Awards

EPSP Awards

Congratulations to the 2023 EPSP Award Winners!

Douglas Burbank (University of California Santa Barbara) is the winner of the G.K. Gilbert Award in Surface Processes.

Enrica Viparelli (University of South Carolina) is the winner of the Marguerite T. Williams Award. 

Hongbo Ma (Tsinghua University) is the winner of the Luna B. Leopold Young Scientist Award, and will present the Sharp Lecture at the Fall Meeting.

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About the Awards

G.K. Gilbert Award

The G.K. Gilbert Award in Surface Processes is given annually to one honoree in recognition of sustained and outstanding contributions to earth and planetary surface processes. The evaluation of the nominees will be based on: (1) a single significant advance or sustained significant contributions to the field of earth and planetary surface processes; and (2) if she/he has also promoted an environment of unselfish cooperation in research and the inclusion of young scientists into the field.

This award is named in honor of G.K. Gilbert, who was essentially the founder of modern quantitative geomorphology. The Honors and Recognition Committee approved the award name change, effective in 2014.

Click here for more information on the G.K. Gilbert Award and the nomination process »

Past Recipients


Luna B. Leopold Award

The Luna B. Leopold Award is given annually to one early career scientist (no more than 10 years post-degree) in recognition of a significant and outstanding contribution that advances the field of earth and planetary surface processes. This award is named in honor of Luna B. Leopold, who engaged and nurtured young scientists throughout his distinguished career in hydrology and fluvial geomorphology.

Click here for more information about the Luna B. Leopold Award and the nomination process »

Past Recipients


Marguerite T. Williams Award

The Marguerite T. Williams Award will be presented annually and recognizes significant contributions to research and community-building by a mid-career scientist in the field of earth and planetary surface processes. Dr. Williams was a black woman who, by receiving her PhD in Geology in 1942, pioneered to broaden participation in STEM.  Dr. Williams was already mid-career when she returned to school to earn higher degrees in geology, finishing her PhD in 1942 at the age of 47. Dr. Williams devoted her career to teaching, and she faced and overcame immeasurable barriers in her education and career, underscoring the enormity of her accomplishments.

Contributions in research can be illustrated through at least one contribution that significantly advanced the field of EPSP-related studies and/or collective contributions that have influenced the field, including but not limited to: development of new tools or techniques; discovery of new links between surface processes and their drivers; and application of surface processes research to sustainability. Contributions in community-building can be illustrated through, for example: sustained mentorship of students and/or early career scientists; broad reach in science communication and outreach; evidence of efforts to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion and/or efforts to improve accessibility and community climate; excellence in service roles such as peer review or panel participation, editorships or assistant editorships, or committee and leadership roles.

Click here for more information about the Marguerite T. Williams Award and the nomination process »

Past Recipients

  • 2023 Enrica Viparelli
  • 2022 Martha Cary "Missy" Eppes
  • 2021 Nicole Gasparini
  • 2020 Jane Willenbring

Robert Sharp Lecture

The Robert Sharp Lecture honors the life and work of geologist, Robert P. Sharp. This Earth and Planetary Surface Processes section named lecture is presented annually at the AGU Fall Meeting. During the year of the presentation, the section’s executive committee will invite the recipient of either the Luna B. Leopold Award or G.K. Gilbert Award to deliver the Sharp Lecture. The Sharp Lecture is webcast and made available as an archived presentation on the AGU website.

Click here for more information about the Sharp Lecture »

Past Recipients (click the link to watch past lectures)

  • 2023: Hongbo Ma - Follow the rhythm of a river as it dances: leveraging silt-rich river systems as the fast-play for process-based insights of river-climate-human interactions
  • 2022: Seulgi Moon  - Controls and consequences of bedrock weathering: from topographic stress to hydrology and landslides
  • 2021: Mathieu Lapôtre - The Power of Comparative Planetology to Decipher the Mechanics of Surface Processes and Their Records
  • 2020: Jaap Nienhuis - Testing morphodynamic theories by comparing and contrasting river deltas
  • 2019: Joel Scheingross - Organic carbon transport, autogenic dynamics, and the co-evolution of climate, tectonics, and topography
  • 2018: Jill Marshall - From ice to trees, surprising insights into past and present processes that sculpt our earth
  • 2017: Isaac J. Larsen - From tectonics to tractors: New insight into Earth’s changing surface
  • 2016: Alison Duvall - From mountain belts to mountainsides: New discoveries in tectonic, fluvial, and hillslope geomorphology at three landscape scales
  • 2015: Vamsi Ganti - New insights into mechanics of river avulsions on deltas and their deposits
  • 2014: Giulio Mariotti - Living landscapes: Present and past interactions between coastal sediments and biota
  • 2013: Jeffrey Nittrouer - Sediment transport processes and their resulting stratigraphy: Informing science and society
  • 2012: Michael Lamb - Bedrock Hillslopes to Deltas: New Insights into Landscape Mechanics
  • 2011: J. Taylor Perron - Patterns and Processes in Landscapes: Surprises from Earth and Beyond
  • 2010: Douglas Jerolmack - Noise is the New Signal: Moving Beyond Zeroth-Order Geomorphology

Past Lectures

Missed a lecture from one year? Or want to revisit a lecture?

Use the links on the left to watch recordings of past lectures.