John Wahr Award

John Wahr Award

Overview

The John Wahr Award is intended to honor young members (40 years of age or younger) of AGU’s Geodesy Section who show the potential to become AGU Fellows in the future, but who are not yet Fellows. The John Wahr Award is given in recognition of major advances in geodesy. These advances can be in geodetic science, technology, applications, observations, or theory.

Selection process

AGU will accept nominations starting in January each year and the Section President will distribute a request for nominations. Nominations should be submitted to AGU through the Section Awards webpage before mid-April each year.

Nominations should follow the guidelines given on the award pages listed below.

The President-Elect will discuss nominations with the John Wahr Early Career Award committee, and the President-Elect and Committee will vote to select one candidate to receive the award. The result of the election must then be approved by the President of the Geodesy section. The awardee will be notified by the President three months prior to the Fall AGU meeting. The Geodesy Section members will be notified by email before the AGU meeting and invited to attend a brief ceremony at the reception-business meeting. The awardee will be honored and a certificate and memento will be presented at the reception-business meeting of the Section.

Type of award

The award will consist of an appropriate memento with a modest price which will be given to the awardee. The cost will be covered by the Geodesy Section funds.

Past Awardees

2022

Susanna Ebmeier, University of Leeds and 
Diego Melgar, University of Oregon.

2021

Lin Liu, Chinese University of Hong Kong and 
Surendra Adhikari, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

2020

John Elliott, University of Leeds, Leeds, U.K, for significant advances in geodetic science, technology, applications, observations, and theory.  See the detailed citation for the full description of his award.

2019

Raphaël Grandin, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université de Paris, Paris, France, for innovative advances in the methods and applications of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to study a variety of geophysical problems related to seismology, rifting and magmatic processes, and earthquake source models.

2018

Thomas Hobiger, University of Stuttgart, for broad studies in very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), satellite laser ranging (SLR), and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR).

2017

Juliet Biggs, University of Bristol, for studies in deformation analysis with InSAR, rapid topographic changes at active volcanoes with radar, and methods to integrate a wide variety of other geodetic observations

2016

Emma M. Hill, Earth Observatory of Singapore and Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, for addressing multidisciplinary problems in sea level, glacial isostatic adjustment, atmospheric turbulence, hydrology, GNSS accuracy, and tectonics.

2015

Matt Pritchard, Cornell University, for transcendent work in volcano and earthquake science and selfless support of the community.

2014

Tim Wright, University of Leeds, UK, for developing the use of satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) for measuring tectonic and volcanic deformation.

2013

Rowena B. Lohman, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, for breaking new ground in the exploration of the boundary between geodesy and seismology

2012

Matt A. King, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, for pioneering work in using GNSS systems for solid Earth and cryospheric studies.

2011

Sean Swenson, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, for fundamental advances in interpreting satellite gravity data from GRACE.

2010

Corné Kreemer, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, and Seismological Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno. Recognizing of his major innovations, discoveries, and scientific contributions in geodesy and its application to tectonophysics.

2009

Shin-Chan Han, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, for his innovative studies of satellite gravity measurements with wide-ranging applications to hydrology, seismology, and oceanography.

2008

Don Chambers, University of Texas at Austin, for his pioneering satellite geodetic investigations of global ocean circulation and sea level change.

2007

Mark Tamisiea, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, for his work bridging the solid Earth, geodesy, and sea level communities.

2006

R. Steven Nerem, University of Colorado, for his broad and significant contributions to satellite geodesy and its applications to planetary gravity studies, solid Earth physics, ocean dynamics, and related climate sciences.

2005

Kristine Larson, University of Colorado, in recognition of her innovative research into Global Positioning System techniques and their applications to a wide range of geophysical problems.