UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Susan Brantley, Distinguished Professor of Geosciences and director of Penn State’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, has received the American Chemical Society's 2017 Geochemistry Division Medal.
The award is the top prize in geochemistry given by the ACS and is reserved for researchers who have made outstanding accomplishments in that field.
In selecting Brantley, the society praised her superior work in Earth surface processes, as well as her ability to lead and mentor students and junior scientists, and her service to the scientific community.
“Her highly influential work on the kinetics of mineral-fluid interactions and weathering rates of natural systems, for example, has truly and profoundly changed our understanding of geochemical systems,” the society wrote.
Brantley is a leader in critical zone science, the study of the chemical and geological processes that shape and transform the thin layer from the deepest groundwater to the tallest vegetation, and in the study of water quality issues related to shale gas development in Pennsylvania.
Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and NASA. She is the lead principal investigator of the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory, which is located near the University’s Stone Valley Recreation Area and is part of the NSF-supported Critical Zone Observatory network.