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Emeritus faculty member joins the ranks of Carl Sagan, Buzz Aldrin and Sir Edmund Hillary by winning Lowell Thomas Award

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Bill Bowerman has a new certificate to frame and to hang with pride beside his Clemson University Emeritus College diploma in his office. Winner of the 2023 Lowell Thomas Award, Bowerman joins an elite group of adventurers and innovators including Carl Sagan and Dan Rather (1980), Buzz Aldrin (1989) and Sir Edmund Hillary (2001).

Bowerman traveled to Oslo, Norway, to receive the award where he was honored by the award’s sponsor, The Explorer’s Club. The Explorer’s Club has chapters around the world and is a multidisciplinary, professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research, scientific exploration and resource conservation.

Three men dressed in suits stand on a podium at an awards presentation.
Professor Emeritus Bill Bowerman, wildlife biologist and toxicologist, standing center while receiving the coveted Lowell Thomas Award from The Explorer’s Club in Oslo, Norway, October 14, 2023. Photo credit: John Bowerman

The Explorer’s Club recognized Bowerman at the event on October 14 because of his decades-long effort to protect bald eagles from the many environmental stressors affecting its populations in the U.S. Bowerman also was recognized for his work as a world-renowned champion of raptor conservation because of his environmental monitoring efforts on every continent except one – Antarctica.

Bowerman became a member of Clemson University’s Emeritus College in 2012, and like so many Emeritus College members is a prolific researcher. He is a professor of wildlife ecology and toxicology in the University of Maryland Department of Environmental Science and Technology.

Former Lowell Thomas Award Winners