Winners of AGU awards selected

The American Geophysical Union has announced the recipients of two awards and a medal.

Robert H. Eather, owner and president of Keo Consultants in Brookline, Massachusetts, and a consultant, received the Athelstan Spilhaus Award “for developing low-light-level filming technology, carrying out on-site auroral filming, and, from these, producing text and media products on auroras and geospace that have reached, informed, and inspired millions of people worldwide.” The award recognizes AGU members who have worked to express the excitement, significance, and beauty of the Earth and space sciences to the general public.

The Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training won the Excellence in Geophysical Education Award. COMET, established by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and the National Weather Service and operated by UCAR in Boulder, Colorado, received the award “for outstanding efforts to provide and improve access to quality science education materials worldwide.” The award recognizes sustained commitment to excellence in geophysical education by a team, individual, or group. Eather and COMET received the awards in May during AGU’s joint assembly meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.

John A. Knauss will take home the Waldo E. Smith Medal. Dean and professor emeritus at the University of Rhode Island, Knauss is a former administrator of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and cofounder of Sea Grant, a national network of programs that provide support, leadership, and expertise for university-based marine research and education. He is receiving the medal “for five and a half decades of extraordinary contributions to geophysics during which he led academic, research, and federal agency communities in developing innovative research programs, providing advice to state and national policy and decision-makers, creating and leading institutions, fostering the responsibility of scientists to serve the nation, fostering the careers of young scientists, and fostering a climate for open research of the highest scientific merit.”

The medal honors those who have played unique leadership roles and whose accomplishments have greatly strengthened and helped advance the geophysical sciences. Knauss will receive the honor during AGU’s meeting in December.