Gilbert F. White, distinguished professor emeritus of geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has won 2002 Lifetime Achievement Honors from the Association of American Geographers.
The association's highest award was presented at the annual AAG meeting in Los Angeles last month for White's "half-century plus of pioneering research on human-environmental resource issues and his commitment to improving our understanding of the earth and all life."
White is CU-Boulder's Gustavson distinguished professor emeritus of geography, founder of CU's Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center and former director of CU's Institute of Behavioral Science. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
White is the recipient of numerous other awards, including the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor, and the National Academy of Sciences' Public Welfare Medal, both in 2000.
Besides being known as the "father of flood-plain management," White has made major contributions to the study of water systems in developing countries, global environmental change, international cooperation, nuclear winter, geography education and the mitigation of natural hazards including earthquakes, hurricanes and drought.
The AAG, a scientific and educational society, was founded in 1904 and has 6,500 members.