Scripps Scientists Honored

Three scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, have been elected 2010 fellows of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Yehuda Bock, Kimberly A. Prather, and Dean H. Roemmich, were among 58 members elected this year.

The special tribute is bestowed upon scientists “who have made exceptional contributions to Earth and space sciences as valued by their peer groups and vetted by a committee of Fellows.” This honor is given to a small percentage of AGU members each year.

As a research geodesist in the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at Scripps, Bock uses satellite geodetic methods to investigate crustal deformation to better understand earthquakes and other Earth processes. He is director of the Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center and California Spatial Reference Center, both headquartered at Scripps, and manages the California Real-Time Network (CRTN), a prototype early-warning system for earthquakes and other natural hazards.

Roemmich is a professor of oceanography with expertise in the general circulation of the oceans and the role of the ocean in the climate system. He leads the Argo program, a long-term project involving an international team of scientists that recently achieved a milestone of 3,000 free-drifting profiling floats in the world’s oceans.

Prather is a professor and atmospheric chemist studying atmospheric particles to increase the scientific understanding of aerosols in air pollution, climate change, and their effects on human health. She holds appointments at Scripps Institution of Oceanography as well as the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD.

AGU is a worldwide scientific community that advances, through unselfish cooperation in research, the understanding of Earth and space for the benefit of humanity.