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Brad Sageman Receives Laurence L. Sloss Award for Sedimentary Geology

July 27, 2026

The Geological Society of America (GSA) has awarded the 2026 Laurence L. Sloss Award for Sedimentary Geology to Brad Sageman in recognition of his impactful research contributions to sedimentary geology, his service to GSA, and his mentoriship of students and colleagues. Brad became a GSA Fellow in 2006. 
Brad is an innovative, impactful, and interdisciplinary sedimentary geologist and stratigrapher who has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed publications, many of which have been cited multiple hundreds of times each. His research has centered on the processes that modulate carbon burial through geological time and on how they regulate the chemistry of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system. He is an authority on the stratigraphy of Cretaceous sediments deposited in the Western Interior Seaway of North America, which underpins an expansive research portfolio integrating astrochronology, geochronology, geochemistry, chemostratigraphy, and paleobiology to explore Earth system dynamics during the Cretaceous greenhouse climate. Brad was involved in developing of a new high-resolution time scale for the Cenomanian-Turonian stage boundary (CTB) interval near the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado. In fact, during a three-week field course that Brad conducts in Colorado and Utah every few years, when he discovered that the “Golden Spike” that pinpoints the CTB GSSP had tarnished from years of exposure, he took it upon himself to rejuvenate it (see photos). 

It is an exceptional honor for DEEPS, the former academic home of Professor Laurence L. Sloss, to see one of our own professors honored with this award. In addition to the mertis that earned Professor Brad Sageman this award, Brad chaired DEEPS for twelve years, during which he inspired the construction and utilization of a suite of world-class analytical laboratories. As Earth's systems are continuously adapting to evolving dynamics, our department's name has also evolved from the Department of Geological Sciences when Prof. Sloss was here, to the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS) since 2024. Dr. Sloss was a pioneer in sequence stratigraphy, who documented large-scale cycles in sedimentary rock records that indicate broad patterns of environmental change over geological time, specifically marine transgression and regression. He was a professor at Northwestern until 1996 and our seminar room, the "Sloss Room", is named in his honor. 

Brad has built a collaborative network of scientists who employ diverse methodologies to investigate fundamental questions related to past carbon cycle disruption. Brad exemplifies leadership and a selfless commitment to elevating the work of others in this field—students, postdocs, and faculty colleagues. Two colleagues recall how Brad inspired them through his words and actions, to advance scholarship and service and to bring the same level of energy and creativity into all aspects of their responsibilities, not just in research. For decades, Brad taught a demanding field course (EARTH 331) in the area where the Western Interior Seaway once flowed. He also organized and led a field trip for a GSA Annual Meeting titled: Cretaceous ocean-climate perturbations revealed in Cenomanian-Campanian strata of Colorado: Field trip associated with symposium honoring the scientific contributions of Michael A. Arthur (2016). Brad will attend the 2026 GSA Connects annual scientific meeting, where NU will host a reception for alumni. Brad will be present and might even provide some musical entertainment, featuring an opportunity to congratulate Brad in person.