Earth Science Professors Ann Cook and Audrey Sawyer have received awards from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. The prestigious NSF awards support early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department. Cook’s award will enable her to study the occurrence, distribution, and amount of naturally occurring methane gas hydrates in the seafloor worldwide, as well as the link between these hydrates and global warming events. Sawyer’s award will enable her to study the impact of water table dynamics on groundwater quality in floodplain aquifers.