Recognition at last

It transpires that my PhD thesis (labouring under the title 'Structural geology, tectonic history and fault zone microstructures of the Upper Palaeozoic Maritimes Basin, southern New Brunswick) has won the Jack Henderson award. This is an award given out by the Structural Geology and Tectonics Division of the Geological Association of Canada. They give out two awards a year, one for a MSc thesis and one for a PhD thesis.

This is an honour, and I'm very happy about it, especially as it's really the only award I've won during my academic career (at least so far). Naturally, I'm also inclined to minimise it somewhat. I doubt they get that many theses to read in an average year, for one thing. I reckon it's a good job that I finished it last year, as this year there's already Stef's thesis to think about, and Paul McNeill and Andy Parmenter must be coming soon. On the other hand, it might the first time in living memory that a soft-rock thesis has won. And it is a prize that in the past has been won by such luminaries as Yvette Kuiper.

Apparently, the award will be anounced officially at the GAC conference later in the month. I've caught myself wishing I could make it to the conference (oh vanity), but this year it's in Yellowknife, which would be a long way to go even if I still lived in Fredericton. And do you really want to go to Yellowknife in May? It's no doubt still dead winter there.

So, I'm resting on my laurels a bit today, and might have one or two pints of mild later on...