W. Gary Ernst

Outstanding Achievement Award Recipient

College of Science and Engineering, October 10, 2011

W. Gary Ernst is the Benjamin M. Page Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Stanford University. He received his masters of science degree in geology from the University of Minnesota in 1955. He is considered to be a legendary figure in the fields of mineralogy and petrology in the U.S. and internationally. He has made significant contributions to our understanding of the Earth and its materials. He is best known for his seminal work on the metamorphic geology of subduction zones, which was published in a series of papers in the 1970's. His more recent work on ultrahigh pressure metamorphorism has had a major impact on continental collisional zones, where pressures have been high enough to convert graphite inclusions in minerals into diamonds. He has also made an impact on his profession through positions of leadership including serving as chairman of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Director of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at UCLA and as Dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford. He has served as president of the Geological Society of America and the Mineralogical Society of America. He has also served on many advisory and review committees for academic and research institutions in the U.S. and abroad. A highly creative and influential scientist, he has published over 200 papers on a range of important and groundbreaking subjects. He is an outstanding teacher and mentor, with 50 Ph.D. students and 30 postdoctoral scholars, many who now hold important faculty, government and industrial positions across the country and around the globe. He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions including membership in the National Academy of Sciences, fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Penrose Medal and the Roebling Medal (the highest awards of the Geological Society of America) and the Geological Society of Japan Medal.

Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.