Ben van der Pluijm Graduate Student Research Grant Award.
The purpose of the Fund is to support graduate student research in the fields of structural geology and tectonics.
A personal appeal from Ben van der Pluijm:
I received a GSA research grant in 1981 for my first (rainy) field summer working on the structure of the New World Island in the Newfoundland Appalachians. At the time, it was a most helpful $650. The recognition made a lasting impression on my subsequent professional career, which involved ~40 graduate students. Most received their own GSA graduate research grants.
Since completing my PhD, I have modestly contributed to the GSA student research fund, remembering the impact my grant once had.
Upon retiring from the University of Michigan over 40 years later, I decided to make a greater contribution.
In that spirit, I started the Ben van der Pluijm Graduate Student Research Fund, which will be under the purview of the GSA Structural Geology and Tectonics Division. I trust it will mature in the next couple of years, so one or more annual research awards will be made to deserving students.
I am personally matching all gifts up to $10,000 total. If you would prefer to donate by check, write “VDP Fund” in the memo line and send it to the GSA Foundation, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301.
Ben van der Pluijm
