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James P. Syvitski, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado, has won the A.G. Huntsman Award in Marine Science in recognition of his contributions to marine geoscience.

The A.G. Huntsman Award was presented by the Royal Society of Canada during a November ceremony at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia.

During the awards ceremony, a former colleague read a testimonial that “made me feel like I was in heaven and St. Peter was reading out a review of my past,” Syvitski recalled. “It was emotional, to say the least.”

Syvitski’s scientific interests include fjords, rivers, deltas, estuaries, particle dynamics, simulation of sediment transport and stratigraphy, continental margin sedimentation, gravity flows and animal-sediment interactions.

In September, a study led by Syvitski indicated that most of the world’s low-lying river deltas are sinking because of human activity. That makes these areas increasingly vulnerable to flooding from rivers and ocean storms and puts millions of people at higher risk.

Syvitski’s team found several causes of sinking deltas, including the trapping of sediments that would normally be delivered to river deltas, the human construction of levees that move sediment into the oceans and bypassing the floodplains where they would normally settle, and the compaction of floodplain sediment due to groundwater and natural-gas extraction.

Those findings, published in the Sept. 20 issue of Nature Geoscience, include the prediction that global delta flooding could increase by as much as 50 percent by the end of the century, assuming sea-level rise of about 18 inches by then.

Syvitski is executive director of CU’s Community Surface Dynamics Modelling System, which involves hundreds of scientists from dozens of universities and federal labs. It is funded by the National Science Foundation.

As Syvitski accepted the award, he mentioned “my travails of dyslexia” and that his lower school principal told his parents and him “that I was not fit for high school, and a vocational school, possibly carpentry, was likely a better fit.”

Syvitski noted that high school teachers in the humanities and languages “abandoned me, so that by grade 11, I was only taking math and sciences.” The latter disciplines have clearly suited him.

Syvitski received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 1978 and was a member of the Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic) from 1981 to 1995.

In 1995 he became director of CU’s Institute of Alpine and Arctic Research. Syvitski has held various academic appointments at the university.

The A.G. Huntsman Award was established in 1980 by the Canadian marine-science community to recognize excellence of research and outstanding contributions to marine sciences.

Syvitski reflected on the experience of being honored in Canada. “When we left, I was drained but thought I was temporarily on a movie set. Congratulations have been pouring in from friends, but now it seems a dream as I come back to reality of everyday affairs. I want to hang on, but must let go.  The big silver medal with inscriptions and other gifts will fade with time, as they should.”

The CU Office of News Services contributed to this report.