Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) News
Printer Friendly VersionWard elected Fellow of American Geophysical Union
San Antonio -- February 10, 2005 -- Dr. William R. Ward, an Institute scientist in the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), has been elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
Ward was recognized by the society for acknowledged eminence in planetary science. The number of Fellows elected each year is limited to no more than 0.1 percent of the total AGU membership.
Ward came to SwRI in 1998 following employment at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A specialist in dynamical astronomy, Ward has contributed fundamental insights to understanding planetesimal formation, the origin and dynamical evolution of the moon, planet migration, planetary obliquity mechanics and planetary formation dynamics.
He is known for discovering numerous aspects of the complex and subtle dynamical interaction between planetary embryos and gaseous and particle disks, for helping to develop the giant impact theory of lunar formation and for discovering the shifts in Mars¹ polar axis that drive strong climate variation over time.
Ward is the 2004 recipient of the Brouwer Award, given by the American Astronomical Society Division on Dynamical Astronomy in recognition of outstanding lifetime achievements in the field of dynamical astronomy. In 1981, he received the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal from NASA for his discovery of Mars' obliquity oscillations.
The author of more than 70 papers, Ward holds bachelor¹s degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and a doctorate in planetary sciences from the California Institute of Technology. Besides AGU, Ward is a member of the American Astronomical Society (Division for Planetary Sciences and Division on Dynamical Astronomy) and the International Astronomical Union. Also, he has been a member of the NASA Geology and Geophysics Review Panel and the NASA Origins of Solar Systems Review Panel, and has been an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado since 1999.
For more information, contact Deborah Deffenbaugh, Communications Department, at (210) 522-2046, Southwest Research Institute, PO Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228-0510.
