March 1 Business Meeting Report
by Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary
President Kenny Reynolds welcomed and thanked everyone for joining our MSDC club’s monthly meeting and gave a tip of the hat to four attending past presidents, thanking them for their service.
He then called the business meeting to order and with reference to the February Business Meeting report as published in the March Mineral Minutes asked if any changes were needed. With none suggested, he called for and received a motion to accept which was given unanimous approval by the members.
Treasurer’s Report
John Weidner then gave an update on the club’s finances and noted that our membership has grown to 40 members. He also shared that he has been getting fake requests for money and explained that this is why our club and others do not publicize any financial information. He also shared the disbursements for EFMLS and our traditional annual support of the Smithsonian Department of Mineral Sciences and the Foshag award for geological research conducted by an undergraduate student.
Newsletter Editor’s Report
Ken Rock shared his very positive experience in February attending the Tucson Gem & Mineral show. His experience included not only visiting with dealers and reconnecting with fellow collectors, but also attending some excellent lectures and having dinner with one of our prior presenters, as well. Ken also asked for everyone to consider sharing their own stories of how they got their own start in collecting and submitting their stories for publication in future issues of the Mineral Minutes.
Monthly Program Presentations
Kenny then called on Cindy Schmidtlein, our VP for Programs, to give us an update on our future meetings.
March Program: Cindy noted that tonight we were having two presentations. The first presenter will be Irene Shuk, the 2023 Foshag Award winner, who has been studying geology under the guidance of Dr. Richard Tollo of George Washington University. Irene gave a thorough explanation of her plans to research the effects of pH changes on clay minerals and why that has very important implications for agriculture and the environment. Traditionally, MSDC asks its award recipient to give us an overview of the research the student expects to be conducting over the summer months.
The second presentation was to be given by Dr. Ben Andrews, Director of the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program. A summary of Ben’s presentation is provided elsewhere in this newsletter.
April Program: Dr. Jeffrey Post, the Smithsonian’s Curator in Charge of Gems and Minerals, will speak on “Musings on a Mineral Museum Curator: Updates on the Smithsonian and Tucson.”
May Program: Professor Debra Brooks will speak on Actinolite, Alpine Mud flows.
June Program: Patrick Rowe will discuss the craton hypotheses from Earth’s core: "Growth of the Continental Craton."
Geology in the News
Kenny then asked if any attendees had information to share about any geological events around the world. Discussion then began on the recent earthquakes in Turkey and their similarity to those associated with the San Andreas Fault in CA. The extensive loss of life and property destruction was cataclysmic, leaving two million people homeless as three tectonic plates crashed together.
Upcoming mineral shows were also discussed, including a show in Delaware and the annual show sponsored by our sister club, the Gem, Lapidary, and Mineral Society of Montgomery County, MD (GLMSMC). Craig Moore also updated everyone on our other sister club, the Northern Virginia Mineral Club, and many applauded its reorganization.
New and Old Issues
With no further issues needing discussion, Kenny called for and received a motion and unanimous vote to close the business meeting. He turned the meeting over to Cindy to introduce our presenters for the evening.