The citation that will be included on the certificate signed by the Secretary of the U.S. Navy and the president of The Oceanography Society reads as follows:
Through discrimination between the scattering by zooplankton and physical microstructure using broadband acoustic measurement methods and models, Andone Lavery has quantified important biological and physical parameters leading to new understanding of both ocean physical processes and marine biology.
An excerpt from the nomination letter written by WHOI colleague James Lynch, a scientist emeritus in the AOPE department, states that “Andone’s work has been very much in the spirit of acoustical oceanography and the Walter Munk Award’s stated criteria for acoustics, ocean science, and instrumentation development. Her Artic oil spill work also has a fine scale echo of Walter’s ATOC work, where he was concerned with measuring ocean warming due to anthropogenic activity. Both pieces of research have a deep societal motivation.”
Lavery will receive the Munk Award during the 174th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in New Orleans, Louisiana (December 4 – 8, 2017), and she will also be recognized during the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon (February 11–16, 2018). She will give presentations at both meetings.
About the Award
The Walter Munk Award is granted jointly by The Oceanography Society, the Office of Naval Research and the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy. Recipients are selected based on their:
- Significant original contributions to the understanding of physical ocean processes related to sound in the sea
- Significant original contributions to the application of acoustic methods to that understanding
- Outstanding service that fosters research in ocean science and instrumentation contributing to the above.
The award consists of a medal designed by Judith Munk, a commemorative lapel pin, and a certificate bearing the signatures of the Secretary of the Navy and the President of The Oceanography Society.
Lavery, the first female scientist selected for the honor, joins the list of distinguished prior recipients of the Walter Munk Award:
2015: Carl Wunsch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University
2013: Steven Holbrook, University of Wyoming
2011: William Kuperman, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA
2009: James F. Lynch, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA
2006: Peter F. Worcester, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA
2003: H. Thomas Rossby, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, USA
2001: Robert C. Spindel, Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington, USA
1999: Robert Pinkel, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA
1997: Stephen A. Thorpe, Southampton Oceanography Centre, UK
1996: Leonid M. Brekhovskikh, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia
1994: David M. Farmer, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Canada
1993: Walter Munk, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA