The Mineralogical Society of America announces the 2009 MSA Grant For Student Research In Mineralogy And Petrology from an endowment created by contributions from the MSA membership. The grant comprises two awards of up to $5000 each for research in mineralogy and petrology. Students, including graduate and undergraduate students, are encouraged to apply. However, all proposals are considered together. The award selection will be based on the qualifications of the applicant, the quality, innovativeness, and scientific significance of the research, and the likelihood of success of the project.

The grant is for research-related expenses only. Travel to meetings, conferences, short courses, non-research fieldtrips, tuition, non-research living (room and board) expenses, etc. are not suitable uses of the money. Neither should the money be used for salary or wages for the researcher. Proposals that make such requests will not be considered further.

The next award will be made in January, 2009. Application forms for the grant may be obtained here or from

Dr. J. Alex Speer
Mineralogical Society of America
3635 Concorde Pkwy Ste 500
Chantilly VA 20151-1125 USA
Tel: +1 (703) 652-9950
Fax: +1 (703) 652-9951
e-mail:j_a_speer@minsocam.org

Recipients of the MSA Grant for Student Research in Mineralogy and Petrology

2008 - Olaf Jakub Borkiewicz, Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA - "Formation of precursor calcium phosphate phases during crystal growth of apatite and their role on the uptake of heavy metals and radionuclide"

2008 - Jennifer Bernadette Wright, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA - "Measurement of metamorphic kinetics through combined high resolution X-ray computed tomography (HRXCT), electron microanalysis (EMPA), and Sm-Nd isotopic dating"

2007 - Emily Catherine Pope, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA - "Fluid stable isotope signatures in hydrous alteration minerals"

2007 - Philip Skemer, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA - "Rheology and microstructural evolution of experimentally deformed orthoenstatite"

2006 - Angelo Antignano, Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA - "Rutile, Apatite, and Zircon Solubility in Silicate-bearing Fluids: Implications for HFSE and REE Mobility in Subduction Zones"

2006 - Gregory Dumond, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA - "What are we dating?: Linking zircon growth to metamorphic reactions in high-pressure mafic granulite"

2005 - Saumyaditya Bose, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA - "Combining studies in mineral-microbe interaction and nanomineralogy: Measuring and understanding the bio-reduction kinetics of Mn oxyhydroxides driven by Shewanella oneidensis"

2005 - Elizabeth R. Goeke, University of Iowa, Iowa city, IA, USA - "Quantitative textural modeling along a strong decompression path: Example from the Adula Nappe, Central Alps"

2004 - Kurt James Steffen, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA - "Modeling the interaction of metamorphism and deformation using numercial techniques"

2004 - Jennifer Mae Jackson, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA - "Sound velocities of aluminous MgSiO3 perovskite under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions using Brillouin spectroscopy and laser heating"

2003 - Andrew Madden, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA, USA - "Nanoscale Observations of Redox Reactions at Mineral Surfaces with Enzyme-Activated Atomic Force Microscopy"

2003 - Abigail Spieler, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA - "Mineralogic control on trace-element mobility in basalt aquifers"

2002 - Kevin James Davis, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA - "Resolving the Intertwined Roles of Temperature, Growth Rate and Growth Mechanism in Determining Mg-Calcite Compositions: Towards a Physical Baseline for the Mg/Ca Paleothermometer"


2002 - Robert Lester King, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA - "B systematics during progressive Si metasomatism of the mantle wedge"

2001 - Carlotta B. Chernoff, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA - "Distribution of trace metal contents in black shales and their metamorphic equivalents"

2001 - Kaye Sawyer Savage, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA - "Efflorescent uptake of trace oxyanions: effect on crystal structure and distribution"

2000 - Julia Ann Baldwin, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA - "Monazite paragenesis in granulite facies rocks of the Striding-Athabasca mylonite zone, northern Saskatchewan, Canada"

2000 - Cin-Ty Aelous Lee, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA - "The evolution of the continental lithosphere in tectonized regions: Re-Os isotopic mapping of the lithospheric mantle beneath southwestern North America".

1999 - Wim van Westrenen, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom - "Melt Partitioning of highly siderophile elements measured by laser ablation microprobe"

1998 - R. Lee Penn, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA - "Growth mechanisms and morphological evolution of nanocrystalline anatase"

1997 - Alkiviathes Meldrum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA - "Actinide and rare-earth diffusion properties in monazite and zircon"

1995 - Jed Leigh Mosenfelder, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA - "Kinetics of the coesite-quartz transformation"

1993 - Cambria Denison, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA - "Nucleation and growth in metamorphic rocks based on X-ray tomography and automated petrographic image analysis"

1991 - John C. Ayers, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA - "Solubility and partitioning of elements among accessory minerals in aqueous fluids"

1989 - Jillian F. Banfield, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA - "Effect of exsolution, oxidation, atomic ordering, and defect formation on the magnetic properties of Fe-Ti oxide minerals"

1989 - Nancy E. Brown, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA - "Order-disorder and enthalpies of mixing in hematite-ilmenite solid solution"

1987 - R. Chris Tacker, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA - "Calibration of the apatite volatile fugacity sensor"

1985 - Carol Russ Nabelek, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA - "Amphibole geothermometry"

1983 - Tracy N. Tingle, University of California, Davis, CA, USA - "The solubility and diffusivity of carbon in olivine"

1981 - William D. Carlson, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA - "Experimental Investigation of subsolidus equilibria in feldspathic peridotite and gabbro"