Earth science is a data-driven field, and Roger Bilham has brought tremendous energy and creativity to the measurement of data to quantify crustal deformation. For decades Roger has led projects to collect geophysical data in far-flung corners of the world, from Ethiopia to Tibet to Venezuela, to name just a few. He capitalized on space-based geodesy technologies as they became available, spearheading the creation of UNAVCO. He additionally left no stone unturned in a quest to collect data to attack key problems in seismotectonics and seismic hazard, from ferreting out traditional surveying data in dusty reports to designing new instrumentation to measure fault creep and fault zone gas emissions. He designs, installs and maintains creepmeters in California and elsewhere, occasionally lamenting the lack of shoveling talents among younger generations. In his international work Roger has worked tirelessly and creatively to support local partners, attacking work that was beyond the capacity of local resources. These projects involved strong, organic elements of capacity development and inclusion: training for international students and geoscience professionals around the world, as well as students in the United States. Roger’s papers have contributed to the understanding of deformation and seismic hazard on the Indian subcontinent, both of which hinge on an improved understanding of the complex collision between the India and Asia plates. Among a long list of contributions, he brought GPS measurements to bear on a debate regarding the role of the Altyn Tagh fault in absorbing Indo-Asian convergence. In his work on seismic hazard, he created one of the most “borrowed” figures I have seen, depicting the earthquake potential along the Himalayan Arc. The broader impacts of Roger’s contributions go beyond consideration of seismic hazard. Roger took science communication to new heights, starring in successful IMAX movies on Everest and Kilimanjaro. These and other documentaries have brought basic geoscience education to audiences in the millions. Roger’s passion for science is infectious, coming across equally clearly on an IMAX screen as in a classroom setting. Among the ranks of today’s geoscientists are some who declared majors after taking Roger’s introductory undergraduate class. Charles A. Whitten was described as “a man of many talents, a superb all-round geodesist,” “a strong advocate for using geodetic surveys to measure crustal motion.” With his breadth and depth of contributions over a career spanning a half century, Roger Bilham is a Whitten Medalist in the very best tradition of this award. — Susan E. Hough U.S. Geological Survey Pasadena, California

Many thanks, AGU, for honoring me with the Whitten Medal. Good heavens! Coincidentally, it was Whitten’s diversity of geodetic investigations that has been the inspiration for most of what I have meddled with in the past half century. My jump-start was being exposed to the humor and electric intellect of Geof King building a laser strainmeter in Cambridge. This was all soldering irons and milling machines. Then one day in 1970 (around 11:27 a.m.), Dan McKenzie and Teddy Bullard and a bunch of us (student riffraff) were discussing ways to quantify continental collision directly. “Surely the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India must have recorded convergence in the Himalaya,” said Teddy. “Anyone willing to go and take a look? Bilham, you don't seem to be doing anything useful.” I was now launched into mainline geodesy. This was all sines, cosines and spherical excess. A few months later (at 4:14 p.m.) Nick Ambraseys gave us a talk in which he uttered the now famous phrase “Earthquake don't kill people, buildings do.” This opened a completely new (and surprisingly useful) scientific window — the effects of earthquakes (and corruption) on people and the numerical investigation of ancient earthquakes. This was all dusty archives and strange languages, blended with brittle steel and weak cement. In Cambridge too I first met Vinod Gaur, who has been a colleague and guide to everything in India since then. This was all tandoori chicken and high-integrity wisdom. My exciting decade at Lamont-Doherty was surrounded by extraordinarily gifted scientists: Scholz, Sykes, Richards, Jacob and Seeber, to name a few. Thanks for all your wonderful insight and encouragement! This was all “let’s-measure-anything-that-moves,” with tide gauges, tiltmeters and creepmeters. And then, suddenly, there was GPS. In 1986 (at about 09:31 a.m.) we formed UNAVCO, which brought me to Boulder, where I was joined by a wonderfully gifted group of graduate students and my colleague Peter Molnar — thank you guys, you deserve this medal, not I! This was all writing proposals and answering the phone. Within the next few decades, we had measured the convergence of the Himalaya, the height of Mount Everest, plate spreading in Iceland and Ethiopia, the eastward velocity of the Caribbean, and slip rates on the Bocono, Altyn-Tagh, Chaman, and San Andreas faults. Holy cow! This was all frequent-flier miles. Not least I thank Sue Hough and those kind colleagues who persuaded the Whitten committee to look me over. Thank you, all, so much! — Roger Bilham University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, Colorado