Acceptance of the Society of Economic Geologists' Silver Medal for 2007

Abstract

Mr. President, members of the Society of Economic Geologists, and guests: I am honored to have been selected to receive the Silver Medal from the Society of Economic Geologists. I wish to emphasize that this honor would not have been possible without having had a remarkable group of graduate students, post-docs, and collaborators to work with over the past 30 years. This honor belongs to them as well. I would like to thank one of those individuals, my former student and long-time friend John Mavrogenes, for his kind introduction. The most enjoyable aspect of receiving an honor such as the Silver Medal is that it provides an opportunity for me to recognize and thank the many individuals who served as wise and caring mentors during my career and who have influenced my career choices and the paths that I have followed. I would probably not be a geoscientist today if not for the fact that as an undergraduate chemistry major at the University of Pittsburgh, I took a geology course as an elective during my senior year. I took the geology class because I heard that geology classes were easy (rocks for jocks!) and it was one of the few classes that fit my schedule. A young and energetic professor by the name of Tom Anderson taught the course, and the theme of the course was the new and rapidly evolving paradigm known as “plate tectonics.” I immediately fell in love with geology. Having grown up in a family that had an appreciation for nature and the outdoors, I realized that here was a field where I could apply rigorous quantitative scientific methods to solve problems of societal relevance …