USGS Scientist Jeff Williams Receives 2009 Coastal Zone Foundation Career Award


		Search all stories:

	Home \|\| Sections: Fieldwork \| Research \| Outreach \| Meetings \| Awards \| Staff & Center News \| Publications \|\| Archives

USGS Scientist Jeff Williams Receives 2009 Coastal Zone Foundation Career Award

August 2009

in this issue:
previous story \| next story

Above: The morning after a big storm in April 2007, Jeff Williams was at the shore to observe its effects. The storm deposited gravel on this bike path in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and caused considerable erosion in other areas. View southward, toward Nobska Point. Photograph by Chris Polloni, USGS. [larger version]

At an award ceremony on June 2, 2009, S. Jeffress Williams of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Woods Hole Science Center was given the 2009 Coastal Zone Foundation Award for career achievement. The award was presented by Foundation President Orville T. Magoon at the triennial American Society of Civil Engineers/Canadian Society of Civil Engineers/Institution of Civil Engineers (ASCE-CSCE-ICE) conference on climate change and its effects on coasts worldwide. The conference, titled "Coastal Engineering: Future Challenges and Risks," was held in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, where Williams gave an invited lecture on "Sea-Level Rise and Storm Effects on Coasts under Changing Global Climate."

A booklet handed out at the award ceremony describes Williams' career:

"S. Jeffress Williams, a senior research coastal marine geologist with the USGS Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, MA, has focused his research career on the geologic history and processes of coastal, estuarine, wetland, and inner continental shelf regions. He has over 35 years' research experience investigating topics such as the geologic origins and development of marine coastal and estuarine as well as Great Lakes coastal systems, Holocene sea-level history, climate change effects on coasts, and the geologic origins and character of marine sand bodies and their importance to coastal sediment budgets. Williams has led or participated in more than 80 field studies on shorelines around the world in complex field projects.

"He has authored over 300 research papers and has participated on committees of the National Academy of Sciences, National Ocean Partnership Program, 1998 National Oceans Conference, Coral Reef Task Force, Louisiana Wetlands Restoration Task Force, and the Louisiana Sand Task Force. Most recently he was a lead author for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program on an assessment of sea-level rise effects on coasts. He is a recognized expert on coastal-hazard and sea-level rise topics.

"Prior to taking his current research position, Williams directed the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program from 1996 to 2000 in Reston, VA. This involved managing and directing 250 staff carrying out more than 100 research projects at USGS research centers in Woods Hole, MA; St. Petersburg, FL, and Menlo Park/Santa Cruz, CA. Prior to joining the USGS in 1983, Williams was a research marine geologist with the US Army Corps of Engineers. He earned degrees in geology and oceanography from Allegheny College and Lehigh University."

Congratulations, Jeff!

USGS Scientists Are Major Contributors to New Report on Sea-Level Rise
March 2009

Expert Panel Discusses Potential Impacts of Future Sea-Level Rise on U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coast
July 2007