UA Associate Professor Jessica Tierney Wins National Science Honor

TUCSON, AZ —University of Arizona Associate Professor of Geosciences Jessica Tierney was one of three scientists who recently received the 2022 National Science Foundation's (NSF) Alan T. Waterman Award, the NSF has announced.

The award is the nation's highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers, and it recognizes outstanding individual achievements in NSF-supported research. Award recipients receive $1 million over five years for research in their chosen field of science.

Tierney, who has been at UA since 2015, is the first climatologist to win the Waterman Award since it was established in 1975, and she is the first from UA to receive the honor.

Tierney specializes in paleoclimatology, which studies ancient climates, and she has been recognized for her advances in the reconstruction of past climate change and furthering the understanding of future climate change.

"It is an absolutely incredible honor to receive the Waterman Award," said Tierney, who works in UA's Department of Geosciences in the College of Science. "I am so humbled to share this recognition with leading researchers across all fields of science. I'm really grateful to NSF for the support, and I hope that my research will help society prepare for, and ultimately mitigate, human-caused climate change."

According to UA, Tierney's research into ancient climate change has focused on quantifying changes in the global temperature, ocean temperature and water cycle. She specializes in generating organic geochemical records of paleoclimate, which are derived from fossil molecules known as biomarkers that are preserved in sediments and rocks.

Using novel modeling techniques and paleoclimate data assimilation, Tierney has generated groundbreaking maps of past climate conditions and the system dynamics that produce those conditions. These have helped to redefine the understanding of global temperature change, the university said.

"Dr. Tierney has quickly made a name for herself in the climate sciences, and we couldn't be more proud that she has won this prestigious award," said UA President Robert Robbins. "Not only is she the first person from this university to receive this honor, but also the first person in the climate sciences. This is a tremendous honor, and we're lucky to have her incredibly valuable expertise at our university."

Tierney said the money that comes with the award will be helpful in her research.

"The funding from this award will provide key support for my students, postdocs and my lab manager, bolstering our ability to explore new research avenues," Tierney said. "In particular, this award will allow us to explore high-risk, high-reward ideas that have the potential to transform our understanding of past and future climate change."

Joining Tierney as recipients of the award this year are Lara Thompson, a biomedical engineer at the University of the District of Columbia, and Daniel Larremore, a computer scientist from the University of Colorado Boulder.

The trio will be presented with the award —a medal —in a May 5 ceremony at the National Science Board meeting in Washington D.C.