|
Ewing Medal Committee
2010–2012 term
Chair
Miriam Kastner, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
Members
Kenneth Macdonald, University of California Santa Barbara, California
Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, NCAR, Boulder, CO
Michael R. Roman, University of Maryland, UMCES, Cambridge, MD
Monika Rhein, Universitat Bremen, Germany
Staff Liaisons
Beth Paredes
Maurice Ewing made significant contributions to deep-sea exploration, and this medal recognizes researchers who do the same. Established in 1974 and jointly sponsored with the United States Navy, the Ewing Medal is presented to geoscientists who make significant original contributions to the understanding of physical, geophysical, and geological processes in the ocean; to those who advance oceanographic engineering, technology, and instrumentation; and to those who perform outstanding service to the marine sciences. Walter H. Munk was the first recipient of this medal, which is given not more often than annually.
Maurice Ewing was singularly responsible for the development of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, serving as its founding director from 1949 to 1972, before leaving to found the Earth and Planetary Sciences Division of the University of Texas Marine Sciences Institute. Ewing and his colleagues wrote over 340 research papers, covering marine geophysics, seismic refraction and reflection, oceanic gravity measurements, sound transmission in seawater, ocean bottom photography, and Pleistocene glacial-interglacial oscillations.
Committee Charge
- Select the recipient of the Ewing Medal; the final decision is subject for approval of the Executive Committee.
- Interpret the scope of the award broadly and to keep in mind that as a Union medal, it should reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the Earth and space sciences.
- Be especially mindful of the diversity of the community of individuals encompassed by AGU.
- Do not depend solely on unsolicited nominations but should be proactive by encouraging nominations through committee member contacts.
- State, as part of the award recommendation to the Executive Committee, the number of candidates considered, how many of these were holdovers and how many were new, and whether the new candidates were nominations from general call or were actively encouraged by the committee.
- Define the process used for reaching the decision.
Work Plan for 2010–2012
In addition to selecting the Ewing Medalists,
- Review data from Ewing Medal's selection processes for the past several years to determine if the program is operating maximally in terms of the relevant goals of the Union's strategic plan.
- Work with Section and Focus Group committees to increase the number of nominations of viable candidates in underrepresented groups so that newly elected medalists reflect the diversity of the Union membership; and
- Work with the Meetings and Honors and Recognition Committees to review formats for the award ceremonies at AGU meetings and to recommend revisions to award ceremony formats as necessary.
–July 2010