Citation by M. Fiorentini
Good morning everybody,
My name is Marco Fiorentini and I am an Associate Professor in Mineral Systems and Early Earth processes at the Centre for Exploration Targeting. This is an applied research centre based at the University of Western Australia.
It is my great pleasure to stand in front of you today to present the award for the 2019 SGA Young Scientist of the Year. As you will know this award is offered biennially to a young scientist who contributed significantly to the understanding of mineral deposits.
Many excellent candidates were nominated and considered for the award this year. It is actually great to remark the outstanding scientific calibre that characterises the research pursuit of young scientists and early career researchers in our discipline. The presence of so many students among us today is a testament to the vibrant community we are part of.
However, ultimately a decision had to be made. And the winner of this year's SGA Young Scientist Award is Dr Crystal Laflamme.
Crystal received her PhD in Canada in 2014 and arrived to UWA in early 2015 with a strong background in field mapping, tectonics and radiogenic isotope systems. During her postdoctoral appointment with us, she grew tremendously and became one of the world leaders in the application of stable isotope techniques to monitor the evolution of fluids and magmas in a wide range of mineral systems.
In Australia, she also developed a strong relationship with industry and successfully integrated isotope techniques towards a better understanding of the global volatile and metal cycle during supercontinent amalgamation and breakup. With the philosophy that applied science and fundamental research are ultimately two sides of the same coin, Dr LaFlamme was able to translate findings from her industry-funded research into a number of high-impact publications, pushing the boundaries of science and pioneering some of the analytical techniques that are used to measure multiple sulfur isotopes.
This successful field of research has enabled Dr LaFlamme to attract top quality students during her appointment at UWA. Her excellence in supervision of students is reflected in their remarkable accomplishments and the award of very competitive scholarships to carry out postgraduate studies. Furthermore, in her relatively short career to date Dr LaFlamme has also developed collaborative work with many institutions worldwide, completing fieldwork and analytical work in numerous globally.
Dr LaFlamme has all the characteristics of an emergent research leader. She was able to proactively take the opportunity of the post-doctoral appointment at UWA and transform it into a trampoline to become one of the most renown thought leaders in the field of isotope geochemistry applied to mineral system science. Dr LaFlamme developed some of the new key working hypotheses that allow us to utilise subtle (but measurable) isotopic anomalies as tracers to track ore forming processes with unprecedented confidence. The work of Dr LaFlamme’s in the field of multiple sulfur isotopes represents a new benchmark in the visualisation of processes that up until a few months ago could not even be thought possible.
In mid 2018, Crystal was awarded a very prestigious Canada Research Chair Tier 2 at Laval University in Canada, as well as significant funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation to boost her research program into the future.
Without further ado, it is my pleasure to present to you the 2019 SGA
Young Scientist winner: Dr Crystal Laflamme.
Letter of acceptance by M. LaFlamme
Thank you Marco for those kind and encouraging words. And thank you to Marco, Georges Beaudoin and David Groves for nominating me. I’m humbled to receive this award and feel that I can only do so by recognising the people that have contributed to my research program. I started my academic career on large government mapping projects in the Canadian arctic where I completed an MSc at Memorial University of Newfoundland and PhD at the University of New Brunswick. I quickly learnt that science and the outdoorswere the perfect combination. Also I noticed that the best geologists were just those that had seen the most outdoors and rocks. It got me hooked. Although not a supervisor, Dave Lentz acted like a mentor to me at this time and encouraged me to stay in academia.
I’m grateful that I’m involved in research at a time when it is inclusive to many from different backgrounds, of different genders and of different experience levels. This is especially the case at the Centre for Exploration of Targeting at the University of Western Australia where I did a postdoc in developing isotopic techniques to apply to ore deposit research. Under the past helm of Cam McCuaig and now the current leadership of Steve Rowins, this research centre really is the perfect environment for collaboration between industry geologists and researchers of various backgrounds. There, visiting scientists are plenty and doors are always open for discussion and ideas. I learned to work closely with students, postdocs and researchers in order to build on each others expertise and also how to check my ego at the door. Specifically, thank you to Marco Fiorentini, Nicolas Thebaud, and Steffen Hagemann, as well as many others, for involving me in your projects and helping me to develop my own.
From there, I thought to bring the open style of research back to Canada to Université Laval where I’m now an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in sulfur isotope geochemistry, but honestly it already existed under the leadership of Georges Beaudoin. He has done a great job of bringing colleagues together of all sorts of different disciplines to work together on problems affecting the mining cycle. I’ve been on maternity leave since May, so I missed the Canadian field season this year, but my colleagues helped me keep my research program alive this summer. Further I have three great independent students that are here – Laura, Dennis and Micheal. Thank you. We all want to have a good work-life balance these days, whether male or female, with kids or without, so I look forward to picking up the slack for others in the future.
Finally, thank you to my husband. He took time off work to come here with our 4 month old baby, so that I could be here to collect this award. He jokingly said if you’re in your 30s and you win an award with the word Young in the title – you should go accept it in person. We had a nice few days exploring this beautiful country. Thank you to the SGA, I humbly accept this award but do so in recognising the many named and unnamed people that have been a part it.