About the J. Hoover Mackin Award
The J. Hoover Mackin Research Award was established by the Division in 1974 to support graduate research on Quaternary geology or geomorphology. The award is given annually to an outstanding Ph.D. student, on the basis of a research proposal submitted to the GSA student research grant program. Prior to the establishment of the Arthur Howard Award, the Mackin Award was given to an outstanding graduate student regardless of whether he or she was or Ph.D. student. Evaluation of the proposals is done by the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology management board and an ad-hoc review committee of Division members. These merit-based division awards are entirely separate from grants from the GSA Committee on Research Grants to support student research.
How to apply for the Mackin Award
Applications are done via the student research grant program run by GSA. Any research grant application that has “Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology” selected as the General Field of Research Project will be automatically eligible for consideration for our awards. PLEASE NOTE that a single application can be simultaneously considered for multiple awards.
THE APPLICATION PROCEDURES ARE http://www.geosociety.org/gradgrants
Applications are due February 1 of each year.
J. Hoover Mackin Award Winners
2020s
2023 Raja Das, North Carolina State University. Developing an empirical relationship between the deep-seated landslide surface roughness, age, and velocity within the Rio Grande Canyon between Espanola and Pilar, New Mexico.
2022 Jeremy Brooks, University of Wisconsin Madison. Investigating Holocene rates and spatial patterns of subglacial erosion using the in situ cosmogenic nuclide Be-10 at Juneau Icefield.
2021 Monica Rasmussen, University of North Carolina, Charlotte. A Chronosequence of Mechanical Weathering.
2020 Celeste Wieting, Colorado State University. Channel Morphologic Changes Associated with Invasive Vegetation Removal
2010s
2019 Joel Gombiner, University of Washington, Tephrochronology of enigmatic Moses Coulee megafloods
2018 Ian Reeves, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Aggregate Impacts of Shrubs on Barrier Island Overwash Deposition.
2017 Sarah Crump, University of Colorado, Boulder, Arctic ecosystems in a warmer world: Reconstructing past vegetation and climate using ancient DNA and paleothermometry on Baffin Island, Arctic Canada.
2016 Helen Beeson, of Nevada at Reno, Persistent River-Basin Disequilibrium in a Cratonic Setting.
2015 Marina Foster, Arizona State University, Role of Climate and Tectonics in Colluvial Soil Production: Testing the soil production paradigm using observations in uplifted landscapes California and southeastern Arizona
2014 Ashley (Lee) Corbett, University of Vermont, A Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene Glacial Re-Advance in Northwest Greenland?
2013 Rachael Valletta, University of Pennsylvania, When were the hills alive? Constraining upper and lower ages estimates in the Friis Hills, Dry Valleys, Antarctica
2012 Sharon -Reyes, University of Montana, Ecogeomorphic feedbacks within a riparian ecosystem - insights for of SW ecosystems.
2011 Philip Prince, Virginia Tech, The Role of stream capture in driving transient landscape evolution in tectonically quiescent settings
2010 Juan Luis Garcia, University of Maine, Holocene History of the southeastern outlet glaciers, Hielo Patagonico Sur, in Torres del Paine National Park, southern Patagonia, Chile
2000s
2009 Isaac Larsen, University of Washington, Quantifying spatial patterns in landslide frequency to assess coupling among erosion, tectonics, and climate
2008 Rebecca Franklin, University of Arizona, Herbology of the alpine eastern Sierra Nevada
2007 (two )
Nicholas Balascio, University of Massachusetts, Holocene tsunami deposits in coastal lakes of the Lofoten Islands, Norway
Eli Lazarus, Duke University, A possible explanation for the locations and behavior of erosional hotspots on the northern Outer Banks, North Carolina
2006 Amanda Henck, University of Washington, Is the Three Rivers Region in Steady State?
2005 Patrick Belmont, Lehigh University, Calibrating model for estimating basin-wide erosion rates from in situ cosmogenic nuclides
2004 Anders Carlson, Oregon State University, A Holocene Chronology of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, North America
2003 Yarrow Axford, University of Colorado, Toward Understanding Arctic climate change: Investigating a new isotopic method for reconstructing past temperatures
2002 Greg Balco, University of Washington, Erosion beneath the Laurentide ice sheet and its role in Pleistocene ice age dynamics
2001 Kyle Nichols, University of Vermont, Quantifying desert piedmont process rates using in situ-produced cosmogenic 10-Be and 26-Al
2000 (two )
Martha Cary Eppes, University of New Mexico, Soil Development control on geomorphic processes and long-term landscape evolution: A case study along the north flank of the San Bernardino Mountains, Transverse Range, California
Tammy M. Rittenour, University of Nebraska, Late-Pleistocene-to-Early Holocene evolution of the Lower Mississippi River Valley: Fluvial Response to external forcing
1990s
1999 Sarah Konrad, Univ. of Wyoming, Flow dynamics of Galena Creek Rock Glacier, Absaroka Mountains
1998 Noah Snyder, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Channel response to varying , King Range, northern California
1997 Joel Lawrence Pederson, University of New Mexico, Variable hillslope processes and sediment delivery to tectonically quiescent basins: a Late Miocene to Quaternary record of buried, relict and modern hillslopes and their deposits
1996 Brenda L. Hall, University of Maine, Geological assessment of abrupt climate change and ice-sheet stability hypothesized from an Antarctic perspective
1995 (two )
Michael Kaplan, University of Colorado, Late Quaternary ice-sheet dynamics, southeast Baffin Island
Joseph M. Licciardi, Oregon State University, Chronology of high-frequency Late-Pleistocene climate change, western North America
*Note: In 1993 and 1994, the Mackin and Howard Awards were presented jointly to two winners.
1994
Amy B. Church, University of Vermont, Geomorphic response to Colonial land-use changes in Vermont
Robert J. Viens, University of Washington, The dynamic response tidewater and freshwater calving glaciers to -scale climatic change.
1993
Joseph M. Licciardi, Oregon State University, Quaternary aminostratigraphy of the Palouse Loess of eastern Washington and Idaho
Joseph A Mason, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Effects of glacial-interglacial climate change on the accumulation and long-term storage of sediment in the Root River , southeastern Minnesota.
*Note: In 1992 and prior years, there was only one named student award, for which both Ph.D. and M.S. students were eligible. Multiple awards were given in throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
1992 (two )
Matthew C. Goss, Rutgers University, and ice-marginal sedimentation in Block Island Sound and adjacent Rhode Island
Judith Kay Haschenburger, University of British Columbia, Scour and fill in rivers
1991 (two )
Eric Von McDonald, University of New Mexico, The influence of climate change and dust flux on soils developed on Quaternary deposits in arid and semi-arid environments
Robert S. Young, Duke University, The impact of sea-level rise on the coastal wetlands of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, North Carolina: A study of wetland dynamics
1990 (four )
Grant A. Meyer, University of New Mexico, Holocene and modern geomorphic response to wildfires and climate change in northeastern Yellowstone National Park
Kelin X. Whipple, University of Washington, The construction of alluvial-fan landforms by debris flows
Robert B. , University of Delaware, A shallow land-based seismic reflection approach to mapping Quaternary paleochannel(s) of the Susquehanna River system at Taylor's Island, Maryland
Martin Thomas Kammerer, Arizona State , The use of heavy metal concentrations and to cross-correlate alluvial deposits
1980s
1989 (two )
Andrew Fox, Cornell University, Glacial history of the Andes Mountains
Garrett Jackson, University of Arizona, Tectonic geomorphology of the Toroweap Fault, western Grand Canyon, Arizona
1988 (three )
Jay S. Noller, University of Colorado, History of El Nino in soil of the Peruvian desert
Donald T. Rodbell, University of Colorado, Late Quaternary glacial and climatic history of the northern Peruvian Andes based on glacial geology, glaciolacustrine sedimentology, and soils
Eric A. Oches, University of Massachusetts, Late Quaternary paleotemperature estimates of the northern Mississippi and Illinois River valleys, U.S.A.
1987 (three )
Kevin M. O'Dea, Humboldt State University, Quaternary terrace formation and deformation on Yager Creek, Humboldt County, California
Leal A.K. Mertes, University of Washington, and construction of the Solimoes-Amazon River flood plain in Brazil
Jim E. O'Connor, University of Arizona, Hydraulics and transport of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville flooding on the Snake River
1986 (three )
Mark A. Gonzales, University of Wisconsin, Fluvial geomorphology, geochronology, and paleoclimatology of Paddock Creek, Little Missouri Badlands, southwestern North Dakota
Christopher M. Menges, University of New Mexico, Systematic and quantitative analyses of the landforms of a mountain front within a basin and range landscape in the northern Rio Grande rift near New Mexico
Dorothy I. Sack, University of Utah, Geomorphology of alluvial fans in the Bonneville Basin, Utah--Modeling alluvial fan activity
1985 (two )
Karin A. Hoover, University of Washington, The relation of fluvial processes to facies--The Holocene stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Wells Reservoir area, eastern Washington
Peter E. Lea, University of Colorado, Late-Quaternary stratigraphy and paleoenvironments of the Nushagak region, southwestern Alaska
1984 (two )
Jim E. O'Connor, University of Arizona, Paleohydrology and hydraulics as interpreted from geologic evidence: Boulder Creek, Utah
Leonard H. Thorleifson, University of Colorado, The Quaternary stratigraphy of the Hudson Bay lowlands
1983 (three )
Jonathan M. Harbor, University of Colorado, Chronology of Holocene events, geomorphic response, and eolian influx in alpine lakes in the Front Range, Colorado
David S. Shafer, University of Tennessee, Quaternary climatic change, landscape evolution, and paleoecologic history, southern Appalachians, western North Carolina.
Carolyn H. Eyles, University of Toronto, Scarborough Bluffs, Lake Ontario basin, lithofacies codes and the model of deposition below floating ice
1982 (two )
Thomas F. Bullard, University of New Mexico, Quaternary geomorphic evolution of a tributary to the Chaco River, northwestern New Mexico
J. Steven Kite, University of Wisconsin, Late-glacial and Holocene alluvial chronology, St. Johns drainage basin, northern Maine and southern New Brunswick and Quebec
1981 (two )
Mary L. Gillam, University of Colorado, Age and climate effects on soil development, Colorado and New Mexico
Julie Brigham, University of Colorado, Chronology of Pleistocene marine deposits in coastal Alaska
1980 Susan L. Gawarecki, Lehigh University, Origin of the Railroad Ridge
1970s
1979 Donna Marron, University of California, Berkeley, Slope processes in Redwood National Park
1978 Lisa Osterman, University of Colorado, Quaternary geology of Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island
1977 Daniel R. Muhs, University of Colorado, Marine terraces-soil development, San Clemente Island, California
1976 Award date changed
1975 P. Thompson Davis, University of Colorado, Cirque glacier fluctuations and lacustrine chronologies
1974 Louis D. Carter, University of Southern California, Quaternary geology in Baja, California