Mark Kessler, who defended his Ph.D. dissertation in May, has been awarded the Edward A. Frieman Director’s Prize in recognition of excellence in graduate student research conducted at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

Kessler is being honored for developing and analyzing a three-dimensional model for a class of striking patterns that occur in Arctic soils.

The Frieman Prize was established in 1996 to celebrate the 70th birthday of Scripps Institution’s eighth director, Edward A. Frieman, who led Scripps from 1986 to 1996. The prize is annually awarded to a Scripps graduate student who has published an outstanding research paper in the past 12 months as evaluated by a Scripps faculty committee.

Kessler is being honored for "A model for sorted circles as self-organized patterns," a paper published in the July 2001 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, co-authored by Brad Murray, Bernard Hallet, and Kessler’s advisor, Brad Werner.

The paper addresses the long-standing problem posed by the formation of sorted circles in high-latitude environments. These self-organized patterns result from the effects of freezing and thawing on layers of stone and soil overlying permafrost. The numerical model developed by Kessler accurately predicts the form of the pattern, its internal dynamics, and how it changes through time. In this model, the details of the physical processes have been simplified, retaining the characteristics that cause patterns of stones and soil in cold regions. This technique could be applied to a broad range of patterns in nature.

"The paper is a joy to read," according to Professor David Checkley, the Frieman Prize faculty evaluation committee chairman. "It should be of interest to many people."

Kessler, from Rochester, N.Y., received an undergraduate degree in physics and anthropology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1996. With his Ph.D. from Scripps completed, Kessler plans to accept a post-doctoral appointment in geomorphology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, with Professor Robert Anderson.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest, and most important centers for global science research and graduate training in the world. The scientific scope of the institution has grown since its founding in 1903. A century of Scripps science has had an invaluable impact on oceanography, on understanding of the earth, and on society. More than 300 research programs are under way today in a wide range of scientific areas. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. Now plunging boldly into the 21st century, Scripps will celebrate its centennial in 2003.