Presented at The Water’s Edge gala each year since 2011, the Stroud Award for Freshwater Excellence is a prestigious award for outstanding achievement in freshwater-related activities. Honorees represent regions and watersheds from around the world and a broad range of activities, professions, and scientific disciplines.
Stroud Water Research Center presented the Stroud Award for Freshwater Excellence to Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D, former Under Secretary of Commerce for the National Oceans and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), and Kathryn Sullivan, Ph.D., Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator on Oct. 15, 2013.
Dr. Sullivan was one of the first six women selected to join the NASA astronaut corps in 1978 and holds the distinction of being the first American woman to walk in space. She flew on three shuttle missions during her 15-year tenure, including the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. Dr. Sullivan has also served on the National Science Board (2004-2010) and as an oceanographer in the U.S. Navy Reserve (1988-2006).
Dr. Sullivan’s impressive expertise spans the frontiers of space and sea. An accomplished oceanographer, she was appointed NOAA’s chief scientist in 1993, where she oversaw a research and technology portfolio that included fisheries biology, climate change, satellite instrumentation and marine biodiversity.
