John Cedric Griffiths Teaching Award
A. Description
The John Cedric Griffiths Teaching Award is a plaque with the recipient’s name and the date. An award in memory of John Griffiths was approved by the General Assembly during the XXX International Geological Congress in Beijing in 1996. Each recipient is to receive an engraved plaque bearing the recipient’s name and an inscribed technical book of the recipient’s choice for a value not to exceed the equivalent of US$350 in 1998.
Griffiths was the first recipient of the Krumbein medal. Born in Llanelli, Wales, in 1912, he received a BSc in 1933, an MSc in 1934, and a PhD in 1937, all in petrology at the University of Wales. In 1940, he received the Diploma of the Imperial College in petrography and a PhD in petrography from the University of London. In 1947, after working for seven years with the Trinidad Leaseholds Ltd. in the British West Indies, he joined the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University. He stayed there until his retirement in 1977, deeply influencing hundreds of students. He died on June 2, 1992, at State College, Pennsylvania. Besides his well-known text “Scientific Methods in Analysis of Sediments,” he published more than 100 articles. Griffiths pioneered the application of quantitative methods in a wide spectrum of geological and economic problems.
B. Supporting By-Law
By-Law 14 determines that:
14. The John Cedric Griffiths Teaching Award shall be presented to honor outstanding teaching, with preference for teaching that involves application of mathematics or informatics to the Earth’s nonrenewable natural resources or to sedimentary geology. Age or academic status are not conditions for the award.
C. Guidelines
- The Awards Committee shall invite nominations in the IAMG Newsletter and other appropriate places early enough to allow for scheduling of the presentation of the award during the nomination year.
- Nominations shall include both a resume and a short statement summarizing the most relevant qualifications of the nominee. They should be submitted to the Chairman of the Awards Committee.
- Age, IAMG membership, or academic status are not conditions, so that teachers in universities, colleges, high schools and preparatory schools, elementary schools, and in private practice may be considered.
- The merits of all nominees shall be summarized in the form of numerical scores based on the antecedents reached to the Committee and distributed among all members.
- Each recipient is expected to attend the meeting where the prize is awarded, and to present a paper concerning with advances in teaching or research training that have been cited.
- Reasonable travel expenses to attend the meeting shall be provided by IAMG.
- The Griffiths Award is presented in the same year as the Krumbein Medal.
- The Awards Committee shall be responsible to designate a citationist to prepared a announcement including at least one picture of the recipient. The announcement shall be published in Computers & Geosciences; the Internet site, where it should remain until the next recipient is announced; and in the proceedings, if any, of the conference where the presentation is made.