Geologist Daniel Horton has received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the foundation’s most prestigious honor for junior faculty members. Horton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and leader of the Climate Change Research Group (CCRG) at Northwestern.
The CAREER Award is designed to support promising young faculty members who exemplify the role of teacher-scholar through the combination of outstanding research and education. It underpins the NSF’s credence that research “is enhanced by inspired teaching, enthusiastic learning, and disseminating new knowledge.” The awards, presented annually, include a federal grant for research and education activities for five consecutive years.
Horton’s research uses numerical models, environmental observations, statistical analyses, and machine learning techniques to ask questions pertinent to Earth’s and other planets’ climates. The driving focus of the CCRG is to better understand the Earth system, how the impacts of climate change are mediated, and how this knowledge might be used to improve societal preparedness and resilience in the face of climatic change.
Read more about Horton’s research through the CCRG.