Folarin Kolawole, an assistant professor at Columbia University, has been named one of 15 recipients of the 2026 National Geographic Society Wayfinder Award—an honor recognizing field-based discovery and work that helps protect the planet’s future. His researc
Folarin Kolawole is used to working with Earth that doesn’t move fast. In eastern California, he examines fault-damage outcrops from an exhumed Early Paleozoic rift zone—about 500 million years old—trying to read the quiet history written into the rock.
Now. the National Geographic Society’s 2026 Wayfinder Award has turned that kind of slow. careful looking into something loud enough to travel beyond the field. Kolawole. an assistant professor in Columbia University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. is one of 15 recipients of this year’s Wayfinder Award. The award recognizes scientists. conservationists. educators and other “bold changemakers” whose work is expanding understanding of the planet and helping to protect its future.
Kolawole’s research lives at the intersection of motion that takes ages and consequences that arrive suddenly. He studies how continents stretch and eventually split apart. and how ancient faults—far from the active edges of tectonic plates—can still cause earthquakes. At the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. which is part of the Columbia Climate School. he carries out structural geology research and joins a long line of scientists studying the dynamics of the solid Earth. from plate tectonics to seafloor spreading and the evolution of ocean basins.
“The field scientist working across borders” is how Kolawole describes his own work. and he framed the award as more than personal recognition. In his remarks, he said the honor affirms the value of field observation-based and collaborative discovery. “It will help me pursue more ambitious field campaigns. strengthen global collaborations and deepen our understanding of the tectonic processes that are actively reshaping continents.”.
He has been doing that kind of work far beyond California as well. One photo credited to Kolawole shows him taking measurements and collecting rock samples from the border fault of an active continental rift in East Africa.
The Wayfinder Award’s spotlight is set on field work and real-world impact. and the society described this year’s recipients as “visionaries” whose work reflects curiosity. exploration and impact. The 14 other awardees come from around the world and study a broad set of disciplines: conservation biology. climate adaptation. microbiology. documentary photography and marine education.
As the full list of awardees was released in a National Geographic Society news release. Kolawole’s selection underscored a message that sits inside his work—earth science built from direct observation. collected in places where tectonic forces are either happening now or left behind long enough ago to still matter. For a researcher studying faults that can keep making earthquakes long after they look “ancient. ” that kind of validation arrives with a particular kind of urgency: the planet’s changes don’t wait. and neither does the need to understand them.
Folarin Kolawole National Geographic Society Wayfinder Award 2026 Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory structural geology plate tectonics rift zone earthquake faults East Africa rift
So he won an award for rocks… okay.
Wait this is the earthquake guy? Like, is he the one that predicted the next big one in California or what? I’m confused.
They keep saying “fault-damage outcrops” and I’m just picturing someone smashing rocks in the desert. But I guess studying ancient rifts is actually useful. Still wild to think 500 million years later it matters for today’s earthquakes. Congrats to him though, I guess.
National Geographic awards are always like “protect the planet” but half the time it’s just scientists talking about old stuff. 500 million years old rift zone? sounds like a history lesson not “field-based discovery.” Also he studies faults that aren’t even active??? so how does that help stop anything? Either way, good for Columbia I guess.