Matteo Alvaro: Medal for Research Excellence 2021

Matteo AlvaroOne of the recipients of the 2021 Research Excellence Award of the European Mineralogical Union is Prof. Matteo Alvaro, from the University of Pavia (UNIPV, Italy).

Prof. Alvaro is a mineralogist and crystallographer whose activities range across Material Science, Mineral Physics and Petrology. His research is, among others, dedicated to the understanding of the properties of minerals and materials at non-ambient conditions, and the application of these property changes to understanding geological processes. It is particularly remarkable his new assessment of elastic geobarometry aimed at constraining the “true depth” of the equilibration of rocks, combining Mineralogy, Mineral Physics, and Metamorphic Petrology. He has renewed the old concept of geobarometry, and he has brought it to a decidedly sounder level, hence opening up new exciting applications.

His research contributions are and will continue to prove truly transformative, providing fundamental contributions to our understanding of globally important geological processes using innovative ideas and approaches that are pushing Crystallography and Mineralogy to the leading role they deserve in Earth Sciences. In addition to the successful implementation of exciting mineralogical research and the distribution of scientific results in the form of publications, he has already proved to be an enthusiastic and competent teacher. Prof. Alvaro is currently at the centre of a network of worldwide, but mostly European, connections and projects, offering training and acting as mentor to a generation of young scientists.

For his impressively significant contributions to research and teaching in Mineralogy and his international collaborative research, Matteo Alvaro is a highly deserving recipient of the 2021 Research Excellence Award of the European Mineralogical Union.