News from Limnology and Oceanography: Methods

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Life and Career of Matthew O. HowardJeffrey M. JensonJeffrey M. JensonUniversity of Denver Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreMatthew O. HowardView Large ImageDownload PowerPointOn December 15, 2018, social work and the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research (JSSWR) lost one of its most prolific scholars, outstanding teachers, and thoughtful mentors in recent memory. Matthew O. Howard, PhD—the Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor of Human Services Policy Information and associate dean for doctoral education in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—passed away following a lengthy hospitalization. As an associate editor for JSSWR, Matthew had a significant impact on improving the quality and influence of the journal. He will be sorely missed by our editorial team.Matthew was a consummate scholar who possessed a singular ability to understand and conceptualize social problems of all types. His research contributed greatly to existing knowledge of the etiology, prevention, and treatment of substance abuse, alcohol dependence, and mental health disorders. And, Matthew’s provocative articles assessing the state of social work education, practice, and research set forth ideas that will affect the trajectory of social work for years to come. His passion for knowledge—conveyed quietly and effectively to countless graduate students—was felt deeply by the many lives he touched over the course of an academic career that included appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, the Department of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health Sciences University, the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, the School of Social Work and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Matthew’s training in social work coincided with my own enrollment in the University of Washington School of Social Work doctoral program in 1984. Matthew and I became immediate and close friends during our graduate studies in Seattle, and we spent hours discussing social work, class assignments, and the research projects we worked on as doctoral students. Many of these conversations occurred in an alley coffee shop in Seattle’s University District, just a stone’s throw from the School of Social Work. Known by the employees as “Matt and Jeff,” we were treated as regulars who would sit at our customary window table for what was likely far too long. It was a time of great intellectual pursuit, and I had found the perfect colleague and friend with whom to share ideas and discuss future plans. It was the beginning of a personal friendship and professional relationship that lasted 34 years.Matthew entered doctoral education with a well-developed interest in understanding the etiology of alcohol and other substance use disorders. Over the nearly four decades that followed, he devoted his career to conducting basic and applied research aimed at ameliorating substance abuse dependence and co-occurring problems associated with alcohol and drug abuse. He became particularly well known for his basic research and intervention studies addressing the vexing problem of inhalant abuse (e.g., Howard, Balster, Cottler, Wu, & Vaughn, 2008; Howard, Bowen, Garland, Perron, & Vaughn, 2011; Howard & Jenson, 1999b). Matthew’s innovative and rigorous research in this area led to three grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and to widespread recognition as one of the world’s foremost experts on inhalant abuse. In recent years, Matthew extended his work to testing mindfulness-oriented interventions for people with chronic pain and opioid misuse. His coinvestigator in much of this work was Eric Garland, professor and associate dean for research in the University of Utah College of Social Work. Eric, a former student of Matthew’s at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, describes some of the important lessons he learned under Matthew’s tutelage in an accompanying article in this issue (Garland, 2019).Matthew also made significant contributions to social work education and research. In the Aaron Rosen Lecture at the 2015 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Matthew traced key developments in social work during the past 30 years and reflected on a vision of the field that stretched to 2044—30 years into the future (Howard & Garland, 2015). The ideas he shared in this lecture have provided a useful framework for assessing the relatively recent history of social work and addressing the challenges in educating master’s-level practitioners and doctoral students in the future. Matthew delivered a similarly thought-provoking lecture on the current state and future of social work doctoral education at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education. Ideas presented in his lectures were coupled with action. One such example is illustrated by Matthew’s early development of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill doctoral-level course on conducting systematic reviews. Students in this class often produced publishable papers as a result of Matthew’s fastidious attention to breadth and quality. In earlier work at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Matthew and colleagues advanced the idea of evidence-based practice as a paradigm for training MSW social work practitioners (Howard, McMillen, & Pollio, 2003). Enola Proctor, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor in the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, was a colleague of Matthew’s at the time. She remembers Matthew as… a brilliant scholar and dear person. Highly regarded for his excellence in the classroom at the Brown School, he was demanding yet was a frequent winner of student-elected teaching awards. Matthew used his seemingly boundless energy to better the fields of addiction research and social work practice. He had my highest respect and unending affection. His passing is a tremendous loss to our field and community of scholars [and] saddens me deeply. (E. Proctor, personal communication, January 9, 2019)In 1999, Matthew and I had the good fortune to guest edit a special issue of Research on Social Work Practice that explored the utility of clinical practice guidelines for social work practice (Howard & Jenson, 1999a). Collectively, Matthew’s lectures and published papers assessing the state of social work education and practice stimulated debate and produced tangible curricula changes in schools across the country.A prolific writer, Matthew published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers in his career. His written work also included 40 book reviews, editorials, and government reports. Matthew’s h-index of 55 and nearly 9,000 citations of his work to date illustrate just how much his scholarship was valued by colleagues. His written contributions will be recognized and used by practitioners, policymakers, and researchers for decades to come.Matthew was a fellow and a board member of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and a fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research. A proponent of interdisciplinary work, he also was a faculty research fellow in the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the time of his passing. Matthew’s devotion to empirical research and scholarship is widely recognized. However, what may be most impressive about Matthew’s career is the recognition he received as both a scholar and a teacher. He was awarded eight outstanding teaching and mentoring awards from students and colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Two of Matthew’s doctoral students at North Carolina (Eric Garland, University of Utah; and Carrie Pettus-Davis, Florida State University) received Doctoral Fellow Awards from the Society for Social Work and Research. Matthew connected with his students by combining high scientific standards with a compassionate approach to helping people succeed. He was soft-spoken, but his ideas and words carried great weight and influence.Matthew’s service to the fields of social work and addiction was also exemplary. He reviewed manuscripts for more than 60 different academic journals in his career. He was on the editorial boards of more than 50 journals—including serving a JSSWR associate editor for the past several years—and he previously served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Service Research, Social Work Research, and the Journal of Addictive Diseases. Matthew also was vice president and served on the Society for Social Work and Research Board of Directors from 2005 to 2008.The task of summarizing the life and career of a prolific and impactful scholar, teacher, and mentor like Matthew is daunting. Mark Fraser, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the founding editor of JSSWR, was a longtime friend, collaborator, and colleague. Reflecting on Matthew’s career, he recalls,As a scholar and a teacher, Matthew was eloquent and encyclopedic. Students flocked to his classes. A gentle spirit who treasured collaboration with others, his greatest joys came in exploring new ideas and reading recent research. In the profession as a thought leader, Matthew was a tour de force. At once, he was creative, insightful, sensitive, critical, and thorough. Matthew was—quite simply—incomparable. (M. Fraser, personal communication, January 8, 2019)Tangible accomplishments like those summarized here do not tell the complete story of a person. Matthew had an uncanny ability to effectively express his strong personal beliefs and ethical values in everyday interactions with friends and colleagues. He had a deep interest in applying the lessons gained from his own empirical work to promote fairness and equity for all people. Matthew’s invaluable input and feedback to students and colleagues about their ideas, papers, or projects came with great civility and kindness. He was an insatiable reader whose knowledge extended to topics well beyond social work or the addictions. In this sense, one could discuss a wide range of topics with Matthew with the preordained understanding that he had very likely already read much of what had been written on the topic. Matthew’s longstanding practice of underscoring written text with yellow highlighters was applied to thousands of empirical and conceptual articles and manuscripts during his career.On a personal level, Matthew enjoyed taking walks, listening to music, and reading novels and poetry. His wry sense of humor often left many of his closest friends and colleagues writhing in laughter. I was among them.JSSWR is proud to count Matthew as one of its most influential associate editors and contributors. His place as an important teacher and scholar in social work education and research is secure. Matthew’s many contributions will be discovered anew by emerging scholars for decades to come. His presence in social work and the broad field of the addictions will be missed by us all.NotesJeffrey M. Jenson, PhD, is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research and the Phillip D. & Eleanor G. Winn Endowed Professor Children and Youth at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to Jeffrey M. Jenson, University of Denver, 2148 S. High St., Denver, CO 80208 or via e-mail to [email protected]ReferencesGarland, E. L. (2019). Standing on the shoulders of giants: Matthew O. Howard as a mentor and his influence on the science of mindfulness as a treatment for addiction. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. Advance online publication. doi:10.1086/702654First citation in articleGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O. (2016, March 31). Hot topics in doctoral education. Presentation at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education, Chapel Hill, NC.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., Balster, R., Cottler, L. B., Wu, L., & Vaughn, M. G. (2008). Inhalant use among incarcerated adolescents: Prevalence, characteristics, and predictors of use. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 93, 197–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2007.08.023First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., Bowen, S., Garland, E. L., Perron, B. E., & Vaughn, M. G. (2011). Inhalant use and inhalant use disorders in the United States. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 6, 18–31.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., & Garland, E. L. (2015). Social work research: 2044. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 6, 173–200. https://doi.org/10.1086/681099First citation in articleLinkGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., & Jenson, J. M. (1999a). Clinical practice guidelines: Should social work develop them? Research on Social Work Practice, 9, 283–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973159900900302First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., & Jenson, J. M. (1999b). Inhalant use among antisocial youth: Prevalence and correlates. Addictive Behaviors, 24, 59–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0306-4603(98)00039-2First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., McMillen, J. C., & Pollio, D. (2003). Teaching evidence-based practice: Toward a new paradigm for social work education. Research on Social Work Practice, 13, 234–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731502250404First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research Volume 10, Number 1Spring 2019 Published for the Society for Social Work and Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/702653HistoryPublished online February 04, 2019 © 2019 by the Society for Social Work and Research. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The NIEHS and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have collaboratively launched four new Centers for Oceans and Human Health and in doing so have established a new paradigm for linking the health and rich resources of the Earth’s oceans with the health outcomes of the Earth’s population. This program offers tremendous promise for developing more comprehensive linkages between oceans and human health as the world’s population continues to depend on one of our greatest natural resources for food, commerce, transportation, and recreation. It harnesses the various talents, disciplines, and expertise of scientists supported by the collaborating agencies. It combines the tools of genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics with physical oceanography. It also stimulates intercenter cooperation and coordination. Supported by the physical and biological science resources of the NSF and the NIEHS, the centers also demonstrate the capacity of federal research agencies to collaborate and leverage resources to foster high-quality interdisciplinary research. This novel, groundbreaking interagency effort fulfills one of the key recommendations of the 2004 report An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century: Final Report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy—to encourage interdisciplinary marine biomedical research to improve our understanding of the links between oceans and human health. [For more information on An Ocean Blueprint, see “America’s Oceans: A Blueprint for the Future,” p. A106 this issue.] In coming years, these NIEHS–NSF Centers for Oceans and Human Health will serve as models of the interaction between the life and physical sciences as well as of federal coordination. The program further serves as a model for interagency cooperation and the development of additional programs by federal agencies to address the links between oceans and human health. The four centers are located at the University of Washington, the University of Hawaii, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and the University of Miami. These centers are using oceanographic chemistry, genomics, proteomics, risk prevention, and public health approaches to address three specific areas in oceans and human health research: harmful algal blooms, water- and vectorborne pathogens, and the derivation of marine biopharmaceuticals. The first annual meeting of the center directors was held in January 2005 and hosted by the University of Miami. The theme for this meeting was the exploration of opportunities for intercenter collaboration, leveraging, and synergy, as well as the pursuit of potential collaborative opportunities within initiatives sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

About the Authors

A new Editorial Team for the BJU International….

With this issue of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics (JSTQE), a new pagination scheme is being implemented based on article numbers rather than page numbers. Article numbers accelerate the online publication of papers in final, fully citable versions. The article number, which is of the form AABBBCC, is comprised of a topic area code (AA), a paper number within the specified topic area (BBB), and the number of pages for the paper (CC). The topic areas and corresponding codes are indicated on the back cover page. Given the importance attached to keeping the time to publication as short as possible, an unedited preprint of an accepted JSTQE paper is normally posted online on IEEE Xplore within one week of the final files being uploaded by the author(s) on the ScholarOne Manuscripts submission system. The posted preprint has a digital object identifier assigned to it. Once available, the final copyedited and XML-tagged version of the paper replaces the preprint on IEEE Xplore, usually well before the Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSTQE.2013.2243591 hardcopy publication date. This final version of the paper has an article number assigned to it which is also used for the print version of the Journal.

Guest Editorial: Situational awareness of integrated energy systems

Focus on Authors

Editorial: Twenty‐Five Years Later…

Focus on Authors

After a 14 year tenure, my predecessor, Carleton Stewart, transferred the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (JLB) to me [1]. That was 15 years ago. In point of fact, we are both indebted to the founders of the Society, who initiated JLB as the Journal of the Reticuloendothelial Society in 1964. I am particularly grateful to Carleton Stewart for initiating the invaluable pyramid-structured review system that remains in use today. Among the most notable features of JLB, our use of a panel of selected expert section editors ensures the identification of fair, knowledgeable, and conscientious reviewers—a feature that sets us apart from other journals of our size and scope. I am honored to note that our current editorial board includes five of the original members who have served JLB along with me for all these years: Craig Reynolds, Alan Kaplan, Alan Landay, Philip Murphy, and Wayne Smith. I am even more indebted to Carleton Stewart as well as to Council Members, Carol Nacy and Monte Meltzer, who, in 1984 had the foresight to change the name of the society and the journal to cover the field of “Leukocyte Biology.” This has provided a crucial focus leading to progressive improvement of JLB, because it broadened the scope of the journal to cover biological and molecular aspects of leukocytes in host defense, chronic disease, restoration of homeostasis, and tissue repair. Consequently, JLB then began publishing papers focused on leukocyte receptors, signal transduction, gene regulation; cell development, growth, differentiation, and function; extracellular mediators and effector molecules; pathogenesis and host defense; and translational and clinical reports. Concomitant with my appointment, Craig Reynolds was selected as Associate Editor. He has invited outstanding leukocyte biologists to publish scholarly reviews in JLB, which has contributed to marked improvement in our impact factor, from 2.7 to ∼4.5. This increase in citation rate has been accompanied by a fourfold increase in manuscripts submitted per year, from fewer than 200 to the current number of about 750. The acceptance rate has also increased, from 25% in 1995 to about 37% at the present time. Consequently, this has led to an increase in the number of journal pages from 1700 to over 3200 annually. This increase can also be attributed to the inclusion of 3 to 5 sets of invited meeting overviews each year. These shorter reviews based on meeting presentations have proven to be quite popular and have citation rates approximately midway between those of the lengthier reviews and original research papers. I would also like to thank Associate Editor, Helene Rosenberg, for arranging and carrying out published interviews with the corresponding authors of Pivotal Advance manuscripts and, more recently, for assistance with the winners of the Dolph Adams Awards. As I reread my editorial as the incoming editor from 14 years ago [2], I am grateful that I have not made too many enemies, and likewise to have survived my time as Editor-in-Chief without any major disasters. We have been very fortunate to have made the profound change from paper to online submission and review with the invaluable assistance of Managing Editor, Amy Huter-Imming. The journal is now published online as well as in print, a feature which has been handled admirably by the FASEB Office of Publications. These developments have enabled us to manage the increase in manuscript submissions with ever greater speed and efficiency. I am happy that, thanks to our team of editors, we have been succeeded in slowly changing the scientific community’s perception of JLB to an appreciation of it as a commendable repository for scientific achievements. More changes are in store in the future, as JLB will be required to find its place in competition with the increasing number of newly minted online journals and to comply with government stipulations and requirements for open access. I am therefore delighted that the Council of the Society for Leukocyte Biology has chosen one of our able and experienced section editors, Luis Montaner, to become Editor-in-Chief. With the help of my many colleagues and coworkers, I am pleased to have been able to facilitate scientific communication and to strengthen the Society during my tenure. I am confident that Luis Montaner will further improve the record and strength of JLB. Finally, I would like to extend my most sincere and heartfelt thanks to all JLB authors, reviewers, and readers who have contributed to the ongoing success of our journal.

Análisis de la producción científica de A ctividad D ietética (1997-2007): ¿qué ha sido, qué es y qué se espera que sea la revista científica de la AED-N?

PROTEOMICS: Into the next decade

Introducing Article Numbering to Modern Pathology

The full numerical resolution of planetary flows, with the complex interdependence of mesoscale and sub-mesoscale dynamics that characterize such large scale circulation, is beyond reach with nowadays technology. When performing a numerical simulation of the ocean or the atmosphere, great care must be put in the choice of the parametrization of all those scales that are too small to be efficiently resolved.This work investigates the benefits of a stochastic decomposition of the Lagrangian trajectory into a smooth-in-time large scale velocity and a random fast-evolving uncorrelated part, ideally accounting for mesoscale and submesoscale processes. This approach, named Location Uncertainty (LU) [1], is built upon a stochastic version of the Reynolds Transport Theorem allowing us to cast the classical physical conservation laws into this scale-separated framework. This framework has been proven to be successful in several large-scale models for ocean dynamics [2,3,4,5].The derivation and implementation (within the community model NEMO, https://www.nemo-ocean.eu) of the hydrostatic primitive equations in this stochastic framework has been outlined in [6] and it is tested in this work with a novel data-driven approach based on dynamical mode decomposition [7]. The flow prediction in an idealized double-gyre configuration is shown to be improved by this stochastic contribution.[1], E. Mémin Fluid flow dynamics under location uncertainty,(2014), Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, 108, 2, 119–146.[1] W. Bauer, P. Chandramouli, B. Chapron, L. Li, and E. Mémin. Deciphering therole of small-scale inhomogeneity on geophysical flow structuration: a stochastic approach. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 50(4):983-1003, 2020.[2] W. Bauer, P. Chandramouli, L. Li, and E. Mémin. Stochastic representation ofmesoscale eddy effects in coarse-resolution barotropic models. Ocean Modelling, 151:101646, 2020.[3] Rüdiger Brecht, Long Li, Werner Bauer and Etienne Mémin. Rotating ShallowWater Flow Under Location Uncertainty With a Structure-Preserving Discretization. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 13, 2021MS002492.[5] V. Resseguier, L. Li, G. Jouan, P. Dérian, E. Mémin, B. Chapron, (2021), New trends in ensemble forecast strategy: uncertainty quantification for coarse-grid computational fluid dynamics, Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering.[6] F.L. Tucciarone, E. Mémin, L. Li, (2022), Primitive Equations Under Location Uncertainty: Analytical Description and Model Development, Stochastic Transport in Upper Ocean Dynamics, Springer.[7] L. Li, E. Mémin, G. Tissot,  Stochastic Parameterization with Dynamic Mode Decomposition, Stochastic Transport in Upper Ocean Dynamics, Springer.

GeoRaman is an international conference where researchers gather to discuss the application of Raman spectroscopy in the fields of geological, planetary, and archaeological sciences. Historically, the first GeoRaman conference was held in Paris (France) in 1986, and then continued there for some time. After a stint in France, the conference then moved to Valladolid (Spain) in 1999, and then took a wide international journey to Prague (Czech Republic) in 2002, to Hawaii (USA) in 2004, to Almunecar (Spain) in 2006, to Gent (Belgium) in 2008, to Sydney (Australia) in 2010, and then back to Nancy (France) in 2012. For the first time, this conference was held in the continental United States, in St. Louis, Missouri, from 15 to 19 of June 2014. Researchers from over 18 countries attended. GeoRaman XI in St. Louis focused on two major aspects of Raman spectroscopy: (1) the most advanced technologies and instrumentation, from laboratories to a wide variety of field applications, e.g. industrial and security monitoring, geo-fields, deep ocean, and on other planets and (2) the newest applications in studying inorganic, organic, and bio-genetic materials in Earth Sciences, Planetary Sciences, Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Archaeology and Archaeometry, Gemology, and Astrobiology. This special issue of the Journal of Raman spectroscopy dedicated to the 11th International GeoRaman Conference has 31 papers covering areas such as Planetary Science, Astrobiology, Mineralogy and Petrology, Biomineralization, Fluid Inclusions, Archaeology and Archaeometry, and Environmental Science. Several of the papers in this special issue are related to the application of Raman spectroscopy as an instrument for planetary exploration. Wei et al.1 report the first rover test of a Raman spectrometer specifically developed for mission flights, the Mars Micro-beam Raman Spectrometer in the Atacama Desert (Chile). In this work, they discovered γ-anhydrite, which is typically an unstable mineral, in large quantities in the soils of the Atacama Desert. Lui and Wang2 shed light on the dehydration of Na-jarosite, ferricopiapite, and rhomboclase to understand their formation and presence as ferric sulfates on Mars. This paper can be found here http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/jrs.4655/asset/jrs4655.pdf. Uriarte et al.3 work on collecting reference spectra of CaCl2.nH2O (n = 0, 2, 4, 6) to enable the geochemical community to identify these key minerals in important fluid geochemical processes here on Earth and Mars. Wang et al.4 provide the first systematic Raman spectroscopic study of phyllosilicates of planetary science importance for the characterization of such materials on the surface of Mars. Bathgate et al.5 identify by Raman spectroscopy primary and secondary minerals of volcanic rock weathering and alteration as a database for upcoming future exploration of Mars. This special issue contains a number of papers detailing the application of Raman spectroscopy to detect chemical traces of life on Mars. Fernandes et al.6 elucidate the pigment chemistry of three lichens of astrobiological relevance. They report the first identification of parietin in these lichens, which this pigment is effective in protecting the organism from free radicals and ultraviolet radiation. The paper can be found here http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/jrs.4626/asset/jrs4626.pdf Hooijschuur et al.7 investigate the effects of photodegradation of carotenoids within bacterial cell membranes and calcite. They report that carotenoids residing in the bacterial membranes were less sensitive to photodegradation than the mineral matrix. Harris et al.8 investigated several terrestrial Mars analogue samples to point out a cautionary tale to the astrobiology community potential for confusion in interpreting Raman spectra acquired from these types of samples. Foucher et al.9 demonstrates the potential of Raman mapping of the distribution and change in intensity ratio of the D and G bands arising from carbonaceous material as a biosignature to help identify potential fossilized microbes here in early Earth rocks and Mars. Several of the papers in this special issue are on the application of Raman spectroscopy to problems in mineralogy and petrology. Korsakov et al.10 undertook Confocal two-dimensional and three-dimensional Raman imaging of the Kokchetav metamorphic diamonds from different rock types which these results showed that those various diamonds had different crystal quality with complex internal morphologies associated with defects. The paper by Bartholomew et al.11 investigates the potential of Raman spectroscopy as the number one instrument for mineral identification in the Geosciences. They quantify the range of Raman intensities that can be expected from natural mineral samples and investigate the incorporation of this information into instrument standards and analytical methodology to design data collection strategies across Geoscience laboratories. Carey et al.12 apply machine learning techniques in order to improve mineral identification obtained by Raman spectroscopy. Golovin et al.13 show that the carbonate mineral zemkorite is not likely stable at the Earth's surface but will transform into the more stable polymorph nyerereite at these P-T conditions. Gomez-Nubla et al.14 characterized impact glass formed by meteorite impacts. They show that a substantial degree of post-impact terrestrial weathering can occur in these materials, which needs to be taken under consideration. Frost et al.15 use vibrational spectroscopy to characterize the mineral tangdanite and show that this mineral contains arsenate and sulfate polyhedra. Jehlicka and Vandenabeele16 evaluate portable Raman instruments to investigate the best excitation wavelength in collection of spectra from zeolite and beryllium containing silicate minerals. This work recommends using the portable NIR 785 nm system for the collection of better quality spectra on these materials. Cathelineau et al.17 use Raman spectroscopy to better understand the crystal structure of the economically important Ni-ore talc-like mineral phases, revealing that Raman spectroscopy can quickly evaluate the Ni content in these important economic minerals. Burlet and Vandrabant18 shed light on the structure of economically important manganese oxide minerals lithiophorite and asbolane that are typically difficult to characterize by traditional X-ray diffraction. Lopez and Frost19 shed light on the mineral responsible for the coloration of black marble from a quarry in Chillagoe, North Queensland, Australia. Petriglieri et al.20 use Raman mapping to identify small-scale changes in serpentine mineralogy to enable a greater understanding of the serpentinization process. Moroz et al.21 delineate the best wavelength of laser excitation to collect fluorescence free spectra on thermally immature carbonaceous materials. They clearly demonstrate that the laser excitation wavelength at 325 nm yields the best quality spectra that can be collected from these materials. This was a new session organized at GeoRaman, and while we only have one paper for the special issue, this field is opening up for the application of Raman spectroscopy and should grow enormously in the near future. Bioapatite, a carbonated, hydroxylated calcium phosphate salt, undergoes phase changes during heating. However, these changes are somewhat unclear; Li et al.22 elucidated these thermal transformations using Raman spectroscopy to study various heated material. They observed that the mineral undergoes de-carbonation and recrystallization at relatively low temperatures. This special issue contains a number of papers on fluid inclusions, which have contributed greatly to our understanding of measuring salinity and gaseous phases. Caumon et al.23 shed light on the role of mineral birefringence and on the polarization properties of the O–H stretching band of liquid water for determining the salinity of aqueous fluid inclusions. Tarantola and Caumon24 revealed that salinity measurements in fluid inclusions were overestimated by 1% per 10–15 MPa of negative pressure, thus allowing a way forward to determine the salinity of metastable fluid inclusions by Raman spectroscopy. Li and Chou25 analyze silicate melt inclusions in quartz from granites within pegmatite deposits by Raman spectroscopy revealing for the first time the occurrence of H2 in the vapor phase of the inclusion. Chou26 calibrated the Raman shifts of cyclohexane with the goal of using this calibration to accurately determine the ν1 CH4 band position to calculate CH4 densities in fluid inclusions. Several papers in this special issue are devoted to Archaeology and Archaeometry. Barone et al.27 obtain Raman spectra using portable instruments on an archaeologically significant jewelry museum collection dated to the 17th–18th centuries in order to verify previous identification of the gems in the collection made by conservators. Cianchetta et al.28 used Raman spectroscopy to investigate the process used in the red and black coloring of Athenian pottery. They showed for the first time that these ancient materials were produced using at least two separate firings. Coccato et al.29 investigate carbon black pigments in works of art to elucidate the various sources and origins of different carbons used as artwork color pigments. Rousaki et al.30 analyzed the pigment composition of hunter-gathered archaeological samples from Northern Patagonia. Their work demonstrates these ancient people used clay-like materials rather than the usual hematite as a pigment agent. Belgodere et al.31 determine diffusion coefficients of dissolved carbon dioxide in varying salinities to predict the transport of dissolved gases in sedimentary sequences for mitigation of green house gas emissions. The 31 papers in this special issue dedicated to the 11th International GeoRaman Conference have expanded our understanding in a diverse range of fields. For example, the interaction of geological fluids and their measurement, elucidation of biological activity in recent and ancient environments here on Earth, astrobiological prospecting for life on Mars, thermal transformation of biologically precipitated minerals, mineral stability at the surface of the Earth, structure of economically important minerals, Raman spectroscopy as major tool for mineral identification, and pigment chemistry used in art and cultural artifacts. Given the enthusiasm and quest for knowledge in the GeoRaman community, together with the development of new Raman techniques, the future GeoRaman conferences should continue to generate exciting new research in the Earth Sciences. I would like to thank all the delegates, presenters, and conference assistants (providing great help in the background), the local organizing committee, the international science advisory committee, and Washington University in St. Louis for a wonderful venue. I am extremely grateful to the following companies and institutions that supported this conference: Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McDonnell Center for Space Sciences, Universities Space Research Association, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Renishaw, WiTec, ThermoFisher Scientific, Andor, Bruker, BWTEK, GemLab Group, Horiba Scientific, Kaiser Optical System, Inc., Ondax, RPMC, SciAps, and R. H. Minerals. Special thanks to the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, Dr Larry Nafie, for making this special issue possible, and of course, to all the authors and reviewers of the manuscripts for their invaluable contribution. It was a pleasure and honor to serve as the guest editor for this diverse collection of papers, and I am looking forward to seeing you at the next GeoRaman conference in Novosibirsk, Russia in 2016!