters, and the memberclicks.net membership portal. There were no technology products, APIs, or software platforms — the offering portfolio consisted of in-person conferences, virtual forums, student support initiatives, and informational content. The organization co-organized programming with Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society, notably the Moving Forward from COVID-19 virtual forum in July 2021.

Revenue (where any existed) would have flowed from sponsorships, grants, and event partnerships rather than membership fees, but no revenue figures were disclosed. The parent AAAS dissolved the Pacific Division in 2024, and the website was scheduled to be taken down, marking the end of operations after more than a century of regional scientific society activity.

Name

AAAS Pacific Division

Legal name

American Association for the Advancement of Science Pacific Division

Website

https://aaaspd.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1922

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

AAAS Pacific Division was a nonprofit regional scientific society and division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, serving science students, educators, and the public in the western United States through annual meetings, virtual forums, and student support programs until its dissolution by AAAS in 2024.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scientific Society and Professional Association Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Research & Science Fair Competitions (Science Fairs, Research Symposiums) (EDAMAGAL), Technical Committees, Working Groups & Expert Panels (BPADANAB)

Keywords

• Scientific society
• Regional scientific division
• Science meetings
• Student research programs
• Science education events

Headquarters

HQ city

Ashland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Membership: Free membership subscription. The website states 'Subscribe - It's free!' indicating a free membership model, likely funded through sponsorships, grants, and partnerships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

AAAS Pacific Division was a regional scientific society that organized annual in-person meetings at universities, virtual forums for science students and educators, student research presentation and awards programs, travel grants for students, and public engagement events. It served as a Pacific-region convener for the scientific community under the affiliation of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, with programming spanning interdisciplinary scientific sessions, science-policy discussions, and K-12 educator professional development.

Product overview

AAAS Pacific Division is a regional division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that operates as a scientific society rather than a technology product company. The organization offers a portfolio of event-based programs including annual meetings (such as the 2024 meeting at University of San Diego), virtual forums for students and educators (Moving Forward from COVID-19 Virtual Forum), and student support programs (research awards, travel grants). These programs are organized through thematic tracks including Crossing Disciplines, Science and Policy, and Engaging the Public. The organization collaborated with Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society on joint programming. There is no unified software platform or SaaS product—offerings consist of in-person and virtual events, student support initiatives, and informational web content.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annual Meeting The organization's flagship annual conference bringing together scientists across disciplines. The 2024 meeting was held at University of San Diego on June 17-20, featuring presentations and poster awards.
• Moving Forward from COVID-19 Virtual Forum A two-day virtual forum held July 24-25, 2021, organized jointly with Sigma Xi, focused on science students and educators discussing pandemic impacts and future plans. The student component includes prospective research presentations via 1-3 minute videos, while the educator component features interactive workshops for K-12 science teachers.
• Student Research Conference A forum for students at all levels (high school to post-graduate) to present prospective research plans through video abstracts, with awards and travel grants to future meetings.
• Educator Workshop Virtual interactive workshop for K-12 science teachers and informal educators to discuss and share lessons from hybrid and online learning during the pandemic.
• Student Travel Grants Travel grants awarded to students to attend the organization's annual meetings, with prize awards including travel grants to future Pacific Division meetings.
• Student Research Awards Awards recognizing outstanding student research presentations at annual meetings.
• Student Awards Recognition and certificate programs for student participants in forum and meeting presentations.
• Crossing Disciplines Sessions Interdisciplinary scientific sessions exploring topics that span multiple scientific disciplines, documented for the 2019 meeting.
• Science and Policy Program Public policy-focused sessions examining the intersection of scientific research and governmental policy, including 2019 meeting sessions on public policy.
• Engaging the Public Events Events and programming focused on public engagement with science, including local partner collaborations and public outreach activities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Travel grants awarded to student presenters for attending next year's Pacific Division meeting

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Honor Society)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Sigma Xi co-organized the Moving Forward from COVID-19 virtual forum with the AAAS Pacific Division. This partnership leverages Sigma Xi's position as a scientific research honor society to provide student participants with mentorship, expert connections, and access to research institution representatives. The collaboration combines AAAS Pacific Division's regional science community with Sigma Xi's broader research honor society network.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS): SACNAS runs a national conference plus extensive student research and mentoring programs — directly parallel to AAAS Pacific Division's student research conferences, travel grants, and prospective research presentations, with overlap in mission around inclusive STEM support.
• National Science Teaching Association (NSTA): NSTA is the leading U.S. association for K-12 science educators — the same persona that AAAS Pacific Division targeted through its educator workshops and pandemic-era hybrid learning roundtables. Both operate annual conferences and member-driven programming for science teachers.
• Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society: Sigma Xi is the closest peer: a scientific honor society that co-organized the "Moving Forward from COVID-19" virtual forum with AAAS Pacific Division in July 2021. Both organizations serve science students and researchers, award research grants, and run annual meetings/programs in the research society category.
• Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR): CUR supports undergraduate research across disciplines through awards, conferences, and grants — mirroring the student research awards, travel grants, and student conferences that AAAS Pacific Division organized. Both operate as small professional/scientific associations concentrated on the research development of students.
• American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT): AAPT is a discipline-specific association for physics educators, running summer/winter meetings, grants, and an educator workshop tradition very similar to the Pacific Division's educator workshop offerings for K-12 teachers.

Broad incumbents

• American Physical Society (APS): APS is a large national physics society with annual meetings, divisions, sections, member grants, and educator programming. The disciplinary section/conference approach is structurally similar to AAAS Pacific Division's "Sections and Section Chairs" governance model.
• American Chemical Society (ACS): ACS is a much larger U.S. disciplinary scientific society that runs multiple annual meetings, a member network, awards, and publications. Although discipline-specific (chemistry) rather than multidisciplinary, the operating model (membership, conferences, awards, governance by sections) parallels AAAS Pacific Division's structure.
• American Geophysical Union (AGU): AGU runs large annual scientific meetings, awards programs, member sections, and outreach to educators and the public. It demonstrates the operating scale and sustainability of a section-governed multidisciplinary scientific society compared with the much smaller AAAS Pacific Division.
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): AAAS is the parent organization of AAAS Pacific Division and the preeminent U.S. multidisciplinary scientific society. It runs the annual AAAS Annual Meeting, Science magazine, and Science Advancement programs — directly overlapping with what the Pacific Division did at the regional level, and the entity that ultimately dissolved the Pacific Division in 2024.

Others

• Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP): CSSP is an umbrella forum for leaders of scientific societies; it represents the broader ecosystem of professional conference organizers and scientific societies that AAAS Pacific Division belonged to, providing a network-level reference point for association management practices.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/aaaspacdiv?lang=en
• Facebookfacebook.com/AAASPacDiv
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aaas-pacific-division

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about AAAS Pacific Division