William Harvey Gross Award
William Harvey Gross Medal
The William Harvey Gross Award is bestowed annually by the Mineral Deposits Division (MDD) to an early career geoscientist who last graduated from a post-secondary school not more than 15 years before the award and has made a significant contribution to the field of economic geology in a Canadian context. The recipient may be either a Canadian or non-Canadian who has made a contribution in Canada, or one within a Canadian context. The contribution on which the award is based may relate to studies that include all aspects of what is generally referred to as economic geology, and which represents the broad spectrum of fields to which Bill Gross contributed. These include mineral exploration and development, scientific research either applied or fundamental, and field based studies.
The award consists of a medal and a cash supplement supported through endowment funds provided by Corona Corp. and donations by the friends and family of Bill Gross to provide a contribution toward the travel expenses for the recipient and guest to attend the annual luncheon of MDD to receive the award.
The 2025 William Harvey Gross Medal is awarded to Dr. Merilie Reynolds
Dr. Merilie Reynolds has made substantial achievements in the three main realms of economic geology: industry, government, and academia. She has consistently striven and succeeded in enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in the geological sciences, especially in field geology.
Dr. Reynolds obtained her bachelors degree in Geology in 2008 at Smith College. After which she embarked on a career in mineral exploration and worked with Barrick and Teck Resources. She worked at several significant districts including the Carlin trend in Nevada, Copperbelt in Zambia, and the Red Dog district in Alaska. She developed outstanding leadership and management skills in her roles at these companies, which included planning and running drill programs, training junior geologists, data governance, and implementation of TruScan data collection. After which she returned to pursue PhD research at the University of Alberta, investigating the formation of the Anarraaq clastic-dominated Zn-Pb-Ag deposit, Red Dog District, Alaska. The significance and excellence of her research was recognized by the prestigious NSERC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and the University of Alberta President’s Doctoral Prize of Distinction. This work has been published in high ranking journals including Geology and Economic Geology.
Dr. Reynolds has taught at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire and MacEwan University, Edmonton. Through a grant from the University of Wisconsin, she made important contributions to teaching by developing course materials to utilize 3D printed and virtual models. Her tools allowed for better visualization of subsurface geology and supported students in achieving learning outcomes during the covid-19 closures and restrictions.
In her current position as a Mineral Deposits Geologist at the Northwest Territories Geological Survey, she continues to be active in research. Her projects cover a range of economic geology initiatives related to gold deposits, rare earth element deposits, and sediment hosted deposits in the NWT. Another important and significant contribution that Dr. Reynolds has made to the field of Economic Geology is her impact on improving equity, diversity and inclusion in geoscience. She introduced new practices to boost female representation at speaking events and raised awareness on gender-based challenges in field geology. These include she co-writing an article for GSA Today aimed at creating a positive bathroom field culture in the geosciences, anecdotally this is being implemented by both government organizations and companies.
The William Harvey Gross Award will be presented at the 2025 GAC-MAC meeting in Ottawa.
2024: C. LaFlamme
2023: C. Lawley
2022: S. Perrouty
2021: P. Lecumberri-Sanchez
2020: J.-L. Pilote
2019: M. DeWolfe
2018: No award
2017: J. Hinchey
2016: S. Dare
2015: L. Ootes
2014: S. McClenaghan
2013: M. Houlé
2012: D. Layton-Matthews
2011: J. Hanley
2010: S. Gleeson
2009: P. Mercier-Langevin
2008: P. Hollings
2007: E. Thomas
2006: S. Piercey
2005: Y . Pan
2004: S. Lin
2003: R. Sherlock
2002: J. Peter
2001: J. P. Richards
2000: C.E.G. Farrow
1999: D. Lentz
1998: P.C. Lightfoot
1997: D. Wyman
1996: M.C. Hannington
1995: W. Bleeker
1994: S.J. Barnes
1993: J.F.H. Thompson
1992: H.L. Gibson
1991: D. Wilton
1990: F. Robert
1989: R.M. Britten
1988: R. Kerrichh
Contact Us:
info@mddgac.org
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