McMaster hydrologist wins prestigious geophysics award

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Woo_Hok.jpg” caption=”Ming-ko (Hok) Woo, professor emeritus in the School of Geography & Earth Sciences. Photo courtesy of the Faculty of Science. “]Professor emeritus Ming-ko (Hok) Woo in the School of Geography & Earth Sciences, based in the Faculty of Science, is the 2008 recipient of the prestigious J. Tuzo Wilson Medal.

Every year, the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU) presents the J. Tuzo Wilson Medal to scientists who have made an outstanding contribution to the field of geophysics in Canada. The selection criteria include excellence in scientific or technical research, instrument development, industrial applications and teaching.

The award is named after its first recipient, John Tuzo Wilson, a renowned Canadian geophysicist and earth scientist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics. Woo becomes only the second hydrologist to win this award.

Woo received his BA in geography and geology (1964) and his MA in geomorphology (1967) from the University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD from the University of British Columbia in 1972, with a specialization in hydrology.

Woo has bridged three main areas of hydrology: the hydrology of cold regions, the hydrology of wetland ecosystems, and stochastic and statistical hydrology. In addition, he has made a significant contribution in applying hydrology and fluvial geomorphology in developing areas of the world such as Nigeria and China.

His research has focused on understanding the principles of catchment, hillslope and wetland hydrology as well as assessing changes in hydrological systems by environmental stressors such as climate variability and human modification to the landscape. Throughout his career, he has combined empirical, experimental and observational studies with both deterministic and stochastic modelling.

Woo is known first and foremost for his contributions to cold region hydrology. Much of his research took place near Resolute, NWT where a river now officially bears the name McMaster River.

More recently, he was the program leader of the MAGS project, which consisted of a Canadian team of more than 80 scientists and engineers in the fields of atmospheric, earth and hydrologic sciences who studied how climate change and variability affects ice and snow dynamics and water resources in the Mackenzie River Basin.

“Over the last several decades, Dr. Ming-ko Woo's research has had a profound effect on the way that people and government view the environment of the Arctic,” said John Capone, dean of the Faculty of Science. “His research and leadership have inspired generations of geoscientists in various universities and governments in Canada.”

CGU has honoured Woo by creating an annual lecture series in hydrology. Similarly at McMaster, the Woo Water Lecture Series will be starting this fall.

Nigel Roulet, director of the McGill School of Environment and a former doctoral student of Woo, says: “It would be difficult to find another Canadian hydrologist that has played such an important role in the training of the current generation of Canadian environmental hydrologists. Over the last few decades, he has helped make McMaster an international leader in the hydrological sciences.”