Many members contribute to MSA each year by including a contribution with their dues. Depending on the wishes of the member, the money is deposited with the principal of the MSA Endowment, MSA Mineralogy/Petrology, MSA Outreach, or Edward H. Kraus Crystallographic Research Funds. The income of these four Funds are to support MSA's research grants in crystallography, mineralogy, and petrology; publishing of the American Mineralogist; the American Mineralogist Undergraduate Awards; the Mineralogical Society of America Award; the Distinguished Public Service Award, the Roebling Medal; the website, and the lectureship program. These Funds are described in more detail in the Financial Advisory Committee Report that appears in this issue. Continued member generosity has permitted the two Funds that support student research grants to each give three $3500 student research grants yearly. However, the need is obviously greater. For the three 2001 grants, MSA received a total of 43 proposals. More than likely the Grant Committees will again determine that more than just 3 proposals deserve funding.

Between 7/31/99 and 8/1/00, 188 MSA members and organizations contributed $12,920.75 to MSA Funds: Endowment ($2,613.50), Kraus ($2,418.5), and Mineralogy/Petrology Fund ($4,663.25), and Outreach ($3,225.50). The MSA Benefactor Committee, chaired by Dave London and comprising Donald R. Peacor, Steven C. Bergman, and Rustum Roy solicited contributions from companies and other organizations and raised $1,500, all destined for the Outreach Fund. If you have not done so previously, you might want to consider contributing at the next opportunity. Here we want to extend our gratitude to the following individuals and organizations:

To follow up briefly on the subject of my last letter to you: very soon after you read this, it will be time to begin our annual membership renewal process. This year we will offer you the convenience of secure online renewal. In September, MSA members with e-mail addresses on file in the business office will receive a brief e-mail announcement containing a link to the membership renewal website; the MSA home page will also have a link on it for this purpose.

I hope that you will respond right away — if you do, you'll be immediately assured that you'll receive all benefits of membership in the coming year, and it will help MSA by reducing the substantial cost of the traditional mailing of renewal notices. Just as with the paper renewal, you'll have the option of purchasing any MSA publications you want, and you'll have the chance to make much-needed contributions to the Society's endowed funds.

I wrote last time of the coupled needs to make our society broader and larger, and the actions we've taken toward those ends. In this, my last letter to you, I'd like to take up the third and last of the themes that I think present vital challenges to MSA's future well-being: the need to make the Society financially stronger.

MSA is blessed with a tremendous legacy from its founders, in the form of an endowment originally created by Colonel Washington A. Roebling shortly before his death in 1926, and subsequently enlarged by the generosity of many, many members. The Society's Financial Advisory Committee has managed these funds admirably, yielding a total endowment spread across several funds that now exceeds $2 million in value. With such magnificent resources at its disposal, one would think that MSA would be empowered to do all that it wants — but that's no longer the case.

The Society has for many years faced a deficit in its operating budget. Each year, substantial transfers must be made from the endowment to cover shortfalls in income versus expenses. The need to support our activities from the endowment comes in large part from our commitment to making our publications and activities affordable. We should take great pride in the fact that MSA's publications, short courses, lecturer program, and the like are among the best values around. And we have always worked hard to keep costs down and prices low. Examples are the switch to desktop publishing to cut publication costs for American Mineralogist, and careful scrutiny of budgets for short courses.

But as we seek to do more and more — expanding American Mineralogist, offering more short courses, publishing more Reviews volumes, growing our outreach and lecturers programs, offering member services on our website — MSA's activities have been steadily expanding in scope and depth, to the point that we have now outgrown our legacy. We now rely each year on the endowment to cover a significant part of our operating costs. This is entirely appropriate: the very purpose of the endowment is to further the activities of the Society. But it means that the Society's activities are now limited by the size of its endowment.

Opportunities have been passed over for lack of funds several times in the past year. Publication of Reviews volumes has been delayed because money wasn't available to cover initial printing costs. Chances to further expand our efforts at developing outreach materials for the website have been reluctantly set aside. Moves to incorporate more frequent use of color plates in American Mineralogist have been restricted. A program to help support student attendance at meetings will be instituted (in this case, the Goldschmidt 2001 conference that MSA will co-sponsor), but only on a limited scale. Our flexibility to explore new venues or formats for meetings is heavily limited by finances. MSA's participation in and contribution to broader geoscience initiatives, including a large number of programs coordinated by the American Geological Institute, is highly constrained. And who knows what new initiatives might be conceived if the Society had the wherewithal to act decisively to implement them

As my term as MSA President nears its end, the need looms large to thank a great many people who make MSA the great organization that it is. The time and effort that members volunteer to our Society are its greatest asset, and at the top of the contributors list are our incoming President, Kase Klein; our diligent Secretary, Dave Jenkins; our steadfast Treasurer, Brooks Hansen; and the 2000 MSA Council: Dave Bish, Mike Carpenter, Mark Ghiorso, Bob Luth, Jeff Post, and Sorena Sorensen. The lengthy roll of MSA committee members is too long to recite here, but all have earned our thanks. And no one works harder with less reward than our tireless publications Editors. Ann Hofmeister, Bob Dymek, Paul Ribbe, Darrell Henry, John Brady, Don Dingwell, Martin Dove, Frank Spear, and Allan Treiman (plus all our hard-working Associate Editors) are genuinely among the Society's heroes. And let there be no mistake: MSA could not function without its dedicated headquarters staff, led by our tireless Managing Editor, Rachel Russell, and by our superb Administrator, Alex Speer. To all, my sincere thanks on behalf of a grateful MSA!

We regret to announce the passing of the following MSA member. The Society extends its condolences to the family and friends of these scientists.

• There is a new MSA publication - Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry volume 39: Transformation Processes in Minerals. It is the volume that accompanied the short course of the same name in Cambridge, England on September 1-2, 2000. You can order a copy using the MSA Publication Order Form in this issue. There are only a few copies remaining of Reviews in Mineralogy volume 9A: Amphiboles and other Hydrous Pyriboles – Mineralogy. It has been decided not to reprint this volume, so if you are interested in a copy consider ordering soon.

• In other news about publications, Mineral Data Publishing Company is offering a 25% discount to MSA members on the newly published volume in Handbook of Mineralogy: series: Volume IV: Arsenates, Phosphates, Vanadates. More detailed descriptions about the series is at http://www.mineraldata.com/ . If you are interested, use the MSA publication order form to order your copy. The new volume offers you a fresh opportunity to collect on the $5 reward for any error you may find. See the Mineral Data Publishing Company ad or website for details.

• The MSA Awards Luncheon, MSA Presidential Address, Annual Business Meeting, and joint MSA-Geochemical Society Reception at the Annual Meeting with Geological Society of America (GSA) in Reno, NV will all be on Tuesday, November 14, 2000. The Luncheon and Reception are ticketed functions. Tickets are sold by GSA and can be bought either when you register for the meeting or up to 24 hours before the event in the meeting registration area. Luncheon cost is $25. Reception cost is $10 for professionals and $5 for students. MSA will have a booth in the Exhibit Hall. Further information, as well as meeting and housing registration forms are at < http://www.geosociety.org/  >.

• At the head of this column is a logo. It is to add some interest to the Lattice and make this column of membership announcements more readily distinguishable. The logo can hardly be considered new. It was logo #4 of the 7 original suggestions considered by the 1939-1940 MSA Seal Committee comprising Waldemar T. Schaller, Paul F. Kerr and Walter F. Hunt.

MSA members have taken advantage of the Society's American Mineralogist Undergraduate (AMU) Award program to recognize outstanding students who have shown an interest and ability in the discipline of mineralogy. Each student was cited by his or her department for outstanding achievement in mineralogy-related courses. The AMU Awards allow MSA to join with the individual faculty to formally recognize outstanding students. Each student is presented a certificate at an awards ceremony at his or her university or college. In addition, each recipient receives a Reviews in Mineralogy or Monograph volume chosen by the sponsor, student, or both.

Deadlines for nominating students are January 1 and July 1 of each year. Mark these dates on your calendars and let us know about your exceptional student. If you are interested in presenting the award at a particular ceremony, please remember that time is required to produce certificates. To nominate a student, send a letter on departmental letterhead to Dr. J. Alexander Speer, MSA Business Office, 1015 Eighteenth St NW Ste 601, Washington, DC 20036-5274 USA. With the nomination, please include the student's full name that would be suitable for the certificate, a mailing address for the student that will be current at the time the award is made, year in school, the MSA sponsor's name, the choice of Reviews in Mineralogy or Monograph, and the date and brief description of the award ceremony at which the certificate will be presented. The letter must be signed or co-signed by the department chair.

The Society welcomes the following exceptional students to the program's honor roll and wishes to thank the sponsors for enabling MSA to recognize these outstanding individuals.

Colin Burks Amos
University of California - Davis
Sponsored by Dr. Howard W. Day

Tracy L. Hall
Central Washington University
Sponsored by Dr. James Hinthorne

Christopher W. Hepler
Clemson University
Sponsored by Dr. Richard D. Warner

Amanda L. Parodi
North Carolina State University
Sponsored by Dr. Edward S. Stoddard

Emma Sojourner Gage Rainey
University of Minnesota
Sponsored by Dr. Donna L. Whitney

Christen D. Rowe
Smith College
Sponsored by Dr. John B. Brady

Trevor M. Stroker
University of Missouri-Rolla
Sponsored by Dr. Richard D Hagni

Raina Waskiewicz
University of Missouri-Rolla
Sponsored by Dr. John P. Hogan

Planning is underway for Goldschmidt 2001, to be held at the historic Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center, May 20-24, 2001. As co-sponsor of Goldschmidt 2001, the Mineralogical Society of America invites its members to participate and to propose and organize technical sessions. Additional information, including a preliminary listing of symposia and technical sessions, is available on the MSA website at: http://www.minsocam.org/ 

The course will focus on techniques and applications for modeling a wide variety of problems in mineralogy and geochemistry. Those interested in using molecular modeling in research or understanding papers in computational chemistry should attend.

Organizers: Randall T. Cygan and James D. Kubicki,

Website: www.sandia.gov/eesector/GScourse.htm 

Despite some confusion in recent months, the definition of what constitutes an American Mineralogist "Letter" has not changed. The official definition, as approved by the MSA Council, is stated on the back cover of each issue of the Journal and reads as follows: "Letters provide for rapid publication (4–6 months) of results that are judged to be timely, significant, and of widespread interest to the mineralogical community."

We fully admit that there is considerable leeway in the application of this definition, as each person would have differing ideas of what constitutes "widespread interest," for example. Despite this obvious ambiguity, over the last year or so, the editors have tried to adhere to the spirit of the definition. Submitted manuscripts that are simply short do not, in and of themselves, correspond to "letters" (although our experience indicates that shorter manuscripts make it through the review system much faster than novels). Simply put, "letters" should represent material that benefits from rapid publication.

In most cases, it is the Editors (and not Associate Editors) who guide "letters" through the review process. Following an initial assessment about the appropriateness of a manuscript to the "letter" category, "letters" are sent to reviewers who are asked to reply within one week (previously, reviewers had been asked to reply within 48 hours, but this deadline proved to be impracticable in most cases). The reviewers are asked to comment specifically on the appropriateness of the manuscript in the context of the above definition, and to make a recommendation in one of four categories, as follows: (1) Accept as is; (2) Accept with very minor revision; (3) Resubmit as a regular manuscript; and (4) Reject. These categories are a relatively new part of the "letter" review process, having been instituted by us about a year ago, based on discussions with several Associate Editors who previously had been involved with "letters."

One of the outcomes of the current review process is that, in a majority of cases, reviewers will select option #3, because they view the manuscript to be incomplete and in need of additional data or discussion. In such cases, the manuscript is rejected because extensive revision is deemed necessary. Letters are rarely revised -- on account of the time factor -- because extensive revision (and possible re-review) defeats the intent of rapid publication. Thus, a majority of letters are rejected on the basis of incompleteness, not perceived overall quality of the science. Of these, virtually all authors are invited to resubmit their letters as regular manuscripts and most do.

American Mineralogist is aware of and fully supports the need for rapid publication of significant material, while at the same time maintaining our traditional standards. We welcome comments from the membership about this policy.

Keep in mind that we do not re-key the data, we are importing material given us by the authors. If we do re-key, then we alert the author to that on the proof because it would need extra sharp proofreading. Usually the importing goes pretty cleanly, with just the tabs needing proper spacing and symbols put into the correct font. Every now and then a table imports as one long column of data that we have to cut and paste cell-by-cell into position.

However, there are always ways for the authors to help us out! One of the most obvious ways is to note when creating your table that we do not put lines in the body of the table, although authors are welcome to use blank lines of space to separate data into groups. We use lines to clarify the column heads and to separate the headers from the title and the body of the table and a couple more lines to separate the footnotes from the body of the table and the rest of the manuscript. And, with very few exceptions, that’s all. Another obvious way to help is to make sure the table is organized in the most logical and space compacted way. Sometimes tables benefit by being turned around.

There are just a few other specific things authors should be aware of in each section of a table: the title, the body, and the footnotes.

First off, in American Mineralogist, the title is a simple phrase, so there is no period to close it. Both "Table 1. Procedure for correcting O data following standard drift during an analytical session" and "Table 2. Experimental conditions and results" would be examples. All other information must be in the footnotes.

The table body usually has data in columns. Each column should have a column heading. Variables should be italic (as in the body of the manuscript). Some tables are simply lists of data. These tables omit the column headings.

Footnotes are likely the tricky bit of a table. Any "Notes" precede the footnotes themselves. We strongly prefer that you use footnote symbols, not numbers or letters, to key footnotes to data. The symbols and their order are *, †, ‡, §, ||, # and then doubling and tripling as necessary. (In case something goes wrong with the typesetting of these symbols, let me repeat them in words: asterisk, dagger, double dagger, section symbol, two parallel lines, and the pound key.) Oddly and because we like it that way, each footnote, regardless of whether it is a phrase or a sentence, is closed by a period.

The best way to understand our table style is to really look at the tables in the journal itself. I welcome any questions you might have!

NOTE: I have recently put more information and examples of references on the web site. Go to the Instructions for Authors and take the jump to More About References. Especially note, at the bottom, the change in how we cite Reviews in Mineralogy volumes!

In conjunction with the Friends of Mineralogy, Tucson Gem and Mineral Show

The twenty-second annual Mineralogical Symposium will be held on February 10, 2001at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. The Friends of Mineralogy, the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, and the Mineralogical Society of America cosponsor it. The topic of the symposium is Minerals of Russia, the Tucson Show’s theme for 2001. Papers on descriptive mineralogy, paragenesis, classic and new locations, and related subjects about the minerals of Russia are welcome. An audience of amateur and professional mineralogists and geologists is expected.

Anyone wanting to present a paper should submit a 200 to 300 word abstract to: Raymond W. Grant, Mesa Community College, 1833 W. Southern Ave., Mesa, AZ 85202; (480) 461-7008 (phone),(480) 461-7234 (fax) rwgrant@mail.mc.maricopa.edu  (e-mail)

Presentations will twenty minutes, followed by a period for questions. Abstracts must be submitted by September 10, 2000. The abstracts will be published in the January/February 2001 issue of the Mineralogical Record.

In the opinion of the auditor, Rubino & McGeehin, MSA has an extraordinarily good financial position, due largely to the size of the endowment. No currently contemplated activities will endanger MSA’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The auditor recommended that the investment portfolio be reviewed, a task the FAC has already undertaken.

The MSA funds had the following balances as of 30 June 2000:

(a) Roebling fund (thousands of dollars) total $1,603; board restricted $1075; unrestricted $528. (b) MSA Endowment Fund total $254; permanently restricted $147; temporarily restricted $107. (c) Mineralogy and Petrology Fund total $262; permanently restricted $77; temporarily restricted $185. (d) Edward H. Kraus Crystallography Fund total $161; permanently restricted $100; temporarily restricted $62. (e) Outreach Fund total $32; permanently restricted $16; temporarily restricted $15.

Member generosity helps MSA support public education and student research projects. Contributions to the funds from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2000 (the fiscal year for the investment funds) were as follows: Endowment Fund $2604; Mineralogy and Petrology Research Fund $4553; Edward H. Kraus Crystallographic Research Fund $2368; and the Outreach Fund $2726. The Society is grateful and thanks its members for these contributions.

Disbursements from the funds in support of Society activities during the last fiscal fund-year were as follows:

Of the $90,000 withdrawn from the Roebling Fund, $78067 was used to underwrite the FY’98 deficit and Council mandated FY’99 programs; the balance began to underwrite mandated FY’00 programs. For FY’99, 3.7% of the endowment was used to support 10.1% of MSA’s activities.

The Society invests in a diversified portfolio of eight mutual funds. Most of the underlying investments are equities; 2% are in bonds. Performance of equities over the past 12 months has been both mixed and volatile. Growth stocks have performed considerably better than value stocks. The performance of MSA’s funds reflects that of the market: growth funds have done well, value funds have not. As of July 10, 2000:

The Committee is paying close attention to, and may change, the funds that are performing poorly relative to their categories.

a. Fund Purpose: To provide financial assistance toward future research in the field of crystallography
b. All past and future contributions to this Fund plus an inflation adjustment are permanently restricted.
c. All accumulated income to the Fund in excess of contributions and an inflation adjustment is temporarily restricted until March 31, 2016.

a. Fund Purpose: To provide financial assistance toward future research in the fields of mineralogy and petrology
b. All past and future contributions to this Fund plus an inflation adjustment are permanently restricted.
c. All accumulated income to the Fund in excess of contributions and the inflation adjustment is temporarily restricted until January 1, 2030.

a. Fund Purpose: To provide support for the publication of the American Mineralogist and for the advancement of the mineralogical sciences
b. This Fund is composed of the inflation adjusted sum of all past documented contributions to the old Endowment Fund, except for the original contributions from Col. Roebling. The 12/31/95 balance and all future contributions to this Fund, adjusted for inflation, are permanently restricted.
c. The Fund balance will be calculated annually. If that balance shows an excess over the previous balance plus all contributions and an inflation adjustment, the excess is to be transferred to the unrestricted Roebling Fund. If in any year, or series of years, the adjusted balance of the MSA Endowment Fund should decrease, no money shall be transferred until such time as the balance of the Fund reaches or exceeds the balance that existed at the most recent transfer of funds to the Roebling Fund plus the accumulated contributions and the inflation adjustment since that time.

a. Fund Purpose: To support the Society's public service activities
b. The principal and all contributions plus an inflation adjustment are permanently restricted. The Fund will be totally restricted until the balance reaches $100,000. Once this balance has been reached all accumulated income to the Fund in excess of the contributions and an inflation adjustment is temporarily restricted until January 1, 2050 to provide financial assistance for the Society's public service activities.

Overview of 1999: Overall, in the fiscal year, the society was in the black by $3300 in 1999 for the first time in many years! How did this happen? There were several encouraging developments that lead to a positive budget sheet: (1) A major contributor was the continued decrease in costs for publishing (and printing) American Mineralogist. Production prices per page published have dropped from $120/pg to $70/page. Thanks to the editors and editorial staff of American Mineralogist for these savings, which have resulted from the change to desktop publishing and are of immense benefit to the Society. The main beneficiary of this increase in turn has been American Mineralogist as it has covered the expansion of the journal to 8 issues. (2) A second major contributor was that we printed fewer RIMGs volumes and other books in 1999 than in 1998 (and projected for 2000 or 2001). Together, these are the two major expenses of the Society and dominate the budget. An increase in the number of new and reprinted RIMGs volumes is projected for the next several years. (3) Also important, library subscription rates held fairly well nationally, and the declines that had continued for several years internationally slowed somewhat, and council accounted for projected declines better in the budget estimates and in planning operations. (4) The profit was also slightly artificial because in 1999 we had to transfer $27,205 to cover the remaining deficit in 1998. Thus, in absence of this transfer, we did run a small net deficit in 1999 that was easily covered.

The society’s books were again audited by the firm of Rubino & McGeehin and found to be in order. On the basis of the preliminary audit report, The Society’s net assets at the end of 1999 were 2,704,124, versus 2,260,981 for 1998 and an increase of more than $1 million since December 1996. The main reason was the continued healthy return on investments. Thanks go to the financial advisory committee for a wise investment policy over this period.

Update on 2000 approved budget and the future: Library subscriptions and membership renewals, and new memberships continue to be strong, which bodes well for the 2000 budget. One reason may be that we held library subscription rates constant in 2000. The major uncertainty in the 2000 budget, and in future budget, remains the number of RIMGs volumes and other books that will be published. The initial budget projected 5 new RIMGs volumes and one reprinted one, and three books (two of which are reprints). It now seems that one book will not be printed (a savings of about $15,000) and at least one RIMGs volume may be deferred until 2001 (or later). Each RIMGs volume costs the society about $25,000 up front (we recoup this in later years through sales, which remain strong for many of the recent volumes, most notably Geomicrobiology, Planetary Materials, and High-Pressure Mineralogy).

A major development is that it seems that the Department of Energy will help contribute to holding many of the short courses. This funding should lower registration costs for attendees and hopefully boost participation. Still, the 2000 budget is projected as having a large deficit because more RIMGs volumes will be printed than were projected when we set the institutional subscription rate. This has been corrected in setting the institutional rates for 2001, so this budget drain should not continue. We have now based future budgets on 4 new RIMGs volumes/year. The 2000 deficit reflects the lag in recognizing this increase, and it should not recur in future years. We have negotiated with the Geochemical Society that they will contribute to the up front cost of RIMG volumes.

Because of the projected increase in postal rates (and expansion of the journal) the cost of distributing American Mineralogist to members has increased to $35/year. The budget and pricing plan is based on the assumption that members will only pay for the incremental price of the journal (that is, the society turns no profit on member subscriptions). Currently, members are charged $30 for American Mineralogist, less than what is needed for the Society to break even.

Because of the healthy investment climate of the last three to four years, the two Kraus and Mineralogy/Petrology funds have both grown considerably. Council voted that the awards should be increased from $3500 to $5000.

In summary, a stable budget environment may be indicated by the surplus in 1999, the reduced operating expenses for the American Mineralogist, stabilization of the library subscriptions (if this is in fact holds), and stabilization of the number of RIMs volumes per year. This means that the society can or should consider how to use some proportion, say 5%, of its endowment each year. This amounts to about $50,000 that could be put to use.

The following individuals joined MSA April 19 through August 4, 2000. We welcome them to the Society. The areas of interest are: Mineralogy (MI), Crystallography/Crystal Chemistry (CC), Material Properties (PP), Igneous Petrology (IP), Metamorphic Petrology (MP), Sedimentary Petrology (SP), Geochemistry (GE), Phase Equilibria (PE), Economic Geology (EG), Clay Mineralogy (CM), Industrial Mineralogy (IM), Environmental Mineralogy (EM), Gems (GM), Planetary Materials (PM), Teaching (TC), Topologic Mineralogy (TP), Biological-Mineral Interactions (BM), and others as indicated.

If you know of someone who would like or should join MSA, give them the membership application that appears in this issue of The Lattice, or is available from either MSA’s web site ( http://www.minsocam.org  ) and the MSA Business Office, 1015 Eighteenth St NW Ste 601, Washington, DC 20036-5274, USA. 

THE DEADLINE FOR THE NOVEMBER LATTICE IS NOVEMBER 22