IAGLR Honors Dr. Charles Kerfoot with Lifetime Achievement Award

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2015

Contact: Doug Kane, IAGLR Past President, [email protected]

Ann Arbor, Mich.—The International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) recently honored Dr. Charles Kerfoot, a professor at Michigan Technological University (MTU), with the 2015 IAGLR Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award, presented at IAGLR’s 58th annual Conference on Great Lakes Research, recognizes important and continued contributions to the field of Great Lakes research over a period of 20 years or more. It is awarded on the basis of the recipient's scientific contribution, originality and impact.  

Kerfoot’s work has made key and lasting contributions to Great Lakes science through his more than 40 years of research experience in aquatic ecology.

"Dr. Kerfoot is a singular scientist who thinks big and creatively in all aspects of his work,” notes Dr. Marianne Moore, Wellesley College professor and IAGLR member. “In so doing, he has set a benchmark of achievement that few others can match."

Currently a tenured professor in the Biological Sciences Department at MTU, Kerfoot began his career as a National Science Foundation (NSF) post-doc in 1972 at the University of Washington and subsequently served on the faculty at Dartmouth College, Cornell University and the University of Michigan. Kerfoot joined MTU in 1989 and also holds adjunct appointments in the schools of Geological Sciences and Mining Engineering.

Kerfoot’s body of work provides a unique combination of field-oriented experimental studies coupled with insightful theoretical hypotheses. He is a world-recognized authority on Great Lakes invasive species and contaminated sediments, with his research crossing the boundaries between science and engineering. He served as co-PI on two of the largest Great Lakes research programs to date: the Keweenaw Interdisciplinary Transport Experiment and the Episodic Events Great Lakes Experiment.

He has received numerous awards including IAGLR's Chandler-Misener Award in 2011, the Elsevier Award for Most Cited Article in the Journal of Great Lakes Research 2010-2012, and the Michigan Tech Faculty Distinguished Research Award in 2013.

Another great accomplishment is the vision he shared with the late Dr. Charles Robert Baillod to propose a new center at MTU dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of the Great Lakes. This vision became a reality in 2012 with the opening of MTU’s Great Lakes Research Center. Kerfoot’s dedication to unselfish collaborative research will continue through this facility for many decades to come, creating the next generation of Great Lakes scientists.