Rodney Ewing, an award-winning scientist and former governor on the board of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), passed away earlier this month at the age of 77.
Ewing, with over 50 years of expertise in geoscience and mineral science, held numerous positions on several boards, GIA announced Wednesday. He served on the institute’s board of governors from 2006 to 2015, playing a key role in guiding the institute and supporting its gemological research. He also promoted the creation of the Richard T. Liddicoat Postdoctoral Fellowship program, which enhanced GIA’s research capabilities.
Ewing was a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a foreign fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He received the International Mineralogical Association’s Medal of Excellence in Mineralogical Sciences in 2015, as well as the American Geosciences Institute’s Medal in Memory of Ian Campbell for Superlative Service in the Geosciences. Additionally, he was awarded the Lomonosov Gold Medal from the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2017, the mineral ewingite was named in his honor.
Ewing’s career included serving on 13 National Research Council committees. He chaired the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board under President Barack Obama. At the time of his death, Ewing was a professor in the department of geological and environmental sciences at Stanford University’s School of Earth Sciences.
