Rajdeep Dasgupta, Christian Frankenberg, J. Taylor Perron, David Lawrence Shuster, and Jessica Erin Tierney were awarded the 2014 James B. Macelwane Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 17 December 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal is for “significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by an outstanding early career scientist.”  

It is fitting that one of this year’s Macelwane awards is being given to Rajdeep Dasgupta. There are but a handful of people who have accomplished so much and have had such an impact on the scientific community at such a young age.

Together with his students, he has published a series of papers that have defined him and his laboratory at Rice University as one of the world leaders in understanding the role of volatiles in phase equilibria. His work is now the gold standard for the melting of rocks in carbon dioxide–rich systems, and he has provided new models and data for carbon dioxide solubility in melts. He has also provided new constraints on carbon solubility in the core and has given us a deeper understanding of how melting happens in the mantle, with implications for the physical properties of the astheno­sphere.

On top of all the experimental work, he has still managed to find time to synthesize observations with experiments, providing the community with comprehensive and, at times, provocative views of how the whole Earth carbon cycle operated, from magma oceans in the Hadean to the plate tectonics at present. These are clearly hot topics in the Earth science community right now, but it is clear that Raj has played a dominant role in defining these research directions, rather than being someone who follows fads. Thus, it is no surprise that he is continuing to push new frontiers as we speak. He is currently working on sulfur solubility in a variety of petrologic systems in order to understand sulfur transport in subduction zones and even during Martian magmatism.

On top of his research accomplishments, Raj has also carved a niche for himself as a great mentor and educator, inspiring and working with numerous graduate students and undergraduates. His ability to pay attention to important details and, at the same time, maintain the big picture is a skill that all desire but few have. Raj is the quintessential role model for a new generation of petrologists.

—Cin-Ty Lee, Rice University, Houston, Texas

Thank you, Cin-Ty, for the kind and generous citation and thanks to the Macelwane committee and those who contributed toward my nomination for their time and consideration. I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from AGU. Especially, looking at the list of illustrious scientists who received this award in the past, I feel humbled. It is usual for the honorees to thank some key people and recall a few defining moments in occasions like this, and my response, in many ways, is not going to be different. Without the tutelage and encouragement of Somnath Dasgupta, Pulak Sengupta, Sudipta Sengupta, Pradip Bose, the late Prasanta Bhattacharya, Subir Ghosh, and many others at Jadavpur University during my B.Sc. and M.Sc. days; the guidance of Marc Hirschmann at University of Minnesota during my Ph.D. work; and the supervision of Dave Walker during my postdoc research at Lamont, I would not be standing here. In particular, getting a taste of the full course of geological sciences at Jadavpur, learning how to ask important questions and connect small-scale experiments to big-scale processes from Marc, and the out-of-the-box and free thinking under the support of Dave were all essential for me. When I wrote similar responses even 2–3 years ago, I could have stopped with more or less what I have written thus far. But for this particular recognition, I feel it is really my time at Rice University since 2008 that made this happen. I am grateful to the Department of Earth Science for providing me with the much-needed support to build my experimental lab and group plus supportive colleagues. Not too many young investigators can say with confidence that it is the work of their current and past advisees that brought them the recognition. But it is certainly the hard work, dedication, and accomplishments of Ananya Mallik, Kyusei Tsuno, Justin Filiberto, Veronique Le Roux, Han Chi, Megan Duncan, Echo Ding, Sébastien Jégo, Laura Carter, Yuan Li, James Eguchi, Sriparna Saha, and several undergraduate researchers that made my scientific career flourish in recent years. So I am standing here simply on behalf of all of them, and they should feel as proud as I do today. Finally, the adventure with geology and life would have been impossible without Sushmita and so much less fun to look forward to without Pritthij, Aurno, and Odri. So this is to all of you as well. —Rajdeep Dasgupta, Rice University, Houston, Texas

Rajdeep Dasgupta was awarded the 2014 James B. Macelwane Medal and a Conferred Union Fellow at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 17 December 2014 in San Francisco, CA. The medal is for “significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by an outstanding early career scientist.”

Rajdeep Dasgupta received the Hisashi Kuno Award at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, held 3–7 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "accomplishments of junior scientists who make outstanding contributions to the fields of volcanology, geochemistry, and petrology."  

Raj got his M.S. at Jadavpur University in India in 2000 and then, from 2001, spent 5 years at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, for his Ph.D. He arrived at Rice University as an assistant professor in 2008. Four years later, he has set the world on fire. He has more than 30 publications, more than 1000 citations, an H-index of 17, and three first-authored papers with more than 100+ citations, along with several more that seem to be on their way to hitting that 100 mark.

He is the world’s expert on the deep carbon (C) cycle, from the effects of carbon dioxide on deep mantle melting and the origin of the asthenosphere to the solubility of reduced C in magmas and the core, with implications for early differentiation processes on Earth and Mars. He and his students have made fundamental contributions on the role of melt-rock reaction in generating magma compositions similar to what we see in some ocean islands. He presented a creative way of using major elements in magmas to constrain the composition of the magma source region in the mantle. He is making new headway into the deep sulfur (S) cycle with new models for S solubility on basalts of Martian relevance as well as the solubility of reduced S species in high-pressure aqueous systems relevant to Earth, the latter challenging traditional views of the deep S cycle. He has developed a state-of-the-art experimental facility at Rice University, complete with several piston cylinders and a multianvil apparatus. With Raj and his fantastic students and postdocs, his lab is one of the most productive and creative in the world. All of this has been recognized by other awards: the Packard, the Clarke Medal from the Geochemical Society, and the National Science Foundation CAREER award.

But, to me, the most important aspect of Raj is not all of these metrics and great accomplishments at such a young age but rather the impact he has made on my own research and that of the department. His ideas, thought process, and strong work ethic have shaped our young and growing “solid” Earth group here at Rice. His fugacity, or effective pressure, extends far beyond his already impressive H-index, changing the views of all who happen to pass near his sphere of influence. He has already started to build a legacy, and for this reason, the Kuno award is most fitting.

—CIN-TY A. LEE, Rice University, Houston, Texas

Ever since I started pursuing research, AGU Fall Meetings have been the gathering to feel part of something grand. Hence to be recognized by such an organization is a real honor. Thank you, ­Cin-Ty, for the generous introduction. I’m really glad to have received the citation from a great colleague. My scientific curiosity was first nurtured in Jadavpur University. I would specially mention Somnath Dasgupta, Pulak Sengupta, Pradip Bose, and the late Prasanta Bhattacharya for teaching me what petrology is. After finishing my education in India, all I knew was that I wanted to pursue research in petrology, but not much beyond that; to follow the career paths of Mainak Mookherjee and Saswata Majumder at that time was key, which led me to come to graduate school in the United States. Minnesota was cold, but warm interactions and the tutelage of many at the geology and geophysics department made my stay there worthwhile. While pursuing a Ph.D., I learned from Marc Hirschmann how to ask important questions. During my postdoc days at Lamont, I learned from the maestro of high-pressure experiments, Dave Walker. I also have been fortunate to receive selfless encouragement from a number of you. I would especially mention Jackie Dixon, Stan Hart, Al Hofmann, Bruce Watson, Peter Kelemen, Claude Herzberg, Mainak Mookherjee, and Greg Hirth in this regard. In 2008, Rice gave me the platform from which to launch a research program. But, more important, it gave me great colleagues, including Cin-Ty Lee and Adrian Lenardic, among others. I have also been kept busy by an exciting group of students and postdocs. Kyusei, Veronique, Justin, Ananya, Megan, Han, Shuo, Christine, Sébastien, Jasmine, and now Peter, thank you all for including me in your life experiments. I would not be here without the encouragement and love of my grandparents, the late Santwana and Professor Lokaranjan Dasgupta; my parents; my brother; and my extended family. And I am very happy that my father is here with me to join the celebration. Finally, without my wife Sushmita, I would not be able to embark on this voyage of scientific discovery and ­self-­discovery, so this award is as much hers as mine. —Rajdeep Dasgupta, Rice University, Houston, Texas