NORTH CAROLINA—Dr. Ge Sun is among the 2024 International Union of Forest Research Organization’s Scientific Achievement Award recipients and the only Forest Service Research and Development scientist to win this award. Dr. Sun was recognized for distinguished individual scientific contributions to forest research and forestry at the 26th World Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, last month. The Scientific Achievement Award is considered the highest honor given by IUFRO, which recognizes individuals who advance forest science and promote global collaboration in forest-related research.

Dr. Sun is a supervisory research hydrologist and project leader at the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station, and a world-renowned forest hydrologist who has made outstanding contributions to the fundamental knowledge about the relationship between forests and water.

His most notable contributions to forest science include effects of management on evapotranspiration and water yield and quantifying forests’ contribution to drinking water supply. By scaling up empirical station-based studies, Dr. Sun led the development of various simulation models including an ecosystem service assessment tool, Water Supply Stress Index (WaSSI), that has been widely used for evaluating effects of land use and climate change on national water supply and carbon sequestration. He also co-authored the Forest to Faucets version 2.0 assessment, which identifies watersheds that are most important to surface drinking water in the conterminous United States.

Dr. Sun has served as coordinator of IUFRO working party “hydrologic processes and watershed management” since 2007 and is an active member of the IUFRO Forest and Water Task Force. He co-initiated the IUFRO International Conference on Forest and Water in a Changing Environment, a prime forum for forest hydrologists.

He is also a founding member of the U.S.-China Carbon Consortium which promotes international research on carbon and water fluxes to address global climate change. Dr. Sun is a current member of the American Geophysical Union and Fellow of the American Water Resources Association and served as an agency science expert for USAID missions in Africa and Asia.

“The SAA award is an enormous honor for me. I am grateful to IUFRO and the award committee that values the work on forests and water. I acknowledge my colleagues at the US Forest Service and collaborators and friends around the world who contribute to the success of my research,” said Sun.

In addition to the Scientific Achievement Award, Dr. Sun is the recent award recipient of the 2024 Jim Sedell Research Achievement Award (Group), the Forest Service 2023 National Rise to the Future Awards for excellence and leadership in the Fisheries, Hydrology, Wildlife, Air, and Soil Science programs, and the 2023 SRS Director Science Delivery Award (Group).

Dr. Sun obtained his Ph.D. in forest hydrology and watershed management from the University of Florida, 1995; his master’s in forest hydrology from Beijing Forestry University, 1988; and a bachelor’s in Soil and Water Conservation from Beijing Forestry University, 1985.