At the invitation of Prof. WAN Quan of the State Key Laboratory of Ore Deposit Geochemistry (SKLODG), Dr. Michael F. Hochella, Jr., University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) visited Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGCAS) for the period of April 3 through April 8, 2012.

During his stay, Professor Hochella toured both the State Key Laboratory of Ore Deposit Geochemistry (SKLODG) and the State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry (SKLEG), and highly appraised the achievements of the institute.

On April 6, Prof. Hochella gave a presentation titled “Nanogeoscience: From Origins to Cutting Edge Applications”.  In this one hour presentation, Prof. Hochella described in detail the significance, history, research approach, and recent progress of nanogeoscience, a burgeoning field of geoscience which has not been extensively explored by geoscientists.  The presentation attracted many professors and graduate students of the institute.  After the presentation, Prof. Hochella had enthusiastic discussions with the audience and answered many questions.

Prof. Hochella also visited Prof. WAN Quan’s laboratory, carried out thorough discussion with Prof. WAN’s research team, and provided thoughtful suggestions on their on-going projects.  Furthermore, Prof. Hochella and Prof. WAN worked together and built a clear vision on their future collaborations.

Dr. Hochella is the current president of the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA), a former president of the Geochemical Society, a Fellow of six professional societies (AGU, AS, GS, EAG, MSA, GSA), and a world-class authority in nanogeoscience.  Concentrating in the area of nanogeoscience, Prof. Hochella and co-workers have contributed over 160 publications (with more than 4,500 citations) in many top journals including Science, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Chemical Geology, Environmental Science & Technology.

Prof. Hochella visiting the State Key Laboratory of Ore Deposit Geochemistry (SKLODG)

Prof. Hochella visiting the State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry (SKLEG)

Prof. Hochella in his presentation

Audience at Prof. Hochella’s presentation

Prof. Hochella interacting with Prof. WAN Quan’s research group

(By Qin Zonghua)