a head shot of Joel Thornton
Joel Thornton, professor of atmospheric sciences and recipient of the AGU’s 2018 Ascent Award

Congratulations to Joel Thornton and Allan Devol for receiving 2018 awards from the American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest earth and space society. This year, AGU recognized 75 scientists for their sustained and unique contributions to increasing understanding of Earth and its atmosphere and oceans, and of the solar system and exoplanets.

Thorton, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, received the Ascent Award from the AGU’s Atmospheric Sciences Section. The Ascent Award is given to exceptional mid-career scientists who have demonstrated excellence in research and leadership. Thornton and his lab group use a combination of lab experiments, field measurements and computational studies to help develop a detailed understanding of the chemical and physical processes occurring in the atmosphere. This information can help assess the potential for current and future human activities to cause global atmospheric change.

a head shot of Allan Devol
Allan Devol, oceanography professor emeritus and named lecturer for the 2018 William S. and Carolyn Y. Reeburgh Lecture

Devol, a professor emeritus in the School of Oceanography, was named lecturer for the William S. and Carelyn Y. Reeburgh Lecture, which is given each year at AGU’s annual meeting. Devol studies the chemistry of low oxygen and anoxic marine environments. His fieldwork has taken him on approximately 50 expeditions, from the Arctic to the eastern tropical Pacific and the Arabian Sea. As part of his work on hypoxia in Hood Canal, Devol developed the Oceanic Remote Chemical Analyzer autonomous buoys that, since deployment a decade ago, have provided a near-constant stream of water quality data used by scientists at and beyond the UW.