GEO congratulates 7 outstanding early career geoscientists

The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Geosciences (NSF GEO) congratulates seven geoscientists on their Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

"We are proud of the seven individuals we nominated for PECASE," said James McManus, the acting assistant director for NSF GEO. "The award not only celebrates their outstanding achievements so far, but also recognizes their potential to harness creativity, knowledge and passion in future scientific endeavors."

The White House held a celebration for all 400 PECASE honorees on Jan. 14, 2025. Of those, 111 were nominated by NSF.

Meet the GEO awardees

Naruki Hiranuma is a professor at West Texas A&M University studying atmospheric science, focusing on precipitation, interactions among aerosols, clouds and climate and aerosol impacts to public health.

Amanda Thomas is a professor at the University of Oregon studying seismology, focusing on the physical properties of faults, crustal deformation and earthquake mechanics.

Paul Harnik is a professor at Colgate University in New York studying paleobiology, focusing on how organisms respond to environmental change.

Wen Li is a professor at Boston University studying geospace sciences, focusing on topics like space plasma waves, magnetospheric physics and auroras.

Elizabeth Barnes is a professor at Colorado State University studying climate variability, focusing on topics like Earth system predictability, jet-stream dynamics and Arctic-midlatitude connections.

Diego Riveros-Iregui is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying watershed science, focusing on forest and soil process, ecosystem ecology and interactions among humans, water and the environment.

Sally Pusede is a professor at the University of Virginia studying atmospheric chemistry, focusing on air quality, climate and interactions between the atmosphere and biosphere.