People in the News

Barbara L. Dutrow, Adolphe G. Gueymard Professor of Geology at the Louisiana State University (USA), was elected to the Board of Governors of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Frank C. Hawthorne, Distinguished Professor at the University of Manitoba (Canada) was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada on 29 December 2017.

At its 200th Anniversary Meeting in St. Petersburg (Russia), held 10–13 October 2017, the Russian Mineralogical Society elected Peter C. Burns, Henry Massman Professor at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA); Edward S. Grew, Research Professor at the University of Maine (USA); and Robert M. Hazen, Senior Staff Scientist of the Geophysical Laboratory (Washington D.C., USA) and Executive Director of the Deep Carbon Observatory, as Foreign Honorary Members of the society.

The International Mineralogical Association is pleased to announce that the Mineral of the Year award for 2016 goes to merelaniite. This mineral was discovered in collector specimens from the Merelani region in northeastern Tanzania, and investigated by John A. Jaszczak (Michigan Technological University, Houghton, USA), Michael S. Rumsey (Natural History Museum, London, UK), Luca Bindi (Università di Firenze, Florence, Italy), Stephen A. Hackney (Michigan Technological University), Michael A. Wise (National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, USA), Chris J. Stanley (Natural History Museum, London), and John Spratt (Natural History Museum, London).