2020 BOD Election

All current GS members are eligible to vote in the Board of Directors election. Voting instructions will be sent by email on Nov. 7. Please contact gsoffice@geochemsoc.org if you have any questions about how to vote or did not receive the ballot. The deadline to vote is November 27, 2019.

A brief biography of each candidate is presented below. Click on a candidate's name to visit his or her web page.

Vice President

The Vice President nominates members and chairs of the various committees of the society and serves on the Board as a voting member. The Vice President is elected for a two-year term, followed by a two-year term as President. He or she also serves on the Goldschmidt Forum, the governing body of the Goldschmidt Conference.

(Select ONE)

KARIM BENZERARA
Karim Benzerara is a Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche scientifique and the deputy director of the Department of Mineralogy, Material Science and Cosmochemistry (IMPMC) hosted by Sorbonne University and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris (France). His research focuses on the interactions between the biosphere and the geosphere in modern as well as past environments. He has a strong interest in biomineralization processes, how they impact biogeochemical cycles, archive past traces of life or can be used for remediation and/or can be involved in some medical pathologies. He received the 2010 Houtermans Award, the 2012 MSA Award and gave the 2017 Ingerson lecture of the GS. He served as a Nano to microscale processes in geochemistry Theme Chair for the 2017 Goldschmidt Conference and the Interfaces from the nano to macro scales Theme Chair for the 2013 Goldschmidt Conference. He served as a counselor then the treasurer of the European Association of Geochemistry between 2015 and 2017 and was on the organization committee of the 2016 Goldschmidt Conference in Paris.

Short statement from the candidate
We, the geochemists, despite our growing multidisciplinarity and the need for acute analytical specialization, deeply feel as one single community gathering around broad questions about the origin, the present functioning and the fate of our Planet. Today, these questions are in strong resonance with some of the biggest problems faced by humankind and we have the responsibility to provide keys on that to the rest of society. Practically, we also gather around one international conference, the Goldschmidt Conference as well as society journals. More than ever, we need to be very strong as a community to confront immediate challenges. I think that there are two major ones that we, as a society, will need to tackle: (i) how to reappropriate ourselves the ways to communicate our work through publications to our peers and the general public at a fair cost for our community; (ii) how to continue to exchange internationally through conferences together limiting our carbon footprint and preserving a major source of income for the GS. We will need to be innovative but as scientists, this is probably what we like the most. I believe that the Geochemical Society is one of our greatest tools to solve these problems in concert with our 'sister societies'. This is why I would like to stand for election as vice president of the Geochemical Society.

SUMIT CHAKRABORTY
Sumit Chakraborty is a Professor at the Ruhr Universität at Bochum, Germany and director of the central accelerator facility, RUBION, on the campus of the University. He is interested in the timescales of geological and planetary processes, and in how processes occurring on a hierarchy of nested timescales are coupled to each other. He uses physical chemistry, in particular kinetics and diffusion, to develop tools for the determination of timescales. His research is based to equal extents on field studies, laboratory experiments and theoretical developments. He is a Fellow of the Geochemical Society, the European Association of Geochemistry and the Mineralogical Society of America and was awarded the Dana Medal by the Mineralogical Society of America. His service to the Geochemical Society includes roles as Theme Chair for the Nano to Microscale processes Theme at the Goldschmidt Conferences in Barcelona (2019) and Boston (2018), and as a co-Chair (with Adina Paytan) of the Science Committee for Goldschmidt 2020 (Honolulu).

Short statement from the candidate
We live at a point of time when geochemical issues ranging from pollution through climate change and resource management are at the center of several vigorous international socio-political discussions. It is the role of the Geochemical Society to ensure that such discussions are informed by robust analytical data, inferences from well-founded quantitative theoretical principles, and perspectives that link the totality of the internal as well as the external geochemical reservoirs of the Earth. Propagation of the most recent and robust scientific results into socio-political discussions relies on the breadth of the membership of the Society, which should be characterized by diversity in age, geography, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic groups. To help the Society realize this vision is my motivation for serving as vice president.

International Secretary

The International Secretary is responsible for outreach to scientists and students in countries that are under-represented in the society's membership, as well as communication with international geological organizations. This is a three-year term of service.

MAGALI ADER
Magali Ader has been serving on the GS board since 2017. She is Professor of Geochemistry at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France. Her research interests focus mainly on understanding controls on stable isotope compositions in sedimentary rocks and fluids. This has led her to address several aspects of Earth Sciences including the evolution of carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycles through time, bacterial vital effects, fluid-rock interactions in CO2 storage sites and solute transport properties in sedimentary basins.

Secretary

The Secretary maintains the Bylaws, records Board votes and meeting minutes, and serves as the Geochemical Society representative on the Elements Executive Council. This is a three-year term of service.

ALEXANDRA "SASHA" TURCHYN
Alexandra (Sasha) Turchyn, a University of Cambridge Reader in Biogeochemistry, is a sedimentary isotope geochemist whose research seeks to understand how the carbon cycle works both now and over Earth's history. Her research focuses on how the microbial biosphere (bacteria and archaea) impact the carbon budget in sedimentary environments and how this biology may have functioned early in Earth history. She studies a range of modern and past processes and environments and how they are recorded in the sedimentary rock record. She has been a member of the Geochemical Society since her PhD, and attended nearly every Goldschmidt, as a presenter, session chair, and theme co-chair. She has served as Secretary of the GS since 2017.

Treasurer

The Treasurer maintains the financial records of the society, ensures compliance with tax filing regulations, and chairs the Finance Committee. The Treasurer is elected for a three-year term.

HAIBO ZOU
Haibo Zou is Professor of Geology in the Department of Geosciences at Auburn University, USA. His research areas include isotope geochemistry, igneous petrology, volcanology, and theoretical geochemistry. He is the author of the book Quantitative Geochemistry. He is an Associate Editor for Geological Society of America Bulletin and a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.

Non-Officer Director

Non-Officer Directors participate in Board discussions and serve on the Board as voting members. This is a three-year term of service. In order for the Board membership to reflect the regional diversity of the Society membership, this year requires election of one officer from Europe (Region 2) and one from Africa, Asia, Australia, or Central/South America (Region 3).

Director - Region 2

(Select ONE)

HARRY BECKER
Harry Becker is Professor of Geochemistry at the Institute for Geological Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. His research focuses on chemical and isotopic studies of planetary materials to constrain and understand processes that led to the formation, differentiation and early evolution of the Earth, the Moon and other planetary bodies. He initiated the establishment of the Collaborative Research Center TRR 170 'Late accretion onto Terrestrial Planets' and currently serves as its spokesperson. Other research topics include processes that change the composition of Earth's mantle and crust and the study of secular changes of the composition of Precambrian sediments. He previously served as chair of the Geochemistry Section of Deutsche Mineralogische Gesellschaft.

MARK REHKÄMPER
Mark Rehkämper is Professor of Isotope Geochemistry at the Department of Earth Science & Engineering of Imperial College London. His research interests are broad and encompass the application of radiogenic and non-traditional stable isotope systems to address questions in planetary, earth, environmental and life sciences. For example, he applies isotopic measurements to study cycling of anthropogenic Pb in the oceans, investigate the depletion of volatile elements in the terrestrial planets, to examine the uptake of toxic Cd by crops, and elucidate the role of trace metals in human health. He has previously served the Geochemical Society as member of the Nominations Committee, by supporting various Goldschmidt Conferences (as Theme Chair / Program Committee member) and he's currently part of the Joint Publications Committee, which oversees publication of GCA.