The collection includes materials related to Ewing's activities as the IUMRS president and contain correspondence, by-laws, statutes, meetings minutes, agenda, programs, lists of members, etc. A small amount of records relate to Ewing's teaching and research at the University of Mexico and the University of Michigan and include two video recordings of lectures and grant applications and reports.
Rodney C. Ewing was born in 1946 in Abilene, Texas. He received his B.S. in Geology from Texas Christian University (1968, summa cum laude) and earned his M.S. (1972) and Ph.D. (1974, with distinction) from Stanford University. Ewing served in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence in 1969-1970 (interpreter, Vietnamese). He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Gallantry Cross (RSVN) for his service.
Ewing has focused his scientific research on the properties of nuclear materials and nuclear waste storage. His early research focused on an esoteric group of minerals, metamictization Nb-Ta-Ti oxides. He developed this interest into a research program on radiation effects in complex ceramic materials, which in turn led him to the development of techniques to predict the long-term behavior of materials used in radioactive waste disposal.
He has published widely in a number of disciplines. As of 2020, Ewing authored or co-authored over 650 research publications, edited or co-edited 18 monographs, conference proceedings volumes or special issues of journals. He has founded and/or edited several scientific journals. Ewing holds a patent for the development of a highly durable material for the immobilization of excess weapons plutonium.
Ewing held academic appointments at the University of New Mexico (1974-1997), the University of Michigan (1997-2013), and Stanford University (2014-present). At the University of Michigan, Ewing taught courses at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He was named William Kerr Collegiate Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences (2002-2004), Donald R. Peacor Collegiate Professor of Geological Sciences (2004-2009), and served as the Chair of the Department of Geological Sciences (2005-2007). He was named Edward H. Kraus Distinguished University Professor in 2009. Ewing is the University of Michigan Edward H. Kraus Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Geological Sciences, Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences; and Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences. He is a Regents' Professor Emeritus at the University of New Mexico. As of 2020, Ewing is the Frank Stanton Professor in Nuclear Security and a Co-director at the Center for International Security and Cooperation in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences in the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences at Stanford University. Throughout his career, Ewing has held appointments as visiting research scientist or visiting faculty at institutions across the world.
Ewing is a recipient of the Hawley Medal of the Mineralogical Association of Canada (1997, 2002), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2002), the Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America (2006), the Lomonosov Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2006), a Honorary Doctorate from the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (2007), the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America (2015), Ian Campbell Medal of the American Geoscience Institute (2015), the Medal of Excellence in Mineralogical Sciences form the International Mineralogical Association (2015).
Ewing has served on eleven National Research Council Committees for the National Academy of Sciences. In 2012-2017 Ewing served as the Chair of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, responsible for overview of the U.S. Department of Energy activities related to transporting, packaging, storing, and disposing of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Ewing was appointed to this post by President Barak Obama. Ewing stepped down in 2017. Also in 2017, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Ewing served as president, board member, and is a fellow of numerous international organizations. He has been actively involved with the meetings of the Materials Research Society, for which he served as a member of the program committees for over 35 years.
