Announcing three new AGU Honors and Honors Program Innovations

As we enter the new year, I’m excited to share several updates and highlight some new AGU Honors we’ll award this year. First, the 2023 Honors nomination cycle is now open! From now until 12 April, the Earth and space sciences community has the opportunity to nominate individuals, and in some cases teams, for an AGU Honor. We encourage you to recognize colleagues, mentors, postdocs, students and others for their outstanding work. All nominations should reflect the diversity of our community and be inclusive of all individuals regardless of career stage or type of institution. Descriptions and criteria can be viewed at agu.org/honors.

New this year are two honors focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, one on Open Science, and a mid-career award for the Hydrology Section:

• Award for Advancing Inclusive Excellence in STEM
• Lifetime Achievement Award for Diversity and Inclusion
• Open Science Recognition Prize
• Polubarinova-Kochina Hydrologic Sciences Mid-Career Award

In addition, one AGU Honor was recently renamed with an established endowment—the Pavel S. Molchanov Climate Communications Prize.

The AGU Honors Program is embarking on a time of exploration and innovation. Many of you learned during Fall Meeting 2022 in Chicago that the Honors & Recognition Committee spent much of the previous year engaged in the first phase of a program audit, focused on processes and policies related to Section Awards and Union Medals, Awards and Prizes. Working with a consultant and AGU staff, our committee reached out to internal stakeholders and external partners to help focus our work. We listened to feedback from members, who shared that Honors should align with AGU’s values and provide opportunities for engagement and volunteer leadership—from canvassing to selection. More specific findings include simplifying the nominations process and eliminating policy barriers.

We are now in full implementation mode. Over the next several months we will work directly with members to pilot some recommendations, as well as make updates to systems and resources, such as the development of an improved database of Honors recipients.

I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2023. Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions about these new changes and updates to the Honors program.