In Memoriam: GIA Governor Dr. Rodney Ewing

Noted scientist served the Institute from 2006 to 2015

“Rod Ewing exemplified the high caliber and deep expertise in science, research and academia of the many scientists who serve on the Institute’s Board of Governors, helping to strategically guide the Institute,” said Susan Jacques, GIA President and CEO. “He was very supportive of the Institute’s gemological research and encouraged the establishment of the Richard T. Liddicoat Postdoctoral Fellowship program, which helped expand GIA’s research capabilities.” 

Dr. Ewing’s more than 50 years of contributions to science earned many awards and much recognition. He was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, a foreign fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and received the Lomonosov Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2017, the most complex mineral then known was named in his honor – ewingite. 

Dr. Ewing planned to retire later this year from his position as a professor in the department of geological and environmental sciences at the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford University. He served on 13 National Research Council committees, served two terms on the Board of Nuclear and Radiation Studies and chaired the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board under President Barack Obama. In 2015, Dr. Ewing was honored with the International Mineralogical Association’s Medal of Excellence in Mineralogical Sciences and the American Geosciences Institute’s Medal in Memory of Ian Campbell for Superlative Service in the Geosciences.