Dr. ROBERT HAZEN HONORED AS LEGENDARY GEOSCIENTIST
Dr. Robert Hazen, a Member of the DDE Science Committee (SC) has been awarded the American Geosciences Institute’s (AGI) 2025 Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist Medal in recognition of his lifetime of notable achievements in the geosciences and global impact across disciplines (see: Dr. Robert Hazen Named 2025 Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist by AGI).
Dr. Hazen is the Director of the DDE Research Center of Excellence (RCE) at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Earth and Planets Laboratory. The RCE focuses research on “Geomaterials Informatics”. He presented a report on the RCE’s work during 2023-2024 to the 5th session of DDE Science Committee (SC) and the 14th session of the DDE Executive Committee which met in Kunshan City, China, between 21 and 23 August 2024. The EC based on Dr. Hazen’s report, confirmed DDE’s continuing support to the Carnegie RCE during 2025-2026.
Later, Dr. Hazen has submitted a half-yearly report on the RCE’s work in 2025 for review by the DDE EC which is available at: (see link: )
Dr. Hazen is also the Leader for the implementation of the ongoing (2023-2026) DDE funded project on “Completing the Evolutionary System of Mineralogy”. The 2024 report on the implementation of this project could be accessed at: (see link: ).
Dr. Hazen has made presentations and participated in panel discussions in several DDE sessions at major international geoscience events.
Dr. Robert Hazen (right) with fellow Panelists Dr. Richard Chuchla (Co-Chair, International Advisory Committee on GeoGPT) and Dr. Antonio Abreu (Director, Division of Ecological and Earth Science, UNESCO) and Dr. Susan Nash, Chair of the Panel on “International Cooperation for “Wide, Open Science” at AGU, San Francisco, CA, USA, 12 December 2023.
At the 9th session of the DDE Governing Council (GC) convened online on 26 June 2025, the Chair of the DDE GC, Prof. Harvey Thorleifson, congratulated Dr. Rob Hazen, who was in attendance, on behalf of the Members of the GC and the wider DDE global community. Prof. Thorleifson thanked Dr. Hazen for the valuable services and guidance he has provided in the development and implementation of DDE since its launch in 2019. The minutes of the 9th session of DDE are available at: (see link: 9TH SESSION OF THE DDE GOVERNING COUNCIL).
Dr. Hazen Chairs the Mineral Informatics Working Group of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA), a Member of the DDE GC. The 24th General Meeting of IMA is scheduled to be convened in Nanjing, China, from 20 to 24 August 2026 (IMA 2026). The Chair of the DDE Executive Committee (EC), Prof. Qiuming Cheng and Dr. Hazen have begun discussions to explore joint DDE-IMA sessions and activities during that event; more information on that event will be made available in due course.