James H. Swift received the 2011 Ocean Sciences Section Award at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting, held 5–9 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award is given in recognition of outstanding and long-standing service to the ocean sciences.

Citation

James H. Swift has served the oceanographic community widely and extraordinarily well for 3 decades, full of enthusiasm for exciting ideas and careful measurements, invariably self-effacing, but without ever compromising his high standards. His deeply thoughtful and eminently practical service almost always occurs in a research setting, often where he himself is actually engaged so that science and service are closely and comfortably joined, much to the benefit of his colleagues in many lands. A particular expression of this happy marriage is the generosity with which he shares the beautiful data sets that he has collected or synthesized.

His contributions span the world ocean. The support of planning is meticulous. The service measurements are of standard setting quality. Extremely large data sets are assembled, checked, and distributed with great speed and user friendliness. Excellent analytical tools are developed and supported for community use. A vast experience is shared liberally and cheerfully. Ideas, suggestions, and data are offered without reserve.

Swift’s selfless service to the ocean sciences community around the world is remarkable for its quality, breadth, duration, and influence. His colleagues are fortunate to be the beneficiaries.

Response

Thank you very much, and my most sincere thanks to AGU and the Ocean Sciences Section for this award. I am deeply honored to be named in the company of those who have previously received this award, many of whom are friends and respected mentors. I note especially Curt Collins and Dick Lambert, who epitomized solid program management and respect for the people doing science, and my former graduate school office mate Tom Kinder, who used to joke to me as I toiled away on data that someday I would be “Chief Hydrographer of the Western World.”

Knut Aagaard, my dear friend and former graduate advisor, not only has the most amazing knowledge and understanding of the oceans but is also a patient man, allowing me, during my student days, to find my way within my mixed bag of interests, stumbling into the ocean data world as I tried to better understand the Nordic Seas. As I completed my dissertation a phone call from Joe Reid set the course for a stimulating and productive postdoc with him at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), where I rubbed shoulders with Bob Williams and the rest of the former Geochemical Ocean Sections Study Operations Group (now the Oceanographic Data Facility). What wonderful people I have worked with!

I am forever grateful for the support of my family and for the interest and support of SIO, an institution whose enlightened leadership values the many means—some nontraditional—by which ocean science can be advanced. The fact that my community values this as well—as expressed by this award—is an amazing honor. It is wonderful to be able to do daily what one loves and to be smiling on the way to work. Thank you.

Irina Rypina has been awarded the Donald L. Turcotte Award, given annually to recent Ph.D. recipients for outstanding dissertation research that contributes directly to the field of nonlinear geophysics. Rypina’s thesis is entitled “Lagrangian coherent structures and transport in two-dimensional incompressible flows with oceanographic and atmospheric applications.” She will be formally presented with the award at the Nonlinear Geophysics Focus Group Reception during the 2008 AGU Fall Meeting, which will be held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif.

Citation

Irina received her B.S. in plasma physics from Nizhny Novgorod State University, in Russia, in 2002, an M.S. in physics from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2003, and a Ph.D. in applied marine physics from the University of Miami in 2007. She is currently working as a postdoctoral investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Her research interests include dynamical systems theory, transport and mixing processes in oceanic and atmospheric flows, Hamiltonian dynamics, underwater acoustics, and magnetic confinement of plasmas.

Jerome Neufeld has been awarded the Donald L. Turcotte Award, given annually to recent Ph.D. recipients for outstanding dissertation research that contributes directly to the field of nonlinear geophysics. Neufeld’s thesis is entitled “Solidification in the fast lane: Flow-induced morphological instability in geological systems.” He was formally presented with the award at the Nonlinear Geophysics Focus Group reception during the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif.

Jerome received his B.A.S. in engineering science from the University of Toronto in 2001, and a Ph.D. in geophysics from Yale University in 2008, under the supervision of J. S. Wettlaufer, on the impact of oceanic currents on the formation of sea ice. He is currently a fellow at the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, University of Cambridge, working on the fluid dynamics of geophysical systems including carbon dioxide sequestration, the influence of flow on the crystal structure of mushy layers, and the evolution of icicles.

Sabine Lennartz has been awarded the Donald L. Turcotte Award, given annually to a recent Ph.D. recipient for outstanding dissertation research that contributes directly to the field of nonlinear geophysics. Lennartz’s thesis is entitled “Correlation and trend analysis in short records: Applications in climatology and seismology.” She is scheduled to present an invited talk in the Nonlinear Geophysics General Contributions session (NG01) during the 2010 AGU Fall Meeting, 13–17 December in San Francisco, Calif. Lennartz will be formally presented with the award at the Nonlinear Geophysics focus group reception on 14 December 2010.

Lennartz received her M.S. in theoretical physics from the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, in 2005. In 2009 she received a Ph.D. in theoretical physics under the supervision of Armin Bunde at the Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany. Her research interests include seismology and climatology, in particular, the effect of long-term memory on extreme events and the detection of unnatural (anthropogenic) trends.

Ian Grooms has been awarded the AGU Donald L. Turcotte Award, given annually to recent Ph.D. recipients for outstanding dissertation research that contributes directly to the field of nonlinear geophysics. Grooms’s thesis is entitled “Asymptotic and numerical methods for rapidly rotating buoyant flow.” He presented an invited talk and was formally presented with the award at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting, held 5–9 December in San Francisco, Calif.

Grooms received his B.S. in mathematics from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., in 2005. He received a Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 2011 under the supervision of Keith Julien at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His research interests include asymptotic and numerical methods for multiscale problems in geophysical fluid dynamics.

Asim Biswas has been awarded the Donald L. Turcotte Award, given annually to recent Ph.D. recipients for outstanding dissertation research that contributes directly to the field of nonlinear geophysics. Asim’s Ph.D. thesis is entitled “Multi-scale controls on spatial patterns of soil water storage in the hummocky regions of North America.” He gave an invited talk and was formally presented with the award at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, held 3–7 December in San Francisco, Calif.

Asim received his B.Sc. in agriculture from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, India, in 2004 and a M.Sc. in soil science from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India, in 2006. He received his Ph.D. in soil physics under the supervision of Bing Si from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, in 2011. He is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Canberra, Australia. His research interests include soil physics, spatial variability, soil hydrology, and quantitative nonlinear geophysics.

Meththika Vithanage has been awarded the Natural Hazards Focus Group Award for Graduate Research, given annually to recent Ph.D. recipients for outstanding contributions to natural hazards research. Vithanage’s thesis is entitled “Effect of tsunami on coastal aquifers: Field studies and tank experiments.” She was formally presented with the award at the Natural Hazards Focus Group reception during the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif.

Vithanage received her B.S. in natural resources from Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka in 2002 and an M.S. in environmental science from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2005. In 2009, she attained a Ph.D. in hydrogeology under the supervision of Karsten Jensen and Peter Engesgaard in the Department of Geology and Geography at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Her research interests include groundwater flow modeling, density-dependent flow and solute transport modeling, and water quality analysis.

Ning Lin has been awarded the Natural Hazards Focus Group Award for Graduate Research, given annually to a recent Ph.D. recipient for outstanding contributions to natural hazards research. Lin’s thesis is entitled “Multi-hazard risk analysis related to hurricanes.” She is scheduled to present an invited talk in the Extreme Natural Events: Modeling, Prediction, and Mitigation session (NH20) during the 2010 AGU Fall Meeting, held 13–17 December in San Francisco, Calif. Lin will be formally presented with the award at the Natural Hazards focus group reception on 14 December 2010.

Lin received her B.S. from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, in 2002, an M.S. from Texas Tech University, Lubbock, in 2005, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University, Princeton, N. J., in June 2010, all in civil engineering. She is currently a NOAA Climate and Global Change postdoctoral fellow, working with Kerry Emanuel at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Her research interests include extreme winds, rainfall, and surge.

Valentin Gischig has been awarded the AGU Natural Hazards Focus Group Award for Graduate Research, given annually to a recent Ph.D. recipient for outstanding contributions to natural hazards research. Gischig’s thesis is entitled “Kinematics and failure mechanisms of the Randa rock slope instability (Switzerland).” He presented an invited talk and was formally presented with the award at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting, held 5–9 December in San Francisco, Calif.

Gischig received his M.Sc. in geophysics and glaciology at Eidgenössiche Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, in Switzerland, in 2007. In 2011 he attained a Ph.D. in engineering geology/rock mechanics/landslide analysis under the supervision of Simon Loew, Jeffrey R. Moore, Florian Amann, and Keith F. Evans at ETH Zürich. Gischig is currently conducting postdoctoral research at ETH Zürich. His research interests include landslides, induced seismicity in enhanced geothermal systems, and coupled processes in rock mechanics.

Yonggang Yu and Nicholas J. Austin have been awarded the Mineral and Rock Physics Graduate Research Award, given annually to one or more promising young scientists for outstanding contributions achieved during their Ph.D. research. Recipients of this award are engaged in experimental and/or theoretical studies of Earth and planetary materials with the purpose of unraveling the physics and chemistry that govern their origin and physical properties. Yu’s thesis is entitled “Structure properties and phase transitions in earth minerals: A first principles study.” Austin’s thesis is entitled “Grain size evolution and strain localization in deformed marbles.” They were both formally presented with the award at the Mineral and Rock Physics focus group reception during the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif.

Yu received his B.S. in physics from Tsinghua University in 2002, an M.S. in physics from University of Florida in 2004, and a Ph.D in high-pressure mineral physics under the supervision of Renata Wentzcovitch at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. His research interests include phase transitions in minerals.

Austin received a B.S. in geology from University of British Columbia in 2001 and an M.S. in rock mechanics/structural geology from University of British Columbia in 2003. He completed a Ph.D. in rock mechanics/structural geology under the supervision of Brian Evans at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Mass., in 2008 and is currently working on shale gas at Imperial Oil in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His research focuses on understanding the mechanical behavior of the crust and mantle, based on both laboratory and field observations.