Dr. Stephen Piercey is an internationally recognized scientist who has made outstanding contributions to research, mentoring, and service in Economic Geology, especially in Canada. He holds BSc Hons (1996) and MSc (1998) degrees from Memorial University and a PhD degree (2001) from the University of British Columbia. He was Assistant/Associate Professor at Laurentian University (2001-2008) and has since been Associate (2009-2014), Full (2014-2020), and University Research Professor (2020-present) at Memorial University. Professor Piercey is a world leader in multidisciplinary studies of hydrothermal ore deposits, in particular volcanic-hosted Cu-Zn-Pb deposits and orogenic Au deposits, where he has made seminal contributions to understanding their lithostratigraphy, mineralogy, geochemistry, and genesis through careful, meticulous, integrated field and laboratory studies. He has published 71 peer-reviewed papers in some of the best peer-reviewed, internationally-circulated journals in the world, 15 chapters in special volumes and books, 45 government technical/open-file reports, 6 geological maps and field guidebooks, and 22 short course notes, and 186 regular/extended abstracts. His papers have been cited 2700 times, including ~300 times in 2022. His seminal 2011 paper in Mineralium Deposita on the setting, style, and role of magmatism in the formation of volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits as been cited 156 times, he has 27 other papers cited over 28 times and 64 other papers cited over 10 times. He has trained 8 PDFs, 11 PhD students, 34 MSc students, 7 BSc Honours students, and 5 Research Assistants. He has received the MDD William Harvey Gross Medal, GAC Howard Street Robinson Medal, and SEG Waldemar Lindgren Medal; a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists, the Geological Society of America, and the Association of Applied Geochemists; currently President-Elect of the Society of Economic Geologists and a former Councillor of the Geological Association of Canada, the Mineralogical Association of Canada, and the Society of Economic Geologists; and has served as Chair/Councillor/Coordinator/Member of numerous geoscience Committees and a Convenor of numerous meetings and special sessions. Professor Piercey is one of the most dedicated and most productive economic geologists in the world and a most worthy recipient of the Duncan R. Derry Medal.
The Derry Medal was presented to Dr. Stephen Piercey at this year’s GAC-MAC 2023 meeting in Sudbury.