PNNL

Frederick Day-Lewis, Earth scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), has been honored with the 2023 Harold Mooney Award by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists’ Near-Surface Geophysics Technical Section.

The award is given to an individual in recognition of long-term tireless and enthusiastic support of the near-surface geophysics community through education, outreach efforts, professional service, or development of opportunities with other professional disciplines that employ geophysics.

He will receive the award at the Society of Exploration Geophysicist annual meeting in Houston, Texas, in late August.

Day-Lewis joined PNNL in 2021 as a Chief Geophysicist. Prior to joining PNNL, he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrogeophysics Branch since 2003. Day-Lewis has dedicated more than 20 years of his career to advancing geophysics in water resources and environmental investigations nationally and internationally.

He also focused on providing geophysics training for USGS and other agencies, as well as mentoring and advising students. He has served as associate editor on several water-related journals, such as Water Resources Research and Groundwater. At USGS, he led software development and technology transfer efforts with a focus on making geophysics more accessible to hydrologists and engineers.

“Fred’s remarkable contributions cover every aspect of the Mooney award criteria in a way that no other member of the near-surface geophysical community can match,” said nominator Lee Slater, a Rutgers University distinguished professor who holds a joint appointment with PNNL. “His efforts in this realm have positively impacted a remarkable number of researchers, environmental professionals, regulators, and students.”

At PNNL, Day-Lewis works on a variety of projects related to subsurface characterization and monitoring, groundwater remediation, groundwater/surface-water exchange, geophysical inverse problems, thermal methods, hydrologic parameter estimation, and petrophysics.

Day-Lewis has served in a number of leadership roles within the geophysical community. He is a past president of the American Geophysical Union Near-Surface Geophysics Section, and past Vice President (Committees) of the Environmental and Engineering Geophysics Society. He was elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2015 for seminal contributions to hydrogeophysics.