IU professor honored as Sloan Fellow

IU professor and geologist Douglas A. Edmonds was singled out among 126 researches from 61 United States and Canadian universities and awarded the Sloan Research Fellowship.

The Fellowship has been awarded annually since 1955, according to its website, to recognize outstanding scientists and scholars with potential.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation board primarily awards departments in physics, chemistry and math fields.

“It is a really nice honor to be recognized for the research that I am doing, in particular, to be recognized by the Sloan Foundation,” Edmonds said. “What makes it so exciting and humbling is because they are known to seek the next generation of scientific leaders and creative researchers.”

Nominations for each scientist are reviewed yearly, and candidates are chosen by a committee of distinguished scientists.

The committees review more than 700 nominations each year.

Fellowships are selected on the basis of their independent research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become leaders in the scientific community through their contributions to their field.

Edmonds was recognized and supported by a number of recommendation letters from researchers all over the U.S., including professor and chair member of the geological department, Lisa M. Pratt.

“Doug’s research combines intensive field work, interpretation of satellite images and computer modeling of fluid and sediment dynamics,” Pratt said.

Edmonds’ recent research concerns the understanding of deltaic environments and how they respond to environmental stressors and computer simulations of deltaic environments.

“Understanding how deltas will change and their fate is incredibly important,” Edmonds said. “15 percent of the world’s population lives in and around deltaic environments,”
His studies also focused on the value of computer models to gaining insight on system dynamics.

“Models allow researchers to subject deltas to varying rates of sea level rise, and it is there to help build an understanding about how deltas will respond,” Edmonds said. “This, in turn, will help engineers and scientists, like myself, design more effective hazard mitigation strategies.”

Edmonds said he believes these two approaches were what led to his recognition by the Sloan Foundation.

Pratt said Edmonds has proved himself as a professional on the study of deltas.
“Doug has already established an international reputation, and he is sought after as an expert scientist on how deltas respond to changes in relative sea-level and vegetation conditions,” Pratt said.