John Rakovan

State Mineralogist for New Mexico and Senior Mineral Museum Curator, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801


Adjunct faculty Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056-2473

B.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988
M.S., University of Illinois at Chicago, 1990
Ph.D. State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1996
Postdoctoral research faculty Virginia Polytechnic Institute 1996-1997
Faculty member at Miami University 1998-2022

Mineralogist/Senior Mineral Museum Curator NMBGMR 9/1/2022-present

Research Interests: Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry, Environmental Mineralogy, Mineral Deposit Formation

My research focuses on fundamental aspects of mineralogy including as crystallography, crystal chemistry, and crystal growth and their connection to environmental and technological uses of minerals, and mineral deposit formation. Much of this work deals with apatite and other apatite supergroup minerals.

Chemically zoned fluorapatite from the Panasqueira tungsten deposit Portugal (Joaquim Callén photo ). HRTEM photomicrograph of the apatite structure (Mark Krekeler image).

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Eponym of the mineral rakovanite.

Recipient of the Carnegie Mineralogical Award 2019

Research in the News: Wire Silver and Gold: National Geographic; Los Alamos National Laboratory Press Release; Geology paper

 

Partial Vitae

Selected Publications

RESEARCH

NMBGMR MINERAL MUSEUM 

 
PHOSPHATES
GEOCHEMICAL, GEOBIOLOGICAL,
AND MATERIALS IMPORTANCE
 Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry V48

 
 


 Apatite  
Mineral monographs V.17

 
 

 Apatite Nomenclature - IMA

Summary           Full Report

 
 


 Apatite: A mineral for all seasons  
Elements Magazine
V.11 #3

 
 
Apatite: World Review
Comprehensive reviews of specimen and gem producing localities
Rocks & Minerals
May/June 2015

 
 
Rocks & Minerals

 

ONLINE PRESENTATIONS

2016 Dallas Mineral Symposium talk on crystal growth

Rochester Mineralogical Symposia 2020-2022 (online)

Links

Teaching at Miami (1998-2022)

Miami Facilities

(none)