Rich April         When Marc Arbeeny (class of '78) stopped by my office this past summer, out of the blue, with his lovely, almost-college-age daughter in tow, he reminded me that he was in the first mineralogy class I ever taught at Colgate. What a fine class that was! Enrollees included Jay Ach, Ellen Campbell, Christine Collins, Kim Dalton, Don Eckelmann, Karen Fell, Robert Goldhammer, Kerry Inman, Hans Killingstad, Pierre LaCroix, Lisa LeClair, Billy Meyer, Sue McCarthy, Bruce Novich, Chris Redington, Maud Seaver, Jeff Trembly, and Mark Wagner, just to name a few. That was 1976, which means that this fall will mark the beginning of my 30th year at Colgate. Some of you have kept in touch; others are out there, somewhere, successful I'm sure. And, sadly, one member of this marvelous group, a brilliant student and geologist, is gone for good - Bob Goldhammer.       So, what do I have to say after almost 30 years in this department? It's been fun, enlightening and challenging, and I wouldn't trade these years for anything.       I've traveled a bit these past couple of years, while on sabbatical leave: Australia, Belgium, Israel, the Southwestern U.S., California - to study and learn more about the geology of these areas. I'm teaching a new CORE course on gemstones, so I've also been picking up quite a bit of information on the mining of gems, and the history, myths and legends surrounding these stones, especially the diamond. This summer I visited three of the important diamond centers of the world, Antwerp, Brugge and Tel Aviv. The diamond museums in these cities are quite interesting, and if you are ever traveling through these cities, I recommend a visit.       Research endeavors are keeping me busy. Along with three other Principal Investigators, I recently received a four-year NSF grant to study the effects of calcium depletion on Adirondack ecosystems. Acid deposition in the U.S. has been cut dramatically over the past two decades, primarily because of emission control regulations required by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. The question now is whether regions that were severely impacted by this pollution over much of the 20th century can recover, and how do we measure this recovery. Measuring chemical recovery is pretty straightforward - design sampling strategies for soils, streams and lakes so that key parameters, such as pH, alkalinity, sulfate, nitrate, etc. can be monitored over time. But, how do we measure the biological recovery of ecosystems? This is a knotty problem, and that is what this research project is all about. By the way, Michele Hluchy, class of '82, is one of the four PIs on this NSF grant. It's great to be able to work with Michele again. If you'd like to read more about this research project, go to the following Colgate website:       http://www.colgate.edu/DesktopDefault1.aspx?tabid=730&pgID=6013&nwID=3287 And to access the project website go to:      http://crui.colgate.edu/ I hope all of you are happy and healthy. Wishing you the best.       Rich