President Heaney, MSA Members, and guests: It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to the recipient of the Mineralogical Society of America Award for 2008, Jimi Badro. James Badro started with a physics background (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.) at Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon. At that time, Professors Philippe Gillet and Francis Albarede ran a very successful outreach program called “Geophysics and Geochemistry for Physicists,” that converted Jimi to a mineral physicist. James wrote a series of papers establishing the theoretical basis for the new expanding field of pressure-induced mineral amorphization, including the prediction of fivefold-coordinated silica intermediate phase and the interpretation of memory glass. He also reported strong-to-fragile transition in silica melts and solubility of argon in silicate melts. He collaborated with our group on a high-pressure, XRD, and X-ray imaging experiment that became a cornerstone in advancing ultrahigh-pressure diamond-anvil technique over three megabars. James was one of the very few scientists who had made outstanding contributions in both theoretical and experimental mineral physics, and he had done these before his Ph.D. degree. After receiving Ph.D. degree, Jimi was facing the draft to French military service with an option. In the French system, …