Distinguished Rank Award to Cohen

Abstract

Philip Cohen, chief hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, was presented the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award by President Reagan on August 2, 1988. A member of the Hydrology Section of AGU, Cohen maintains his office at the USGS National Center in Reston, Va.Cohen has been with the USGS for 32 years and has been chief hydrologist for the past 9 years. He was cited for his efforts in managing the USGS Water Resources Division (WRD) which employs nearly 5000 people in offices in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, with an operating budget of nearly $260 million per year. Cohen also was honored for directing WRD in providing technical support to other federal, state, and local government agencies in water and other Earth science matters; and for the division's recently implemented National Water Quality Assessment pilot studies. In addition, Cohen was cited for WRD's regionalized evaluation of streamflow and basin characteristics under flood conditions; a major cooperative effort with the U.S. Air Force on the impact of toxic wastes; and further development of national agricultural drainage investigations. Also recognized was Cohen's leadership in establishing a national distributed information system, which provides the USGS with the most extensive computer network in the Earth science community and enhances USGS responsiveness to public needs for Earth science data and information.