Lionel Carter becomes Emeritus Professor
Congratulations to Professor Lionel Carter who has been awarded the status of Emeritus Professor at the Antarctic Research Centre.
Professor Carter became a member of the Victoria University of Wellington community in 2006 when he was appointed Professor in Marine Geology. Prior to that he was Principal Scientist at NIWA for 14 years and the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute for 19 years prior to that.
Lionel undertook his MSc at Auckland University in the mid-1960s before traveling to Vancouver to complete his PhD at the University of British Columbia in 1970.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2003, received the Marsden Medal for outstanding service to science in 2012 and was awarded the Hutton Medal in 2015 for outstanding research in Earth sciences.
Lionel is recognised as a leading New Zealand oceanographer and expert on long-term ocean change. Specialising in the nature and history of the deep western boundary current to the east of New Zealand, his work has led to fundamental discoveries related to broad oceanic circulation and climate change.
Director of the Antarctic Research Centre Associate Professor Rob McKay says, “Lionel's biggest legacy to the ARC was his vision to directly link change observed in Antarctica to that of NZ in a tangible way, by asking how do the oceans and winds around NZ change as the polar region’s warm and their influence on our climate contracts. This approach fundamentally altered the way we approached research in the ARC and made our science to be relevant beyond just the Antarctic realm.”
“Many thanks for the excellent news regarding my emeritus status. I certainly accept the offer and look forward to contributing to VUW research in the foreseeable future especially in the field of modern environmental change,” says Lionel.
Lionel’s current research focuses on ocean responses to climate change, risk determination posed by geological hazards and environmental responses and recovery from major volcanic eruptions.