Andrew Fisher, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.
Fisher was recognized for "distinguished scientific contributions to seafloor and groundwater hydrology, for service to academe and research organizations, and for innovations in freshwater management."
Fisher has done pioneering research in marine hydrogeology, studying how vast quantities of ocean water circulate through the seafloor, flowing through the volcanic rock of the upper oceanic crust. He has also done extensive research on groundwater, aquifers, and the management of water resources.
Fisher is the UCSC campus lead for the UC Water Security and Sustainability Research Initiative and for the Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations, a Science and Technology Center funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. He has spent decades studying surface water and groundwater in the Pajaro Valley, where saltwater intrusion due to over-pumping of the aquifer is an ongoing problem. His lab has been implementing and studying groundwater recharge projects in the Pajaro Valley and other parts of California, using available surface waters to replenish depleted aquifers and improve water quality.
A fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Geological Society of America (GSA), Fisher received the GSA’s O. E. Meinzer Award in Hydrogeology. He has twice received UCSC's Excellence in Teaching Award, and he was recently selected to be a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer for 2020-22. Fisher joined the faculty at UC Santa Cruz in 1995.
The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. This year 443 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. They include alumnus Richard Gordon (Stevenson '75, B.A. Earth Sciences), now a professor of geophysics at Rice University. New fellows will be honored during the 2020 AAAS Annual Meeting in Seattle in February.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of Science and related journals. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science.
