v16n2 From the Editors

About This Issue – Raman

Light interacts with matter in different ways. It can be absorbed, transmitted, reflected, or scattered. Scientists can measure those light–matter interactions to reveal incredible details about the structure and reactivity of matter. When it comes to scattered light, it is likely you are most familiar with Rayleigh scattering, in which light is elastically scattered by small molecules and the wavelength (or color) doesn’t change. It is the reason behind the blue color of the sky. Maybe less familiar is the small amount of light (typically 0.0000001%) that is scattered at different wavelengths. This inelastic scattering of light, or Raman effect, is due to the incident light interacting with the chemical structure (bonding) within the matter. The Raman effect may be small (only about 1 part in 10 million), but it is mighty. Discover why by reading the articles in this issue of Elements.

Change of Plans for Meetings in 2020

Almost daily, there are announcements with updates for conferences, meetings, and short courses that were scheduled for April–August in 2020. Many events have been canceled or postponed. And some meetings have moved to an online “virtual” format (e.g., Goldschmidt 2020 and EGU General Assembly 2020).

The Elements participating societies have updated information for their sponsored events (check out the society news pages). And the Elements Calendar on page 81 has also been updated for you.

Obviously, Elements will not be hosting exhibitor booths at EGU or Goldschmidt in 2020. However, we look forward to connecting with you at future meetings. In the meantime, feel free to contact our editorial team via our website (http://elementsmagazine.org/contact/) or by e-mail.

Call for Proposals

The Elements editorial team will meet (virtually) in early August to review proposals for the 2022 lineup. If you have an idea for a future thematic issue of Elements, visit our website to learn more about proposing topics (http://elementsmagazine.org/publish-in-elements-2/). Please submit proposals by the end of July 2020 for consideration.

Rebecca Lange to Join Elements Editorial Team in 2021

We are pleased to announce that Rebecca (Becky) Lange of the University of Michigan (USA) has accepted our invitation to join the Elements editorial team beginning in 2021. She will fill the role of being our petrology editor and will join John Eiler and Richard Harrison as a principal editor. Jon Blundy will be rotating off the team in 2021.

A Different Season of Operation

During the final preparation stages for publishing the April issue, the novel coronavirus COVID-19 spread like wildfire across the globe. Life looks very different than it did a few months ago. We hope that you and your families are safe and well.

While looking forward to the time when the pandemic will wane and life will return to normal, the Elements editorial team, authors, and participating societies have been busy preparing content for you. This issue of Elements was delayed going to press because we needed a little extra time to adapt to the new “normal”, and we wanted to give our participating societies time to update news regarding conferences, short courses, and other important lines of business.

Given the uncertainties in international shipments, delivery of the April print copies will be delayed: they will be shipped with the June issue. However, the April issue is digitally available at the Elements website. And, as announced in the February 2020 issue, you have an additional option for viewing Elements as an online digital magazine.

To access the online version of Elements at http://elementsmagazine.org, you will need your society member number and your e-mail address. If you do not recall your member number, contact your member society business office. If needed, you can find society contact information on the Elements website under the “Societies” tab.

Thank You, Nancy!

Nancy Ross

With this issue, Nancy Ross will complete her term (2017–2019) as principal editor for Elements. Nancy joined the editorial team to serve as our mineralogy editor. It has been a pleasure to work with Nancy, and we will miss having her calm and thoughtful contributions at our editorial meetings. Nancy shepherded six proposals to the publication stage during her tenure as principal editor: “Boron, Light and Lively” (v13n4), “Luminescence Dating: Reconstructing Earth’s Recent History” (v14n1), “Deep Ocean Mineral Deposits” (v14n5), “Planet Mercury” (v15n1), “Catastrophic Perturbations to Earth’s Deep Carbon Cycle” (v15n5), “Raman Spectroscopy in Earth and Planetary Sciences” (v16n2). Although she has completed her duties as principal editor, we look forward to working with Nancy again because she will be a guest editor on a thematic issue scheduled for 2021.

Jon Blundy, John Eiler, Richard Harrison, and Jodi Rosso