HR Wallingford’s Professor Andrew Manning has been awarded the Exemplary Act Award by the United States Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey in recognition of a heroic act which resulted in lives being saved.
Professor Andrew Manning (left) receives his Exemplary Act Award from Professor David Schoellhamer, US Geological Survey.
As part of a Cooperative Agreement between HR Wallingford and the USGS California Water Science Center, Andrew (Andy) regularly joins forces US Geological Survey (USGS) staff to carry out sediment transport surveys off the coast of the US. Andy was returning by boat in rough water from a survey in the southernmost part of San Francisco Bay on the evening of 17 April 2014, when he and three USGS colleagues (Kurt Weidich, David Schoellhamer and William Chan) saw a sailboat entangled in one of the Port of Redwood City channel markers. When a nearby vessel signalled and requested assistance, the survey team stepped in and transported five injured people to shore. One person receiving CPR unfortunately did not survive, but a man with a severe head wound did recover.
For his decisive and immediate action in the rescue operation, Andy was granted the Exemplary Act Award of the Department of the Interior. Andy explains: “Fieldwork in any marine environment can be a hazardous pursuit and you always have to be prepared for any eventuality. We were all just pleased that we could be of assistance during this emergency situation.”
The awards were officially issued during the 2015 USGS Honors Awards Ceremony held at Reston, Virginia. Andy was unable to attend the official ceremony, due to further fieldwork commitments, and was therefore recently presented with his award by Professor David Schoellhamer, the Chief Scientist for the San Francisco Estuary Sediment Transport Project, from the US Geological Survey California Water Science Center.
Usually only granted to US Federal employees, it is very rare for a UK citizen to be granted such an award, and Andy was the only UK citizen to receive such an award during 2015.
About Andrew Manning
Andrew Manning, a principal scientist at HR Wallingford, is a world-leading marine scientist specialising in sediment transport within coastal, estuarial and fluvial locations. He is also a Professor specialising in sediment dynamical processes at the University of Hull, and a Lecturer in coastal and shelf physical oceanography at Plymouth University. Andy has led numerous research projects investigating sediment transport in a wide range of aquatic environments around the world, and he enjoys the challenge of applying the ever-growing body of knowledge about sediment transport, in particular flocculation, depositional and erosion processes.
Andy has established strong collaborative links across the USA (including: University of Florida, University of California, Stanford University, US Naval Research Laboratory, US Army Corps of Engineers), as well as the US Geological Survey.