2015 – Rod C. Ewing
Rodney C. Ewing is the Frank Stanton Professor in Nuclear Security in the Center for International Security and Cooperation at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Professor in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences in the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford University.
No scientist has made a greater contribution to the development of mineralogical approaches to the safe disposal of high-level nuclear waste and none have been more influential in developing the theoretical and experimental methods for studying the interactions between ionizing radiation and prospective storage materials. Rodney C. Ewing has worked on the long-term stability of nuclear waste forms, actinide mineralogy, crystal chemistry and geochemistry, the mobility of radionuclides in the geological environment with applications to risk analysis of geologic repositories, and the development of policies for the protection of human health and the environment. His eminence in the field of nuclear materials led to his appointment by President Obama to head the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, the first mineralogist ever to head this Board. He is the Founding Editor of Elements magazine.