DTM Staff Scientist Richard Carlson is among 84 new members and 21 foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Carlson, who received his Ph.D. in Earth science from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1980, came to DTM as a Postdoctoral Fellow and has been a staff member at DTM since 1981. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a fellow of both the American Geophysical Union and the Geochemical Society, and is the incoming president of the Geochemical Society, having served two years as its Vice-President.

Last summer Carlson, along with current Visiting Investigator Dmitri Ionov, spent two weeks doing fieldwork in Mongolia sampling mantle xenoliths and the many thick sequences of young basalts in the Hangay Plateau.  Prior to that, Rick’s research with former Carnegie Fellow Maud Boyet and collaborators pointed to a younger age for the Earth’s Moon than previously thought.  Those findings were published online in Nature in August 2011.

Carlson had to break away from his rock-crushing lab to receive the important news of his election to the NAS.

"I'm incredibly honored and humbled to be elected to the National Academy.  There are so many others whose work deserves this recognition.  My deepest thanks to those colleagues who nominated me and supported my election." said Carlson.

He was later congratulated by his DTM colleagues with a champagne and cake reception.

For more information visit the Carnegie press release.