The Ambassador Award recognizes both social impact and service to the scientific community. I believe Professor Nicolaas van de Giesen exemplifies the ideals of the Ambassador Award with his commitment to the study and dissemination of hydrologic knowledge and water resource data critical to the lives of people across a broad swath of the African continent.

His commitment to African hydrology began early in his career with a focus on catchment runoff and the study of small-scale farm reservoirs for agriculture. His contributions have culminated in his leadership of the Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory, or TAHMO, an African network designed to provide near-real-time weather and climate information directly to farmers, public safety officials, policymakers, aid agencies and researchers. As much of African agriculture is supported only by rainfall with only limited availability for supplemental irrigation, knowledge of soil moisture status, regional rainfall and temperatures is critical to avoid crop failure.

Under his leadership, TAHMO has grown to support more than 600 weather observation stations across 23 countries in Africa. Access to these data is life-changing for the populations, and for the first time, TAHMO is showing that there is a sustainable model for scientific-grade observations in resource-poor countries that can serve both the scientific and local communities.

Dr. van de Giesen’s career has been one of a hydrologic “ambassador,” bringing science to bear on socially critical issues in Africa. He has not been risk averse, instead choosing to work in a challenging environment where many others have failed to develop projects that remain durable and productive. The TAHMO team stands as a pioneering role model for science that is both accessible and immediately valuable to those on the ground. His efforts have been inclusive, empowering local scientists, engineers and even school children to become part of the solution.

While many of us aspire to use our science and engineering advances to better the lives of those in need, Nick’s efforts are making a difference every day. It is for these reasons and many more that I believe he is truly an ambassador of AGU.

— Scott W. Tyler
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, Nevada

I am genuinely and deeply honored to receive the Ambassador Award from AGU. I would like to thank my nominator, Scott Tyler, and supporters, George Sserwadda, Sam Akomea, and Marc Parlange, as well as the members of the jury. It is wonderful to receive such a prestigious award for scientific work in Africa. Doing science in Africa is rewarding since the issues at hand, especially when it comes to weather, climate and water, are extremely interesting and at the same time vastly underresearched. The processes we encounter are typically not yet well understood, and examining them experimentally produces exciting surprises at almost every turn. The main reason behind this obvious gap in our scientific knowledge is the general lack of human and financial resources to do research. In many African countries, illiteracy is still rampant, and the chances that a talented child becomes a successful researcher are slim indeed. Even in middle-income countries, like Ghana and Kenya, where there are a good number of college graduates, academic research is still limited because the challenges facing society pull these graduates toward immediate action. Still, looking a bit further down the road, I would argue, also advanced research is very much needed for the further development of the continent’s human and natural resources. If I have contributed to the development of scientific capital, it is because I have been very fortunate in receiving so much help along the way, from my Ph.D. work in Rwanda and the support of Tammo Steenhuis, my postdoc in Côte d’Ivoire and my work as senior researcher at the Center for Development Research in Bonn to my present work in Delft with the great Delft|Global team. Finally, I have to thank the wonderful TAHMO team, who have proven that one can, also under challenging circumstances, collect the data on weather, water and climate that are so desperately needed in the coming century, full of rapid change. Thank you all. — Nick van de Giesen, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands