---
title: A Soaring Success
date: 2024-02-27T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/a-soaring-success"
section: Articles
---
# A Soaring Success

*February 27, 2024* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/author/karen-shih)


> Bald Eagle Expert Joins Legendary Explorers Club Honorees

*MT otm bowerman 1920x1080 — A fledgling bald eagle peers out of its nest as a parent flies off. Thanks in part to UMD Professor Bill Bowerman's research in Michigan over the last 30 years, the population of America's national bird has surged back from the brink of extinction.*

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Everest conqueror Edmund Hillary. *Titanic* discoverer Bob Ballard.

Now, environmental science and technology Professor Bill Bowerman joins their ranks as a 2023 recipient of the Lowell Thomas Award from the Explorers Club, founded more than a century ago to honor groundbreaking scientific field work.


*Bill Bowerman headshot*



**Sidebar note:**

**Following Another Explorer’s Path**  
Bowerman is the second UMD faculty to earn the Lowell Thomas Award. Distinguished University Professor Rita Colwell, an expert on global infectious diseases, water, and health who changed the world’s understanding of cholera, received the accolade in 2000. [Learn more](https://today.umd.edu/double-infection-fighter-861d3d06-59c6-462f-8167-016916ea0b44) about her groundbreaking research—and her fight against sexism.





**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Environmental Science and Technology](https://today.umd.edu/topic/environmental-science-and-technology), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Agriculture and Natural Resources](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-agriculture-and-natural-resources)