Twelve NIGPAS delegates led by Deputy Director Prof. WANG Xiangdong participated in the GSA 129^th Annual Meeting in Seattle, USA from October 20^th to 25^th, 2017. The delegates gave oral or poster presentations, and took part in the workshops on foraminifers and IGCP653 during the meeting. Accompanied by Dr. Paul Brenckle, the world-known experts on the Carboniferous foraminifers, some of the delegates attended a post-conference field excursion in Mississipi Valley. Having a better understanding of the classical Mississipian strata in North America, the NIGPAS scientists checked more possibilities in the global stratigraphic correlation and the GSSP studies.