CONGRATULATIONS to Ms. Hsiu-Wen Wang. An MS/Ph.D. student of Dr. David Bish, Ms. Wang is the recipient of one of two global Bruker AXS 2006 Excellence in X-ray Diffraction Awards of $5000 on the strength of her competitive paper “Dehydration/rehydration-induced structural phase transitions in natrolite”. In accepting her award, she said, “My research involves a detailed study of how the crystal structure of the natural zeolite natrolite changes with temperature and the partial pressure of water. Crystal structure determinations using powder diffraction data are the key to clarify the structural changes responsible for observed symmetry changes and to pinpoint the phase-transition mechanism(s), not only for natrolite but also for other framework silicate minerals.”  Natrolite is a tectosilicate mineral species belonging to the zeolite group.  Natrolite occurs with other zeolites in the amygdaloidal cavities of basaltic igneous rocks. The best specimens are the diverging groups of white prismatic crystals found in compact basalt.

The check was handed over to Ms. Wang by Mr. Ray Matejczyk of Bruker AXS in Bloomington on Tuesday December 5 afternoon in the presence of Dr. David Nordloh (Associate Dean of Faculties) and Dr. Sarita Soni (Vice Provost for Research). We are all very proud of Ms. Wang’s accomplishment.