UToledo Researcher Honored for Contributions to Environmental Geophysics

UToledo Researcher Honored for Contributions to Environmental Geophysics

The University of Toledo's Dr. Kennedy Doro is the recipient of the American Geophysical Union's 2024 Near-Surface Geophysics Early Career Achievement Award, recognizing his significant contributions to the field as an early-career researcher.

The Near-Surface Geophysics Early Career Achievement Award is one of a slate of annual awards presented by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), which is the largest Earth and space science association in the world. Its annual honors and recognition program celebrates individuals and teams for their accomplishments in research, education, science communication and outreach.

"Geophysics is a fascinating field with a wide variety of practical applications for imaging and monitoring subsurface processes," said Doro, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences. "At UToledo's Hydro- & Environmental Geophysics Laboratory, we explore what geophysical techniques can tell us about how wetlands and coastal interfaces operate, answering critical questions about the role these environments play in issues related to water quality and climate change.

"It's an honor to have this and the other research I lead recognized by my peers and some of the most respected and seasoned scientists in my discipline," he continued. "This award confirms the value of the research that my undergraduate and graduate students and I do and gives us the motivation to keep pushing the frontiers and empowering our students with the knowledge and skills to address tomorrow's challenges."

Since Doro joined UToledo in 2019, he has lent his expertise in the field to several ongoing environmental research projects including the H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program, the Ohio Department of Higher Education's Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative (HABRI) and Coastal Observations, Mechanisms and Predictions Across Systems and Scales (COMPASS-FME).

The latter is a large-scale collaborative effort to collect coastline data to ultimately improve models predicting the consequences of a changing climate. It's headed by the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, with UToledo leading operations in the western basin of Lake Erie and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center leading operations in the Chesapeake Bay.

Doro also is heavily involved in both sites, with his and his collaborators' early findings published in academic journals including the Journal of Hydrology and SEG Geophysics Journal.

Doro joins a distinguished group of scientists, leaders and communicators recognized by the AGU. This year's honorees will be recognized at AGU24, which will convene more than 25,000 attendees from more than 100 countries online and in Washington, D.C. in December.

Doro was previously recognized as an early-career researcher and educator by the National Science Foundation with a prestigious CAREER Award in March 2024, which provides him with a five-year funding to develop the use of electrical geophysical methods for investigating soil properties and processes across coastal interfaces.