Professor M. Gordon Wolman
Johns Hopkins University Professor M. Gordon Wolman to receive DRI's 2002 Nevada Medal
Professor M. Gordon Wolman
|
|
|
|
Johns Hopkins University Professor M. Gordon “Reds” Wolman, a pioneer in studying water quality issues and how surface waters influence the shape of the Earth’s landforms—hydrology and geomorphology—will receive the Desert Research Institute’s 2002 Nevada Medal.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Wolman will formally accept the award at ceremonies in Las Vegas, on March 18, and in Reno, on March 20. The eight-ounce, pure silver, minted medallion and $10,000 prize are provided by SBC Nevada Bell.
Wolman will also present the 2002 Nevada Medal Lectures at DRI’s Las Vegas campus on March 18, and then at DRI’s Reno campus on Tuesday, March 19. The lecture’s topic, “An Easterner’s View of a Westerner’s View of Land and Water,” will examine the two regions’ differences in objectives and perspectives on land use planning and water resource management.
Wolman is internationally known for his research on how rivers and other surface water systems evolve and how they modify the landscape. DRI President Stephen G. Wells, himself a geomorphologist, says no other individual has influenced the field of geomorphology more than Wolman.
“Reds’ early work on watershed processes in the 1950s is still a standard by which present research is measured,” Wells said. “More than 40 years ago, well before scientists began to focus on the interaction of humans with their environment, Wolman was describing the fundamental hydrologic concepts that are still guiding our considerations of water quality management and public policy. Much of his work has provided the basis for current national science policy.”
A central theme of Wolman's research has been the relative roles of human and natural forces in shaping the land and waters of the earth. Many of his professional and policy interests have been fostered by field work and exposure to resource issues in the West.
Wolman received the American Geological Institute’s most prestigious award, the Ian Campbell Medal, in 1997, and the Geological Society of America’s highest award, the Penrose Medal, in 1992. He served as president of the society in 1984, and of the American Geophysical Union’s Hydrology Section from 1970 to 1972. He won the American Geophysical Union’s Robert Horton Award in 2000. The award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the geophysical aspects of hydrology, was also awarded to his father, Abel Wolman, in 1986.
Wolman has been a member of the Johns Hopkins University faculty for 44 years, and chairman of the school’s Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering for several decades. He has served on numerous national, international, and regional committees and panels concerning water policy, water quality, and the management of surface water processes.
The Baltimore, Maryland, native earned a bachelor of arts degree from Johns Hopkins in 1949, and master's and doctoral degrees in geology from Harvard University in 1951 and 1953. After graduate study, he joined the U.S. Geological Survey, beginning his extensive research on the workings of rivers, focusing first on Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania. His classic analysis of the project resulted in this small watershed becoming known among hydrologists worldwide.
Wolman joined two other prominent scientists, Luna Leopold and John P. Miller in authoring the classic hydrology textbook, Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology, in 1965. Republished in 1995, it is required reading for a new generation of aspiring fluvial geomorphologists, and is still considered a current scientific reference.
A nonprofit, statewide division of the University and Community College System of Nevada, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale. Nearly 400 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct some 150 research projects at DRI annually. More than 80 percent of DRI's annual $33 million operating budget consists of research grants and contracts obtained by its scientists. The balance is received from the state of Nevada for administrative costs.