News Update ........

Goldschmidt Conference 2008
Visit of the Belgium Crown Prince
Awards - Congratulations!!
Memorandum of Understanding between Belgium & Canada
PCIGR Logo Contest

Goldschmidt2008 "from SEA to SKY"- The 18th Annual Goldschmidt (Geochemistry) Conference will be held at the University of British Columbia Campus, Vancouver, Canada in the summer of 2008, July 13 - July 18. This prestigious international meeting will be hosted by the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, U.B.C.

Click on this link for the official web-site: http://www.goldschmidt2008.org/

Visit of the Crown Prince of Belgium

On Thursday March 13 2008, UBC was honoured by the visit of the Crown Prince of Belgium, HRH Prince Philippe. One of the goals was to visit the Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research (PCIGR) at the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences.

HRH Prince Philippe first met with UBC President Pr. Stephen Toope accompanied by the Ministers de Donnea and Ceysens, the Belgian Ambassador Lint and the Canadian Ambassador Glasgow, G. D'Hoop, Serge Jaumain (VP International, Université Libre
de Bruxelles) and Craig Klafter (VP International, UBC). This was followed by a stop
at the Anthropology Museum and then by an extended visit of the PCIGR, with Dr. Dominique Weis, CRC Tier I (Geochemistry of the Earth's Mantle). The Crown Prince was accompanied by a large press entourage, as well as bodyguards and numerous official representatives.

Walking to the PCIGR Labs

In the discussions during the visit of some of the PCIGR instruments, the Crown Prince showed vivid interest and asked numerous questions. He was interested in finding out more about:
- our isotopic studies on oysters and mussels in the Western Pacific to trace the origin of the high cadmium contents and the comparison with French oysters,
- what can we find about the origin of diamonds with isotopic studies,
- lead pollution in the Vancouver area and how we trace it by an isotopic study of old trees from Stanley Park,
- what is interesting about mantle plumes and why, where, and when to study them,
- why do we date rocks, among other subjects.
With the two ministers, he also asked Dr. Weis for a comparison between Canada and Belgium in terms of supporting research and if she would consider going back to Belgium after living in such a beautiful city.
The group was very impressed by the technology, the team, and the remarkable, high-technology instruments.

Counting isotopes and mass spec explained	Pictures in the Nu Plasma MC-ICP-MS lab
Triton explanation: Triton Thermo Finnigan mass spectrometer	Talking about financing research
Meeting with Drs. Francois and Scoates

At the occasion of this honourable visit, there was also an interview with the main French
speaking Belgian TV (RTBf1) for Drs. Weis and Jaumain where they discussed the great interest of preferential collaboration between universities, student and research exchanges.

Awards - Congratulations!!

Katrin Breitsprecher was awarded the First Prize in the Mineral Exploration Roundup 2008, Student Poster Contest. Title of the poster: High-precision Pb-isotopic systematics of the Quesnel Arc: a potential exploration tool for distinguishing lower versus upper Nicola Group volcanic rocks. Authors: Breitsprecher, K., Weis, D., Scoates, J.S. & Anderson, R.G.

Caroline-Emmanuelle Morisset was awarded the Second Prize in the Mineral Exploration Roundup 2007, Student Poster Contest, in Vancouver, BC, for the poster: "Rutile-bearing hemo-ilmenite deposits in Proterozoic anorthosite massifs of Quebec" (Morisset, C.-E., Scoates, J.S. & Weis, D.).

And congratulations again to Caroline Morisset for being awarded the Outstanding Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology Section student presentation at the 2006 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), San Francisco, for the presentation "Trace element and Hf isotopic compositions of magmatic rutile from Fe-Ti oxide ore deposits related to Proterozoic anorthosite massifs" (Morisset, C.-E., Scoates, J.S. & Weis, D.).

Director, Dr. Dominique Weis signs Memorandum of Understanding between the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre and PCIGR

In November 2006, on the occasion of the Belgian Princely Economic Mission to Canada, a series of Memorandums of Understanding were signed between various Belgian and Canadian institutions. Dr. Dominique Weis, as Director of PCIGR (The Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research), was one of the signatories to a Memorandum of Understanding with the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, to promote scientific, technological and educational exchanges between Canada and Belgium. Student and Postdoctoral Fellowship exchanges will be promoted under this agreement.

For more information, contact Dr. Weis at dweis@eos.ubc.ca.

Picture shows: The Director of SCK-CEN, Pr. Frank De Coninck and Dr. Dominique Weis (U.B.C.) were signing a Memorandum of Understanding between U.B.C. and the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre. Looking on was Prince Philippe of Belgium.

PCIGR Logo Contest

We had a logo contest among the PCIGR group and here are the creative entries (Click to see a larger image). Look at the official logo of this web-site and you'll know which one got picked .........