Dr Andrew Gunn wins internationally prestigious Luna B. Leopold Early Career Award
Dr Andrew Gunn has been named the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU’s) 2024 Earth and Planetary Surface Processes Luna B. Leopold Early Career Award and Robert Sharp Lecture recipient.
The Luna B. Leopold Award recognises an outstanding contribution that advances the field of Earth and planetary surface processes from an honouree within 10 years of receiving their PhD. The AGU is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in the Earth and space sciences.
AGU, the world's largest Earth and space science association, celebrates individuals and teams through its annual Honours and Recognition program for their accomplishments in research, education, science communication, and outreach. These honourees have transformed our understanding of the world, impacted our everyday lives, improved our communities and contributed to solutions for a sustainable future.
Dr Gunn is a geomorphologist at the Monash University School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment. His expertise is in aeolian, planetary, and arid landscapes. He was appointed as a lecturer at Monash University in 2022 after training at the University of Pennsylvania (PhD, 2021) and Stanford University (postdoc). His group studies how patterns in landscapes express climate and geology.
“I am very humbled to receive the Luna B. Leopold Award – it is an honour for my collaborators, mentors and I to have our work on wind-blown landscapes recognised by our peers in this way,” Dr Gunn said.
“The Earth and Planetary Surfaces section of the AGU is a supportive community which actively encourages Early Career Researchers like myself to push our science forward in new ways.”
Dr Gunn’s research focus is in patterns that emerge from geophysical fluids. His main area of interest is typically called ‘Physical Geography’ or ‘Process Geomorphology’. Dr Gunn studies how planetary surfaces, particularly those made of sediment, coevolve with the flow of the atmosphere or liquids (oceans, lakes, rivers), and how external perturbations (e.g. climate change) may influence that coevolution. He uses a blend of research methods to answer these questions: field work, remote sensing, experiments, simulations and theory.
Last year he was awarded $414,000 from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) for the project 'Landscape-climate disequilibrium in dune fields'. This project aims to predict how wind-blown landscapes respond to changes in climate - dune fields cover a third of Australia’s surface.
Dr Gunn joins a distinguished group of scientists, leaders and communicators recognised by AGU for advancing science. Each honouree reflects AGU’s vision for a thriving, sustainable and equitable future supported by scientific discovery, innovation and action.
Honourees will be recognised at AGU24, which will convene more than 25,000 attendees from over 100 countries in Washington, D.C. and online everywhere on 9-13 December 2024. Reflecting the theme 'What's Next for Science' at AGU24, the Honours Reception will recognise ground-breaking achievements that illustrate science's continual advancement, inspiring the AGU community with their stories and successes.
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