Citation by Shanaka de Silva
On behalf of the nominating team, it is my high honor and deep pleasure to present this citation for the 2024 GSA Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, and Volcanology Division Distinguished Geological Career Award recipient Professor Anita Lizzie Grunder—a tour de force in every sense of the word. Anita’s scientific career has illuminated the inner workings of magmatic systems and volcanic processes across a dazzling range of geologic settings. From arc volcanism in the Andes and the Cascades to the rhyolite fields of the High Lava Plains, to the vast Columbia River flood basalts, Anita has brought curiosity, clarity, and an extraordinary integrative, multiscale, vision to the study of how the Earth’s mantle and crust evolves through magmatism and manifests as volcanism.
Her work is grounded—quite literally—in the field, but seamlessly extends into the lab, where she pairs detailed mapping with cutting-edge petrology, geochemistry, experiments and thermodynamic modeling. Her research has yielded deep insight into topics as diverse as magmatic evolution and architecture, crustal assimilation, volcanic structure, and post depositional evolution of volcanic deposits. Her ability to decode complex systems—like the Aucanquilcha volcanic cluster, Rattlesnake Tuff, and Steens Basalt—using a multi-data, multiscale approach is inspiring, and her publications are widely cited and foundational across the MGPV disciplines.
But her influence goes far beyond her research. At Oregon State University, she has shaped at least two generations of geoscientists through passionate, hands-on teaching and mentorship. She has guided over 50 graduate students, inspired hundreds more undergraduates, and built a hardrock curriculum and research culture, the VIPER group that is renowned nationally and internationally.
Anita is also a committed leader and community builder. From serving as Vice-President of IAVCEI and Chair of the GSA MGPV Division to organizing field trips, conferences, and regional collaborations, Anita has consistently worked to strengthen our scientific community and promote inclusive excellence. Anita Lizzie Grunder’s career exemplifies the very best of geoscience. It is with deep respect and great enthusiasm that we recognize her today with the 2024 Distinguished Geological Career Award. Please join us in congratulating her!
Response by Anita L. Grunder
Thank you to GSA and to MGPV, in particular, for being good custodians of the community, including meetings, field trips, publications, funding, and so much more, plus formal recognition of community members. I am delighted and honored and humbled by this award and thank my colleagues and friends for making this possible. Particularly Shan De Silva, my OSU colleague and fellow lover of silicic magmatic systems and the Altiplano. A thoughtful citation. Thanks. Wendy Bohrson, John Wolff and Gerhard Wörner were on the nominating committee—all outstanding scientists whose work I follow and also great humans. Wendy and I spent some humid days mapping Isla Socorro and then dry hot days on Steens Mountain. She can also write a petrologic modeling program and change a tire. Gerhard’s work in the Andes is amazingly comprehensive and soundly field based. John Wolff has had a parallel career to mine in that he has worked on big silicic ignimbrites and flood basalts. I have always admired his petrologic insight and courage to think big. Thank you for making this possible. I would not be standing here without you and my geology family. The estate of James B. Thompson supports this award and the website includes this quote: “True success in the laboratory should stimulate field investigations rather than discourage them. It would be embarrassing indeed if we were to construct an internally consistent geology, chemically and physically sound, perfect in fact but for one flaw: the lack of a planet to fit it. I extend my gratitude to the Thompson vision and implementation by MGPV. I have based my work in field studies and then used whatever geochemical, petrologic or modeling tools needed to solve problems or look for patterns in understanding how continental magmatic systems work and change in time. My field base is likely rooted in a childhood of outdoor activities, though oddly I never was a kid that collected rocks. Indeed, I thought Botany would be my path. The giant classes full of pre-meds at Berkeley made it hard to choose a biological field for a major. I was driven to choose the least populous science major I could find, which was paleontology. There were 5 majors total and 2 in my year. I regret to disappoint you in that I graduated in the bottom of my class. The introductory geology I was required to take in my new major was taught by Wes Hildreth. The labs were spent mapping in the Berkeley Hills and I was completely seduced by the experience of querying the Earth in such a way. Field work with him in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Alaska, and with Gail Mahood in the Sierra la Primavera, Mexico, sealed my fate. Both Gail and Wes set high standards for integrating detailed petrologic and geochemical data with field studies. After a 3-year pre-doc wandering around and working in various labs, including the Berkeley geochronology lab, I settled down to work with Gail at Stanford. As I reflect on my career, I am struck by what pioneers she and Elizabeth Miller were in the hallowed patriarchal system of the day. We had a dynamite group of grad students. One especially accomplished field geologist, John Dilles, has proved an excellent companion and partner in all things professional and personal since. My deep thanks to Gail and Elizabeth for fostering a lively band of students who became lifelong colleagues and friends. And I can’t say enough good about John Dilles and our children, Anita Zoe and Leo, who have tolerated our peregrinations to the field and various sabbaticals. I have also learned a great deal about porphyry copper deposits and that altered rocks also have a purpose. Coming from the school of Carmichael for sampling only the freshest of the fresh, this is saying a lot. So many colleagues and friends have made my life interesting. I would love to list you all but I have a 1000-word limit. For hosting life-affirming sabbaticals I thank George Bergantz, Tim
Druitt and Peter Ulmer. For hilarity in the field and plenty of all kinds of work I thank my 28 grad students and many undergrads- you know who you are. My career is not possible without you. With my students I have chased rhyolite ignimbrites and domes to various basalts in eastern Oregon and elsewhere in the Basin and Range, as well as in the Absarokas, the Cascades and the Andes. I have also enjoyed working with students in the classroom. It remains one of humanity’s greatest achievements that we have institutions dedicated to the development of the mind and the creation of knowledge. It has been an honor and privilege to be at Oregon State University.
I am so very pleased that there is much overlap in the Venn diagrams of my colleagues, my students, my family, and my friends. The geologic community has been a great network, and I thank you all. I add thanks to NSF. No small part of my career has been steady grant support. The engagement of the program officers with the geologic community is exceptional and I especially thank Sonia Esperança and Jenn Wade for setting high professional and community standards.
In closing, as I see it, I have been a good researcher, an excellent teacher, a pretty good mother, a good wife, a good colleague and friend, and an excellent builder and supporter of community. I am glad this adds up to a distinguished geologic career. It means a great deal to me to be receiving this award. Thank you so very much.