By Katherine Dunnell, Mineralogy & Geology Technician

Tony Steede is a volunteer in the Earth Science Department.

Earth Science is indebted to the base of volunteers that work with us and within our collections every day.   We currently have seven volunteers working with us with various backgrounds; professional geologists, students, gemmologists and hobbyists.  One of our long standing volunteers is Tony Steede, a volunteer that comes in three days a week.  Tony's background was in finance but this passion is minerals specifically alkalic mineral suites like those from Mont Sainte-Hiliare. He loves analytical techniques and runs our Raman and SEM (scanning electron microscope) doing mineral identifications when he is in the department.  This is vital work as much of our collection is sight-identified and his work leads to the identification of new mineral species which are then written up and submitted.  We are forever grateful for the work that our volunteers do within our collections and we celebrate their passion and commitment during National Volunteer Week.