Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals

Dr. Haakon Fossen is an internationally renowned geologist who is particularly well known for making structural geology more accessible to students and professionals who use data and principles of structural geology in industry.

Dr. Fossen is a professor of geology at the University of Bergen. He has made significant contributions to topics that have fueled debate in earth sciences over the last several decades, including the mechanisms and consequences of oblique motion of tectonic plates and the collapse of mountain belts when extension follows contraction. In addition, he has provided leadership in the study of important structures that control porosity and permeability in sedimentary basins, with applications in groundwater, oil migration, and the sequestration of carbon dioxide.

Dr. Fossen has reached a worldwide audience through his textbooks and extensive website. He wrote the first textbook in Norwegian on structural geology, followed by an even more successful textbook that has been widely adopted throughout the world. His website includes video tutorials and other teaching aids, free for anyone to use. Dr. Fossen has also written a book for the public on geology, rocks, minerals, and fossils, and has organized and led professional development courses in Europe and North and South America.

As a scholar with almost 150 publications, Dr. Fossen has won multiple awards, including the Nordic Geoscientist Award in 2012 and the Outstanding Paper Award from the structural geology and tectonics division of the Geological Society of America.

In naming Dr. Fossen as a recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals, the selection committee acknowledges his wide-ranging contributions to the geology field in Norway and around the globe, and looks forward to his future work.