ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is saddened to share the news that colleague and friend Dr. Rodney C. Ewing passed away on July 13, 2024. An AGI Past President (2019-2020), Dr. Ewing received the William B. Heroy Jr. Award for Distinguished Service to AGI (2023) for his exceptional and beneficial long-term service to the Institute and the AGI Medal in Memory of Ian Campbell for Superlative Service to the Geosciences (2015).

 

He was also a past president of both the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) and the International Union of Materials Research Societies, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a founding editor of the magazine Elements. Dr. Ewing served on the Boards of Directors for The Geochemical Society (GS), The Geological Society of America (GSA) Foundation, and the Gemological Institute of America. He was an active member of several scientific societies, including GSA, MSA, GS, and the American Geophysical Union. He served on a dozen National Research Council committees for the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that reviewed issues relating to nuclear waste and weapons. 

 

A towering figure in the fields of mineral sciences, geochemistry, nuclear materials, and materials science and engineering, Dr. Ewing was the inaugural Frank Stanton Professor in Nuclear Security and Co-Director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He wrote extensively on issues related to nuclear waste and was a co-editor of Radioactive Waste Forms for the Future (1988) and Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation's High-Level Nuclear Waste (2006). From 2012 to 2017, he was Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board.

 

"Rod provided outstanding leadership on countless fronts across the geoscience community, from research and education to governance," said AGI Executive Director Dr. Jonathan Arthur. "While serving as AGI President, Rod's guidance was especially vital to AGI during a challenging period in the Institute's recent history. I personally will miss his extraordinary intelligence, quiet leadership, and the great care he brought to his work. His service to the AGI federation of geoscience societies has helped to strengthen the enterprise immeasurably."

 

The American Geosciences Institute (AGI), a federation of scientific and professional organizations representing over a quarter-million geoscientists, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to serving the geoscience community and addressing the needs of society. AGI headquarters are in Alexandria, Virginia.

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Contact:

Geoff Camphire, Communications