Hi, already. I'm Scott Vendorf. I'm going to be the MC for today's event, and I want to welcome all of you here. So when I was here at Delaware, this was the Chrysler plant, and it was a source of horrible smells during the summer. And here is this beautiful facility now. So it's really great to be in here. I'm looking, oh, they're right in front of me. I was like, where's Don? So welcoming all of you here. This is just an amazing celebration for an amazing career. And I'm looking forward to hearing all the different, very short talks that we have and then having a lot of time here afterwards to mingle and talk more about Don's career. I just want to point out, for those that don't know, that Don started here in 1979 when he was 12. It was pretty close when he was 25, which still is really just about is remarkable. And here we are in 2024, an amazing career. And I'm going to go through it a little bit more later. I just want to set this stage. It has just been an astonishing career from the standpoint of what he's done scientifically, what he's done in terms of his students. You can see the tree over here. And then what he's done in terms of leadership throughout his time here at U.D. And so with that, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to a whole list of people that are going to comment on Dawn's amazing accomplishments here both at Delaware. And then we're going to go through, just to give you a quick run of show, we're going to go through after a number of different people speaking about his leadership. I'm going to give a quick overview because I can spend days doing it. So for me, it's going to be quick overview of his scientific legacy. And then we're going to turn it over to all the people on the stage here to give a little snapshot of what it was like during their era of his. of their tenure here with him within his group. Okay, so with that, I will turn it over. This is great. What a great day. So welcome to our UD faculty, staff, alumni, students, friends, and all of the incredible colleagues that are joining us from around the world to celebrate some massive accomplishments, achievements, and great influence of Don. I'm Brian Farkas. I'm Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. I'm still very new here at University of Delaware as dean in this leadership role, but I am a Blue Hen alumnus, and I, shall we say, graduated a few years ago, and I'm a veteran faculty member from two other land grant universities. I'm very proud of that. but incredibly even much more proud to be here because of people like Don and the rest of our faculty and staff. That said, I know the value of a faculty member's commitment to scholarship, teaching, and mentoring, and we have many outstanding faculty in our college. But today we're going to highlight one that truly embodies all of what makes faculty excellent, and that's Don Sparks. So Don has made an indelible impact on our college and an impact that I'm in awe of as I go through the numbers and that I'm very grateful for as well. So we'll hear from a number of Don's collaborators, including past students, postdocs, and visiting scientists. But I'd like to highlight some of the more quantitative metrics of Don's success. 316 publications, which is phenomenal in the depth of science that way, stemming from research funding that includes 74 federal research grants and approximately $91 million. So these are all round numbers, rough numbers. Don, don't correct me, I'm sorry if we're off a little bit, but the magnitude, you know, or as an engineer, the order of magnitude is what's important here. So he's served as a long-time editor for advances in agronomy and has been the primary editor on 142 published journals and has reviewed approximately 600 manuscripts. So some of the quantitative continues here. It said that, you know, one of my favorite kind of quotes about being a faculty member, it said that the reach of a teacher knows no bounds, and this truly defines Don's commitment and his impact. Don is officially mentored 65 graduate students, 35 postdocs, and approximately 30 visiting scholars and professors. So if you peek at the academic family tree that's off to your left that Dr. Matthew Seidbecker put together, you'll see impressive affiliations across academia, governmental organizations, and private industry. Don always took a very personal approach to making sure that each of his students thrived. We can see that. The soil science community is very small and tightly knit, as we might expect. And UD alumni who are mentored by Don have formed an enduring family like Bond, which is evident in today's celebration. So finally, I think something that is truly unique, something a little bit less, often found as Don has gone above and beyond with philanthropic support of our college. To say that his contributions are impactful is really an understatement. His vision and generosity have led to the creation of scholarships, fellowships, fellowships, including the Joy Good and Sparks Scholarship, which supports 4-H members who are students in our college. Joy was a driving force which helped Delaware 4-H become a program, by so many other states. This scholarship has supported 12 beneficiaries since the fund was established in 2011. The Don and Joy Sparks Graduate Fellowship supports graduate students focused on soil science who are performing research associated with the Delaware Environmental Institute. Lastly, the Don L. Sparks distinguished lectureship in soil and environmental sciences brings renowned thought leaders from across multidisciplinary backgrounds to University of Delaware to share insight and research around the latest topics in soil and environmental sciences. Outside of our college, Don has left his mark throughout the entire university. And on that note, it is now my pleasure to introduce University of Delaware's president, Dennis Asanas. Good afternoon and welcome everyone. Real pleasure for me to be here with you to celebrate Don's amazing career, unbelievable career. It's really a privilege, Don, to be here with you. I mean, you've been such an exemplar for our faculty, our students, our staff, everybody here. You've done amazing things. So, you've been here, as everybody else said, since 1979. I did not know you then. I was an undergraduate student in England. But I was at Newcastle University, so Newcastle County, not that far. And obviously, as a professor in researcher you've done some fantastic transformational things including a tenant the Delaware Environmental Institute that you've been the director the mentor the father everything you know for everybody there and of course before as a professor and researcher and department chair you've made truly outstanding contributions so let's just take a moment ladies and gentlemen to think about how many students undergraduates and graduates and doctorals, postdoctorals, faculty, staff who work with him in labs, you know. Don has impacted, you know, in his life and your lives. Isn't it amazing? Let's give him a hand. So obviously all these people have benefited from your insights, your knowledge, your love for this place. And I have to say, among those, it's myself. I also appreciated your perspective of your wise counsel on numerous occasions, including, including the provost search that led to Robin Morgan as a former provost who also was the dean of Kainer for some time. So, you know, I'm sure you'd hear from Robin in a second. So it's been amazing. So obviously, Don't we applaud your leadership and your remarkable legacy for those decades and those 44 years? And somebody mentioned already, I think, Brian, 316 publications. what you have not said, and still counting. Because she's not quite done yet, right? I mean, I'm sure he's producing. And what you don't know is that he'll produce even more through the citations of this work for decades. I mean, that's truly amazing. That's legacy. And I also have to tell you that I got to know Dawn as one of the very first faculty members back in 2015 when I was to join the University of Delaware as a president, I was elected, and really the only faculty members that I knew were like Debbie Hes -Noris, we're sitting here in the audience, was on the search committee, Mary Dosier, a few others, not too many, the late Tundio Genaiki. I mean, there were like four people, you know, in that committee. And I really want to know a few more faculty before coming here because I was going to give my speech about the amazing people. that we have at the university. So I reached out to one of my vice provost when I was at Stony Brook, and I said, is there one faculty member that you know well who is eminent at the University of Delaware? It took like two minutes. He said, sure, I know the guys. Don Sparks. I'll arrange for a phone call with you and Don. So I still remember that afternoon. I talked you for about half an hour. I think you were traveling someplace. And he's just such an amazing salesman of the University of Delaware. Here I am. So I mean, thank you. so much for that. And I said, like, if we have another 1,400, just like Dawn, I mean, I definitely want to be at that place. And clearly, the honors and awards that you have accumulated over the years are unbelievable, including the honorary degree that we bestowed upon you at commencement this year. That was such an honor. And I always say it's an honor for you or whoever where is the honorary, but it's an honor for the institution. And so we really feel privileged to have intersected in our lives. And Elena and I always say how fortunate we've been to have met you. Now, I read the comment you made in the recent U Daily story, which was mentioning the honorees of the commencement. And I just wanted to read it off to you, Berbite him, so you can really get an idea, a taste, of who is Don Sparks, So Don said, the highlight of my career has been the advisement and mentoring of a remarkable group of students who have come to UD from all parts of the world. It has been highly satisfying to follow their successful careers and the impact they're having an addressing global environmental challenges. And that's so true, and again, we're thankful not only to you, but for your disciples. Although students, some of them are here, by the way, you know, who are going to give us the rebuttal to everything. I said, the truth don't sparks. So ultimately, our goal is to make an impact during our lifetime on other people's lives. That's basically what it is. And you've epitomized that. You've really helped to create other leaders, educators, mentors who continue to inspire others through your own great work that has been the exemplar for all of those. And also, you've been celebrating in a wonderful way all their successes in your laboratory in your classrooms and everywhere else so for all those both Elena are truly thankful for everything you've done for our beloved UD so again a heartfelt thanks and appreciation and a big round of applause for Don Sparks okay right well I'm very happy to be here celebrating Donne. As the chair the department of plant and soil sciences for the last seven years. I'm honored to be saying a few words today about Professor Don Sparks's major contributions to the growth and development of our department and our shared profession. So Don's academic career began with bachelor's and master's degrees at his home institution, University of Kentucky, and then a PhD with renowned soil chemistry and mineralogy professor Lucian Zelazni at Virginia Tech. This is a This is where our academic paths intersect as I was a colleague of Lucian's at Virginia Tech for eight years until his retirement. We were basically shared a wall, actually. So Don must have been one of Lucian's first PhD students as Lucian started in 1976 and Don received his PhD in May of 1979, maybe the quickest PhD in history. So Don was immediately hired at the University of Delaware as an assistant professor of soil chemistry in July of 1979, became full professor in 1987, and then chaired the Department of Plant Sciences in 1989. Given the growing prominence of soil science and department under Don's leadership, the faculty voted in 1991 to change the name of the department from merely plant sciences to the Department of Plant Sciences to the Department of Plant and Soil Science. Over his 20 years as chair, Don hired up to 20 faculty, many of which contributed to our department becoming a research powerhouse in plant biology and in environmental soil science. So while chair, Don continued his amazing productivity in research and professional service. In 1998, he became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1999, he was elected president of the Soil Science Society of America, and in 2002, he hit the trifecta, I guess, as he served as president of the International Union of Soil Sciences. Talk about having a professional impact in putting our department and the University of Delaware on the map. Don obviously put UD on the map as an international leader in environmental soil chemistry. He taught and trained students in this subject area for his 45 years. from his renowned textbook on environmental soil chemistry. His third edition was just published in 2022. With one or two of your former students? One, Matt? So lastly, I share a large piece of professional service, of which many may not be aware. Over 33 years, Don has served as editor for 140 volumes of the highly impactful monograph, advances in agronomy. So if anyone has had a bigger impact or is more broadly read in plant and soil sciences than Professor Don Sparks, I'd like to hear about it. Cheers to your numerous and meaningful contributions to our profession, our department, and our university. Thanks, Don. Hello, everybody. I'm Robin Morgan, and I had a very long list of things to say about Don Sparks. In the interest of time, I ripped off the bottom, and I'm going to focus on the top three things that I want to say. The first is his startup package. So Don's UD startup package was an LKB fraction collector valued in 1980 at $3,000. This would be roughly equivalent to $12,000 today. I looked it up. Considering this minuscule beginning in the context of what we're recollecting and honoring here today, Don's career is all the more remarkable. He reminds us that brilliance, hard work, perseverance, and dedication to a purpose are the real key ingredients to academic success. Number two on the list, a range of scales. In 2007, Don used a slide, remember this one, that described his approach to research as using a range of scales, namely atomic, molecular, microscopic, macroscopic, and field. This was an aha moment for me, and I loved it. Copying someone is a high form of admiration, and I wanted to adapt that slide for my own use. I wrote Don on October 3rd, Robin to Don. Could you send that slide to me? I'd like to substitute in some poultry pictures and use something like this as an introduction at a talk I'm giving next week. Hours later, Don replied. Hours later. Attached is the scale slide. Good luck with the talk, exclamation point. I don't know whether I used my adapted slide more or less than Don used the original, but I do know that he shared that slide enthusiastically with me. He treated me with the same generosity and enthusiasm for my work that he gave to his own students for decades. Number three, the Critical Zone. In 2005, Don organized an NSF workshop on critical zone research. I was unfamiliar with the term, and Don patiently educated me about it. At the time, one of my priorities was to promote and advocate for agriculture, still is. Given the variety of what we did in the college, soil, water, vaccines, economics, equipment, landscapes, insects, birds, we were sometimes, and it was understandable, viewed as a hodgepodge or a stockpot of stuff. I saw the critical zone as a terrific way to present how all the stuff that we did was interrelated and made, it was a framework. It made great sense. I ran into a problem, though. As I studied further, I learned that the NRC defined the components of the critical zone as the land surface, vegetation, and water bodies extending through the petosphere, the unsaturated Vadoz zone, and the saturated groundwater zone. Problem for me, I really needed to include the air we breathe as a concept graphic. Email exchange with Don went something like this. Robin to Don. Can you clarify whether the critical zone includes the lower atmosphere, i.e. the air we breathe? I was thinking that it did, but it sounds like the above surface air is not actually included in the strict definition. Hours later, Don to Robin. Technically the critical zone does not include the near -service atmosphere. However, processes in the critical zone all greatly control fluxes of carbon, particulates, and trace gases. These all have major impacts on atmospheric chemistry and ultimately human health. Bingo, just what I needed. The graphic I produced in paper and slide form proved to be an effective way to justify what the college needed. Years later, I would use a similar strategy, to illustrate the hiring needs of the biology department, and even later, this idea was extended to all departments at UD to delineate what they were and what they aspired to be. It all started in the critical zone. I came to view Don as a quintessential Kentucky gentleman. To be confident of my conclusion, I looked up the characteristics of a Kentucky gentleman. gentleman. I tried Google, but I couldn't get beyond the bourbon advertisements. And so I resorted to artificial intelligence. And according to ChatGPT, a Kentucky gentleman is always well attired. I know, you're not wearing a tie today. It's okay. I think it's great that you're not wearing a child. Always well attired. Always polite and courteous, well-spoken, and most important, a Kentucky gentleman is driven by a strong sense of honor and integrity. Now, it's not easy to find a Kentucky gentleman, and I know this, because over the past two days, Jim and I have tried to find Kentucky gentlemen, and I have educated at least a half a dozen proprietors of liquor stores in Newcastle County that Gentleman Jack and Kentucky gentlemen are not the same and that it would be highly inappropriate to give a Kentucky gentleman Tennessee whiskey but this is for you Don a Kentucky gentleman and you certainly are one thank you for everything good afternoon everyone my name is Yan Jin it's hard to follow Robin so I'm honored to have this opportunity to say a few words as we celebrate the retirement of a truly exceptional colleague and a friend, Professor Don Sparks. Don has been a pillar of our university for almost 45 years, and his impact on our department and beyond is immasurable. So when I joined the faculty almost 29 years ago, Don was already the department chair, guiding us with his steady hand and clear I have a lot of memories of his leadership and the profound influence he has had on my career and many others. And we don't have time to say all that. So let me share just a little story to illustrate just how intertwined my journey has been with Don's. So after completing my master's degree, I applied to Don's PhD program. And one morning at 8 a .m. in New Mexico, I received this phone call from Deng, offering me a position in his group. I was thrilled, but life had other plans. I just found out that I was pregnant with my first daughter, so decided to delay my PhD program. So fast forward a little bit. After earning my PhD, I interviewed with DuPont's Environmental Faith Programme, led by Ty Korski, who is here, who happens to be Donald's second PhD student. So I was offered a job from DuPont, and during that same trip, I was also interviewed with U.S. so the very next week I got a call from Don offer me the position at UD. So it just seemed I was destined to come to Delaware and somehow Don was always part of that journey. So Don almost single -handedly created UD's soil science program and made it a leading program in the world. His vision, dedication, and hard work have opened doors for all of us, especially the young faculty members. We all have benefited from the reputation and the opportunities that Don's efforts had brought to our department, the college, and the university. Don has been an incredibly effective administrator as our department chair for 20 years, and then the inaugural director for Denin. He is professional, calm, under pressure, and capable of making tough decisions when needed. Those qualities have made our department and Denon the striving communities that we have today. Don's leadership has been marked by deep sense of responsibility and a commitment to excellence, qualities that we all have strived to emulate. Personally, I've appreciated Don as a colleague and a mentor. His guidance, encouragement, and support have been invaluable to me throughout my career. I'll miss our collaborations and his steady presence in the department. He was always close by in Townsend. Our offices were next to each other in ICE. We share the same lab now. And also, even in the trailer during the renovation. of Tonson. So to try to keep him involved, Amy and I decided to write him into a new DOD grant that we just submitted on Tuesday. So this is a continuation on the Actions project that Dunn led for the last four years was an $8 million grant. And we just named the new project Impacts, and that's another four years. so it's a small way of ensuring that his expertise continues to benefit us and to make sure that he doesn't get too comfortable or even get in trouble with all the free time now he has on his hands so down as you embark on this new chapter of your life we want you to know how much you will be missed your legacy here is profound and your influence will continue to be felt for many years to come. Congratulations on an extraordinary career, and I wish you all the best in your retirement adventure, and thank you for being an outstanding scholar, a leader, mentor, and a friend. Try to do this slow, and that's not usually in my vocabulary. For those of you don't know me, I am Amy Slocum, and I've worked alongside Don for 25 years. As people sometimes say, I've known so-and-so for half of my life, which may tend to be a slight exaggeration, either because they're rounding or they don't want to actually admit their age. I can honestly say, without a doubt, I've worked with Don for half of my life. When asked to present a short talk, which, if anyone knows me, is a feat in itself about the impact Don has had on my life and career. It's easy to say that the impact has been tremendous. I would venture to say that my career was entirely credited to his guidance, insights, and unwavering support of the path that I chose. His ability to provide you with enough space to excel, but support you if needed taught me no matter what happens, there is always a way to correct it, move on from it, or just humbly admit your error and lean on others to find a solution. The past 25 years of Don have been filled with great discussions, sometimes a little stress, laughter, and exciting trips, which most of the time I join vicariously through photos. As Don embarks on the next stage of this, journey. I'm happy to say that I'm glad I was able to be a part of his history and look forward to seeing what is next. Thank you, Don, this one will make you sad, for taking a chance on a young 25-year-old. Even when, excuse me, even if others thought it wasn't the best idea. I appreciate all of your support and encouragement. And I know we will remain a part of each other's lives as we move into the next chapter. Congratulations on your retirement. I'm going to change it up a little bit. We're going to move to a slideshow. And one thing I just want to point out, where I'm sitting on the stage, I thought I would position myself so I could get to the podium easily, but I can't see Dawn. So standing up, I finally get to see Don again. I keep asking, like, is he happy? Is he happy? Yeah, he's happy, he's happy. Okay, so anyways, now I can see it. I also just want to make light of something, too, here, is that I went and bought a new tie for this. I'm from California. Like, I don't wear ties. I don't wear a coat most of that time, right? We come in and Don says, Oh, no, I didn't wear a tie. Don's your day, you can wear whatever you want. You want a tie all your career, pretty much. All right, so with that, what I'm going to do is give us a little slide of review of Don's history. And I want to point out here, I put a title because I'm an academic and I have to do that. And one of the things on there that I want you to note is parenthetically, oh, it's not it. Hold on. Ah, okay. Sorry, let me go back. I want to put up here. Don's retiring, but Don's not going to retire. So if anybody knows Don, he's going to move to it. It's going to be a different chapter. He's going to do different things, but he's going to be a very active in Meridae. We know that's going to happen. So I want to be careful about saying that he's done. Don's not done. There's a lot to come still, and we know that. Okay, so with that, let me move on and go through some of this. So we've all heard already about his leadership. I mean, from my perspective in the soil science, like Yan just mentioned, he really built the soil science program here. It went from plant science to soil science, and it went from being soil science to be one of the top soil science programs in the country. Don and I used to get in his office and talk about where the top programs had been, where they were, and Delaware wasn't on that map before Don, and it certainly is on there now. So he's just been an amazing leader here at UD, but also globally. So you heard all of the leadership positions that he's taken. What you don't know behind all that scenes is that he has just been a driving force for scientific advancement within NSF, within the different soil science communities, both nationally and globally, but also environmental chemistry, environmental science, geochemistry. He's just amazing in terms of his mark. But what I really want to do up here is talk about his scientific legacy and give you a quick run-through on this. When I was putting this together, I have some data slides. up there and my wife looks over it goes oh my god you're going to bore everybody with that stuff and it was like well just a little bit we have to give a little bit of science in there but mostly i want to point out some of the pictures as we go through this and i'm going to hand it off to the era people here and i just want to point out i'm going to go see this a few different times but no i'm going to hold what i'm going to say for just a moment because i'm going to steal my own thunder all right so when dawn first showed up at delaware he was working on potassium And he really made huge inroads in potassium, but the big thing that he did, and he started looking at how time dependency impacted the fate of elements. And potassium was kind of the main one that he started with. But that really changed something is that he really quickly figured out that there was this huge gap in the way people were thinking, and they weren't thinking about time -dependent processes, that it matters how fast things react. And so started the kinetic era, and that was his first decade here. And I love the pictures, right? Jerry thinks, because he put all these together. Other people send them in, but a lot of these are from Jerry. They're all collected from Jerry. I dismayed them, and I'm getting to show them again. So this grew up here were ones that had huge influences on me, even though they didn't know it, because they and Don had this remarkable advancement in kinetics, right off the bat, right as Don got here. And what that led to are these seminal papers and books that started coming out that I started reading when I was a graduate student. And we went through one, I just showed the one with Phil Jardine, he's no longer with us, but he and Don really did some amazing work and the same with the rest of the group. This book that Don did with a collaborator from Israel, Aroni, was really a hallmark in terms of changing the way we thought about how processes worked. and the time dependence of different stages of reactions. So it was really just really remarkable. But one of the big things that happened after this was Don teamed up with one of his graduate students, Peng Chu, to look at how really fast reactions take place and how you could resolve those. And they did some of this really pioneering work of doing what's called pressure jump kinetics. And that was the big hallmark. When I came to Delaware, that was the thing. I was at UC Davis doing a master's. when their papers started coming out. And Don came out with a textbook on chemical kinetics as well. And that pretty much galvanized for me until I met him. Then that was really solidified the deal. But he was the one that, like, I want to go work with that guy. And then it turns out it worked out. So that's a whole other story. And it's worthwhile. But we'll save that for after this. All right. I want to point out something here, though. So this is 1989. This book comes out. 10 years into his career, he's published two textbooks. books. I don't know how many papers. They didn't go back and look them up, but I can say a lot and really, really huge seminal papers that came out during that era. That's 10 years into his career. He's department chair. I came to Delaware. I think I was counting masters and PhDs. I was student number 11. I thought it was at the end of his career, right? Because at that point, he had done so much already. He had this illusion that like, yeah, yeah, the senior guy I'm coming in. He was three. 36. It's hilarious. Okay. All right. So this is when I showed up in 1990 and we started a new phase. And so we went from the kinetic era, which is why I came to Delaware. But then Dawn and his leadership and a bunch of us started getting really interested in looking at how the molecular configuration of things occur within soils. And we moved into what I call the spectroscopic era, which was really started in the 90s. And we went through this. And if you, for those that, I'm not going to go on a lot of this, Ryan's here from NSLS. Dawn really brought synchrotron radiation, which is really super high intensity x-rays, tunable, and he brought those to work on soils, and it changed the way literally we look at soils. So it was really just a hallmark in terms of advancement within the soil science areas. So here he already done that with kinetics, and now he starts doing it with spectroscopy two decades into his career. Again, it just hard to fathom like how much of an imprint he really had on what was happening. So I'm going to go through this in detail, so hang on, no I'm not. Okay, so just putting out, a lot of work came out on this. The other thing that happened during that same decade was thanks to the virtues of the cicatron radiation, Don's group identified a whole new class of solids that contained metals, that were really scavenging metals, and it opened up another new era. So here we are still two decades in, and we have three big, enormous changes in the field in terms of how we were viewing soil systems, environmental systems, geochemistry. That's really, really amazing. These double -layer hydroxides set off a whole other decade of research. It also showed that minerals, which we thought were fairly stagnant, were incredibly dynamic over a short time frame. So you think of a rock, right? It's a rock. but that rocks dissolving and precipitating in soils all the time and when that happens things come in and out of it. That was thanks to Don. We started figuring that out. All right. So it's a big revelation in terms of these new solids. They looked much better on my computer, but anyways hopefully there'll be pictures around. We can talk about these more. But this is part of the group that was helping really do that. Okay, so 2000 comes and now left right so we've gone through we had the kinetic era we had the spectroscopic era at the beginning of it had double air hydroxide as a whole new solids figuring out the solids dissolve and precipitate on really short time scales but now there's all this these new set of tools these new opportunities and Don's group goes after that and so you figure out all these different things Matt Gintervolos here in the back figuring out that you could use these spectroscopic techniques that give you molecular site information but do it so you can do time-resolved work, so you figure out how does that molecular configuration change over time? What does that mean for the fate of elements? So back to Robyn's point, we're looking at the really small scale, and I'll bring that out here in just a moment. So we're going through lots of different really seminal papers that are being published on this, and then you think about, okay, you can take x-rays, you can learn a lot of information, you can get down to the molecular information on lots of different processes, people are doing that in the lab but you're in Delaware you're in Delaware there's a lot of chickens in Delaware I learned when I was here and they have an environmental imprint right so one of the aspects is what's happening with the fate of chicken manure right well turns out you can take these advanced x-ray techniques and figure out what's going to happen to that poultry manure and that's what Don's group started doing they started using all these different tools to go after environmental problems at scale. So taking really out to the field scale view and this goes again from thinking about you're down at the nanometer level and now you're going up to the kilometer level. So 10 to minus 9, 10 to the plus 6. Huge, huge variation in scale of what Don's work encompassed. Okay. And so that brings us out now towards the end. So we're going to go, it's not the end, but the end of my talk. So two last eras here. So one was when I was with Don he said, you know, there's a lot of people working on soil organic matter and for anybody here in the room that I've worked on that prior, I'm sorry, but Don said for decades I've been watching this there's been no change. Like, let's not go there. And then all of a sudden, this remarkable change happened where we could start looking at organic matter and figuring out Dawn pivoted from that. I'm never going to work on soil organic matter to I have a new idea how we can approach soil organic matter, and we're going to start figuring out really what it means, and that's what he did. So he went in, and for those that give you a why we care about that, if you're looking at the terrestrial carbon cycle, which is one of the fundamental imprints on climate change, soils are one of the dominant reservoirs of carbon. So soil processes then have this major imprint on our global carbon cycle, and by virtue of that on a climate. But the mystery was, what's happening with the soil organic matter? We just thought it was a black box there before. Well, Don's group really helped change that and figure out what the molecular configuration was, what that meant for the cycling of the organic matter, how much could be stored, how you would change processes to store carbon, how much would be going out in the atmosphere if you did change in other directions. So just really some fundamental papers that came out all at the molecular level, but with huge emphasis on understanding how the carbon cycle worked. All right, last bit here. So we come to what I call the current era, and that's really embracing that climate is changing. We have lots of different imprints from that. One of the big ones, you're in Delaware, you have lots of coastal environment here, sea level rise. So Don recognized that as well. He's been now doing some really fascinating, really pioneering work on the impacts of sea level rise on soil processes and what that means for all kind of different cycles from the carbon cycle. to contaminants. All right, so before I wrap it up and hand it off to the era speakers, I want to mention that I went through the overview of what he's done scientifically, but underneath that, and probably what I would say, the equal hallmark of what he's done, is he has just been amazing at the number of students and postdocs that he's developed. You heard the numbers already, but what I don't think you here heard is what he's done for them in their career. So he wasn't just pumping out people. he was basically developing his prodigy. And he treated us, and still does, like we're his family. So we're his kids, and we've always felt like that. I knew that he was my academic father and really just like my friend and mentor for life when I started at Delaware. And that was one of the reasons I chose to come here. And I think he does that for everybody. And I'm not everybody, so I can't say, but from what I hear, I think we all have that same experience as Dawn has just been there for us. and it's on all facets. So he takes you, he helps you figure out where you want to go and how you're going to get there. I'll just give you a quick... I knew I wanted to go into academia by the time I got here when I was somewhat picky, Dawn would tell me, like, Scott, sorry, I have to... When I talk about people, I kind of do my poor imitation of them. So Don being Kentucky gentleman, talks a little slower than I do. So it's like, Scott, I really don't think you should. think about geography should just go where there's a good job and I was really not quite there yet so I would take out a map and say all right because we were in the era of digital or not digital yet so I take out a map and say all right Don that's good but see that here I'm not going to show where but see this big parts of the country I don't want to go there and God like okay we can make that work so we figured out where I could go and where I couldn't go and it all worked out in the end. But he does that for everybody. That's the point, right? It wasn't just me exclusively. He just takes us under his wing, and he's just been an amazing friend and mentor throughout. The other last thing I'll say is that besides just mentoring you, he is just selfless in his promotion of his people. And so I have a picture of this, so I'm using myself as an example here, but he does this for all of us. He's just been amazing at making sure that every opportunity he's putting us up for awards he's seeking out any type of advancement that he can find for us and he's just been you know anything you can possibly imagine in terms of being the perfect friend and mentor that's Don so thank you Don and with that I'm going to turn it over to the era speakers and I'm going to let Mike Stapleton no no actually Ted Karski as is first and I think Mike Stapleton is going to go after Ted he and I are the same era and Ted's the only one that previous test. So I wanted to point out one last thing before I did turn it over, that when I was starting to go there, that when I showed up to Delaware, I thought it was in the late stages of Don's career. I was number 11, if I think I count it right, and there's over 60, right? So I was really mistaken. Now I recognize that I'm, well, it's clear that I was one of the early ones, but that was not obvious because Don was so fast out of the gates and had such an amazing career early on, but he never let off the gas either, right? He just kept pushing it all the way through. He loves his job. He's a great example. And so I just want to make that last point. Okay, now I'll turn it over to Ted. I'm Ted Karski. Thank you very much, Scott. I just want to say, Scott and I didn't compare notes, and yet I think what you'll see is we should have because mine follows his perfectly. It is an honor and a pleasure to congratulate Don, and in my case, thank him, and I want to focus on that for his outstanding career. And as you just heard, we all know Don is an outstanding scholar, teacher, and researcher. He obviously enjoys these roles very much. Don's expertise and enthusiasm are infectious and motivating. They always were, they always will be. Don also takes great interest in his students, providing career counseling and mentoring, to help ensure we have successful careers. I'm going to share a brief story about me to demonstrate that. I joined Don's group in 1984. I'm way over there on the upper left. I'm the second PhD student of Don's. And I came here from USDA as a full-time employee, having gotten my master's at Deltzville. So I came here thinking I'm going to become a researcher and go back to USDA at my post -BHD sites were set on a career in government research. I hadn't really considered private industry. It wasn't in my scope, actually. But early on, Don introduced. me to scientists at DuPont, with whom Don was collaborating. I consulted and I conducted some lab analyses to support the work with DuPont. So Don may have had this greater plan, but I didn't recognize it. Now a couple of years later, when I was finishing my PhD, Don was informed that a position of forest oil chemists at DuPont was opening up. Don told me about it, and I said, nah, I'm not interested. As I said, I was focused on going back to government research or possibly trying a an academic position. I was finishing my dissertation. I had several publications, manuscripts out under review. I was actually just too busy, I thought. But I can remember thinking, I have to go out and buy a couple three-piece suits for my interviews that are going to be coming up. But Don encouraged me to consider DuPont. We had several conversations over several weeks. I don't know that he certainly encouraged, he pushed, I'm not sure that he insisted, but it was really close that I go check out DuPont. He also wrote a wonderfully supportive seven-page reference letter and sent it to DuPont on my behalf. So kind of with all of that, how could I not check out DuPont? So I accepted an invitation at DuPont for a day -long interview, and it ended up being a fantastic day. I met remarkable agricultural scientists who were very excited about the work they were doing. And they were very excited about each other's work. And they seemed really, really anxious for me to join. So I was so impressed, I accepted their offer without even hearing the salary. And they said, wait, wait, we haven't told you the salary. And when they provided that, it's like, okay, now I'm really convinced I want to go to DuPont. So to make a long story short, I joined DuPont, was there for 32 years, had a wonderfully fulfilling career. And the other benefit of that was, you know, DuPont is local, so I was able to to connect and stay connected with Don and U.D. So even though our research was very different, we still collaborated. We set up a DuPont -Delaware visiting scientist series where we brought in renowned researchers kind of have shared interest to the two, and the two groups got to interact, so that was pretty neat. We also put together a non-thesis master's option in plant and soil science to target people in industry who could come and then further their career with the with the education that they received and as an adjunct professor I gave guest lectures and Don's some of Don's courses some of the other professors courses as well and I participated on several grad student committees for Don students so that was fun kept me connected and this UD Don connection still continues to this day 40 years later and it's hard to imagine it's been 40 years but I've been on a couple of external advisory committees with UD. Janet and I also support a graduate fellowship, a student internship, a Waterfow Center, and now Don's Distinguished Speaker Series. So we've remained connected and it's been really fun. None of this would have happened probably if it weren't for Don's vision, his support, and his push to get out the door and go interview it to Bob. So Don, thank you very much. I and congratulations on your retirement. I hope you certainly earned it and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do. There. I'm number 13. Scott's number 11. So I appreciate you all coming out today. I see some faces I haven't seen in a long time. I see some people whose faces are, I know, but I've probably never met them. In 1989 I was somewhat of a non -traditional student. when I came to the University of Delaware. I was working in industry and consulting for about eight years, started at the University of Delaware with Don. And we had a stable full graduate students. There were postdocs, visiting professors, and we went to meetings. Don took all of us, introduced us to all of the other people in the field. I got to know them. I got to know their graduate students. And this in my world was normal. All these things that you've described here about Don that you give him so much recognition for, I just simply took as being normal. I thought everybody had that. I thought everybody had a stable full graduate students and took the time out to spend time with them and give them direction. Be patient with them, which I'm sure he was with me a good bit. Is that correct on? As Robin pointed out, and I remember Robin, which was a faculty member, he's a Kentucky gentleman. And that was always something that we took as somewhat of an amusement, and we would get him on occasionally. So while all of these things, and I'm not going to repeat any of the milestones that he's reached, I just want to talk about how I kind of felt. And what I came to realize was everything that I considered normal, it was normal's sister, Abby. Everything was Abby normal. Not everybody had a life like that, and I greatly appreciate everything Don is done. I mean, We were in the original, we've got all these beautiful buildings, we were in the original soil science office complex in the back of Whirlow Hall, which was essentially used office trailer on cinderbox, which was great, we all loved it. We had internet, which was a great thing, I still remember. sitting in the back room with Scott attempting to Telnet into Brookhaven to try and run some computer programs. It was great. And probably one of the things that I remember the most was one lunchtime we were sitting out there at the picnic table. And Don came out. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. Sun was out. Not too hot. It was sunny. We were underneath one. of the trees. Don came out and sat down and he goes, ah, this is typical Don. This is really nice. And we're all kind of, I don't remember who of us were there. We're all kind of looking down. And he goes, where did this come from? And there was still silence. And I said to Don, I said, Don, you're chair of the department, right? And Don goes, yeah. I said, respected member of the university. He goes, yeah. He knew something was going on. And then I looked at him and I said, do you really want to know the answer to that question? Because, and at that point, Don went white. because he knew it was probably something that we shouldn't have done. And I said, Don, it's university property, it's never left university property. It was transported here in a university vehicle. And we kind of left it at that. Thirty years later, with the president, provosts, deans, chairs, faculty. We took it from the football stadium. So with that, I would like to thank Don very much for everything. He has been an inspiration to my life because as I got older, I realized it wasn't normal. It was Abby normal. And in many ways I've tried to treat my students. See, I'm not part of the academic tree. I teach the primarily undergraduate institution. I consider myself part of the academic fungus. Because the fungus is a much larger thing than the academic tree. For the tens or 100 students that are on the academic tree, I've had a thousand or 10,000 students in my 28 years teaching as an undergraduate university professor. And those things that Don instilled in me, I certainly tried to instill into them. And so that kind of spreads out underneath the surface, but those same things about how to treat people, how to mentor people, how to be patient with people. I tried. Not always successful at times. I'm fairly direct and somewhat, rough around the edges occasionally, but I always think back to what Don would do. And it's not just Don. And I'm sandwiched here. I've got Ted who, Ted probably doesn't know that I consider him a mentor in many ways. I had a lot of respect for Ted. over the years and Scott too. I consider both of those people to be important mentors in my life as I do, Don. And your influence goes well beyond what's on that academic tree. It goes to all the students that all of us have had and how we deal with people. And with that, I would like to thank you very much. Well, I'd mark another era, I suppose, and I think it maybe the era of new enough to write things down on my computer, but too old to be able to read it when I get it up here. I'm one of the last sparks members to have our office in the trailer, and it was considerably more dilapidated, I suspect, than some of my predecessors. But it was just a fantastic place from the time you walked in in the morning until you left in the evening. There were so many young researchers and postdocs and PhD students that were there. And from the metrics that were provided, you might think that we were like a research factory, I guess. And in some ways we were, but a factory implies that you have a cookie cutter or a recipe and you always produce the same thing. And that's not really how it was. We're all our own scientists and we've all spread out, but we do have a flavor. And I think a lot of that flavor, that approach to mentoring and to doing science definitely came from Don. And many years after even I'm retired, which could be any day, that will continue. So, you know, when you think about legacy, there's scientific legacies, but there's also, in a lot of ways, we were taught how to be mentors by, by a really good mentor. And I certainly appreciate that. Now I said there's no recipe, but I do have kind of some rough guidelines. It's kind of like the pirate code, right? Some things you should never do, sometimes do, and always do. And so I'm going to shoot through these here. One of the ones is never compartmentalize your graduate students based on the research they do. When I was in the trailer, I was one of the few people that wasn't still working on nickel, aluminum LDH work and wasn't still looking at zinc surface precipitates and I was doing very different stuff but I was still part of that team I still helped out doing X-AFs and measuring samples and helping review presentations and I learned so much about that that it turned out that I have a couple of papers that involve nickel aluminum or zinc aluminum LDHs now and and trust your students to learn as much as they possibly can and put together an environment where they can really thrive. Never get involved in active scientific arguments that have spilled out outside of the literature. And this is some advice, you know, that Don gave me much after I was hired as a professor. If you have good data, then write it up, but stay out of, like, the pettiness and the drama and be a southern gentleman, even if it's tempting to reply all to an email that you might get from a geochemist about the structure of ferrihydride and whether it violates Pauling's rules, don't do it. And that was very good advice and thank you. Sometimes it's okay to say no to beam time. And I learned this one not, this is one of the things I'll say that you did not teach me directly, but indirectly. After September 11th, there were so many people that canceled their beam time at Brookhaven that I think over an eight-week period, we had about 25 days of beam time. And we were either at X-11, or we were in the glove box making samples, or we were driving back up. And we were so burned out, and we would get back to Delaware, and I would kiss my wife and say hi. And then Don would say, oh, yeah, we have more beam time coming up, and then we would go back. And on the one hand, it was fantastic because I got all the data I needed to put my Ph.D. together really quickly and ended up with a really good job and had a nice career of my own. So thanks for that. But on the other hand, boy, we were tired of doing X -Aps up at Brookhaven and eating crappy pizza up there. So I will say as of February 2024, I actually said no to the very first beam time of my life. And I told the beamline scientists, we actually have all the data we need and we're just going to write up those papers. All right, so now, sometimes you should pick up the restaurant or the bar tab. But if you do it always, then your students are going to take advantage of you. And I don't know when you didn't pick up the tab, because I can't recall a time. You know, I've gotten the best restaurant, one of the best restaurants I've ever gone to was Alice Walker's restaurant in Berkeley, Shei Panisse, that Don took us when we were doing some measurements there. And even as a Canadian professor, I don't know if I have that kind of disposable income. But I do, my students are experts in craft beer and breweries from around North America and the world, and they always have a good time when they go out. And yeah, but don't do it always, or they'll take advantage. The things you should always do, you always need a good driver on your research group. And when I was in school, it was not me. It was Uji Arai. And I know when we went out to Berkeley for some measurements, I don't know if Uji was really there to do measuring, but he was certainly a fantastic driver, and we had a great time at the Napa Valley on one of our days off. And I've continued that by always having a research associate that can make sure that our international students get where they're going out in the field, and we don't have any safety issues. And if they need to be a designated driver once or twice, to make sure that they're safe drivers and then so be it and then the final one always give your grad students the time and the space and the resources that they need to grow and to be what they can be and we've heard family we've heard like a lot of your approach to mentoring and it really is true it's most easily accomplished with a dilapidated trailer but there's a lot of other things that you can also do right and always treat your colleagues who like they always treat your students, always treat your collaborators, like they're just colleagues who might have less experience than you, but they're not your underling, you know, they're not your employee, they're part of a team that's going to accomplish things. And that advice kind of collectively is, has always served me well. And I really thank you for following all those rules when I was a student. And until today. Good. So when we were Delaware, there was a course that we could take, which was called professional development given by Dr. Sparks, as we used to call him, and once she graduated, it became Don. And in that course, he taught us that you first need to put your coat hanger, and only afterwards you can put your coat, right? So here is mine. So Don generally likes people. Good, so my name is Matan Ahtegau, originally come from the Netherlands, and like some many students and postdocs, we came from overseas, right? So you had quite a few overseas students. And then studying in Delaware also then has some challenges. So the first year, so here's my example, so the first year that we were in Delaware, we lived in student housing. And at some point, we wanted to move to a real apartment, my wife and I. There was one little problem. We don't have a credit history. So Don and his late wife, Joy, stepped in with a lot of trust and signed our lease contract. Something that loving parents would do for their children. Good. After four years, I got my PhD, and I needed to go back to Europe, basically, because our parents had terminal illnesses. And again, then we profited from Don's people's skills, from Don's staying on contact with all his former students and postdocs. So thanks to Andre Scheidegger, I got a position at ETA, as a postdoctoral fellow, and at some point, you get kids, and you want to have a permanent position. So I took on a typical sparklet job, which is, What do people do after they leave the group? They become? Anyone? Most become professor. But many of us actually end up at a synchrotron as a so-called beamline scientist, right? At least five of us. Good. So getting there was a bit interesting. So this is a big institute, a different research group that wanted to fill this position differently. So there was a big fight going on, and in the end, the director of the synchrotron said, we need to hire that guy because I know his advisor. So this physicist was in a science advisory committee in Berkeley, I think, together with Don. Good. So the last part of my career, so I got recently, what is it called, adjunct professor position at ETA in Zurich, an inorganic chemistry. And they write this very nice text, right? And it's the last sentence of this text that I'm actually most proud of. And this is a sentence that I think reads the same for almost every former student or post of that is currently teaching. Right, we all took after Don. And it reads, Martin is a dedicated, successful mentor and supervisor. Thanks, Don, for a fantastic time. Thanks for being a good friend. I'm looking forward to traveling Much more. No, you've retired. Thanks. Well done, Martin. I've got to lower this. I'm not that tall. Hello, fellow sparklets. Yes, Martin, you spilled the beans on that. I think everybody knows your sparklets. Greetings. I never only write things down, but I was threatened multiple times with bodily harm that if I go over three minutes, Scott's going to kick me off the stage. So I'm going to, you know, try to read this. But if you know, be nice. Cool. So thank you all. Thanks for asking me to come here and speak a little bit about Don and share with you the impact. That's what I'm going to talk about. I don't know about the air thing, but the impact that he's had on my life and career. And I'm also going to try not to cry. You were breaking me down. I mean, so I'll try to keep it together. So professionally, I would not be who I am or where I am without Don. And that's not speaking lightly. So, as many of you, there have likely been people in your life that have provided encouragement along the way, gentle, sometimes not so gentle encouragement, nudges, if you will, to keep you on moving forward, you know, to keep you following your curiosity and chasing your dreams. For me, I'm a first -generation college student. The first person to do this for me was my dad, who when I graduated high school, I had maybe some of the same thoughts that you ought. I don't know, get married. But, you know, he nudged me and said, well, maybe you should not do that. You know, he said, maybe you should not buy a car, but keep the job, and invest in your education. That's good advice. So that, that nudge sent me to community college or then when she went to Penn State and got a degree, which was great. And I thought that was it. But then it wasn't. I followed a girl back to get my master's degree at Penn State. And while I was there, I got another nudge, another help, a full push along the way. And that came from my master's degree. advisor, John Chorover. Some of you may know John, he was at Penn State before he moved to Arizona, but he came back from a meeting and he came to me and he said, well, I'm back from this meeting and I want to let you know that I put in a good word for you. You know, you should be expecting a call from Don Sparks. I said, okay. And I said, oh, you know, now to be honest, you know, John was a protege of Garrison Sposito, so I took some chemistry with John, and we learned from Spizzo's book. And I had read some papers from, obviously, the Sparks group, but didn't quite go to have a good feel who this Don Sparks guy was. So I asked around some of my fellow graduate students, and I could tell, by their expressions, right, just how great an opportunity this was. So, you know, I went around and I asked them, and I said, you know, what do you know about this Don guy? And they looked at me, like, he's famous. you know he's the godfather of soil chemistry I was like oh okay that's pretty important and that's cool I'm not worth that but but you know that godfather thing comes back to we used to call Don the Dawn you know I have a story about that I'll share with you later but dark office smoky atmosphere right with gold ring you'd walk into Don's office and he'd be sitting there and you'd be like Dave this is a Scott, this is my weak interpretation. Dave, derived the Henderson-Hosselbach equation, or you don't walk out of here. No, that's not true. Don was always a great mentor. He was always very helpful and whatnot. But sure enough, Don did call me. He called me on the television, this amazing, famous individual. And it was August 2001. I joined the group and became a sparklet, much like many of you. So, being in Don's group, under his leadership, the thing that he created, opened so many doors, research collaborations, lots of opportunities. The group was not just a collection of young, international, often competitive, often silly, particularly when we were sleepless on beanline trips, researchers, but a community of passionate individuals driven, certainly driven by the quest for knowledge and innovation. So through this group, I had the privilege of engaging in ground-backing research, collaborate with experts from diverse fields, and present my findings at prestigious meetings throughout the country and the world. These experiences and friendships that I made during that time did certainly prove invaluable, much like it did for all of us here on stage. It broadened my horizons for sure. So to digress a little, you know, I had a lot of first things that happened to. me, like many of you, when I came to U.D. I published some of my first papers. I got married first. I never got remarried. I still married to her today. Just once. I bought my first house. I bought my first car. I had my first daughter, Isabel, at Christian Hospital. She just graduated high school. That's a pretty big accomplishment. I gauge her age by how long I've been away from U.D. So she's my measure. So from here at U.D. I got my first job, where I now drive the same streets and walk the same paths in hallways at Don did as a child and as a student at the University of Kentucky. You know, it didn't stop there, those firsts. At the University of Kentucky, I got our career award. I was a National Academy of Sciences Fellow, or Japanese American Science Fellow. I received numerous teaching awards, and I'm not saying that to sort of toot my own horn up here. I'm just saying that to say what many have. said here is that all of those things in some way, excuse me, can be linked back to dawn, right? And really the training that I received here at U.D. So this is the hard part. It's a smile everybody, right? All right, Dr. Sparks, he's impacted my life and career. It's immeasurable like it has been for many of you. I mean we try to measure it. Like look at that board over there, right? We can't. I can't measure it. You've taught me the essence of true scholarship, the importance of integrity, and like many have said, the power of dedication. How dedicated he's been to us and to the university. So deep breath. Because you were willing to take a chance on me in 2001, I have grown not only as a scientist, but as a person. And you instilled me the confidence to follow my curiosity. and pursue my dreams. So your mark you left on me is indelible, certainly for my life, and I'll forever be grateful. Thank you, Dave. Try not to. But I guess off -script, I do want to mention that Don has a huge impact not only on the students, but their families. So when we were putting together that board, my wife generously volunteered to manage all of those people and put that together because she knows how supportive Don was well. While I was a student here, continues to be a huge impact on my career. So with that, I'd like to give three examples for how Dr. Sparks impacted my career. The first is the support he provided to conduct research at synchrotron light sources. When I was a student, a graduate student, I went on about 30 beam trips, 3-0. Those included trips to NSLS to look at bulk X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and that taught me the importance of chemical speciation in soil. I also learned a lot of micro-focus x -ray-based techniques like x-ray diffraction, micro-focused diffraction, mapping, and that taught me the importance of heterogeneity in soil. And the last technique was quick scanning x-ray absorption spectroscopy. And there I got to build a flow cell, really explore my curiosity. And that taught me the importance of kinetics in soil. So that's the first example of how Don impacted my career. The second was the opportunity he provided to me to come back as a postdoc in his group and that provided me some training in key areas that prepared me for success in academia most importantly that included graduate student training so when I was a postdoc in Don's group I got to share all of my experiences with with the new cohort of students that were also in his group and at the time I didn't realize how similar my role as a post-doc was going to be to my current position at Texas Tech. Helping mentor graduate students was an important priority while I was a postdoc, and it's also one of my favorite parts about being a professor. The third example for how Don impacted my career is the opportunity he provided to contribute to his textbook. So when I was a postdoc with Dr. Sparks, he asked me me if I'd like to help with his third edition of his textbook Environmental Soil Chemistry. And back in 2001, as an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts, I see Dr. Xing is here, who taught that course, we used that book. So little did I know how the next 20 years of my life would play out. and that one day I would be able to help write that next edition. It's been, it was an enormous honor and privilege and responsibility to help carry on a portion of that legacy in the discipline of environmental soul chemistry, and I'm very grateful to be a part of that legacy. I believe the textbook will outlive many of the works that I've published. It is a key tool for us as a discipline to ensure our students receive high-level technical training in fundamental soil chemical processes. The science of soil chemistry is highly interdisciplinary, but one of the most important student populations that we serve are those interested in farming and agriculture. I believe this group of students must be trained in fundamental soil chemical processes. So I want to finish by saying thank you, Don, for all the support and collaboration for the past 17 years. And I strive to emulate your qualities of patience, kindness, compassion, and generosity with my own group. It's now my mission to pay it forward, because I cannot pay it back, to share what I've learned and have a positive impact on my students and colleagues. Thank you. Thank you to the planning committee for giving me the opportunity to speak today on the impact that Dawn has had on my life and my career on behalf of my era. And Scott, I think you named my era the organic matter era, but I named it Sparks. first ice age because I think I was the first graduate student that never got to bond over working out of a trailer on South Campus but we had just moved to the brand new interdisciplinary science and engineering laboratory or ice as we called it and I think one thing that was unique about my era in the Sparks group is that we really got to benefit from this huge legacy that you can on the academic family tree in terms of both the nice new space and every piece of analytical equipment that we could ever ask for to do our research in the new ice building. But also we had this huge group of people, this family that Sparks had built that we could reach out to when we needed help with a new methodology or a new piece of instrumentation. And I know I've reached out to so many people in this room that were so willing to help right off the bat because we were part of the Sparks family. So thank you for all the opportunities that you gave me as a graduate student. Somebody was talking about when you first called them and they were so excited. I remember when you emailed me back on my inquiry for a PhD and I jumped up and down in my office. I don't think I ever told you that. But not only were you supportive as a mentor but also a friend and if you don't know if you weren't part of the Sparks family he opened up his house to us so often for parties and celebration and for so many of us that were far from home that made a really big difference I think in our career to have that that family feel so thank you for all the opportunities that you've given me and a lot of mentors don't give their PhD students or graduate students room to grow like you do you encouraged us to apply for all these fellowships or speak at international meetings and so many students don't get that opportunity. And so that made a really big difference for me when I was starting my career and applying for jobs. So thank you and I look forward to all the memories that we have in the future. Hi friends. I'm Kate. I graduated in 2021. I think the UD error is a little bit off there but anyway I started I grew up on a dairy farm I started from humble beginnings grew up on a dairy farm didn't really think I was going to go to school but then I had a non-traditional path five years after graduating high school I went to a community college in Massachusetts and then went on to do my bachelor's and master's degree at University of Massachusetts Amherst my master's degree was under dr. Bashan Singh who is here awesome to see you and it was during my master's degree actually that I met Dr. Sparks for the first time. Dr. Scheng invited him to give a talk at the university and I went and I was starstruck. I brought my book. I had him sign my book and I won't loan that book out to anyone now. It's very precious to me. But anyway, a couple years later when I was looking for a PhD program, I just contacted Dr. Sparks, shot in the dark. Hey, you know, I like working on phosphorus. I'm interested in using the Synchrotron. I like the work that you do. Do you have any PhD positions open? And then he responded with, do you want an interview? And I couldn't believe it. I just felt like, wow. And then he offered me the position. And I was so happy. I cried. I just felt like starting from such humble beginnings that he's really taking a chance on me in this great group. And so it was fantastic. But being in his lab, he just had offered so many opportunities. I could work on whatever I wanted to. I mean, within reason, it was phosphorus. But I could do whatever I wanted to in the lab. We had all these analytical instruments at our disposal. It was great. I had all the opportunities to go to the synchrotron and use cutting-edge beam lines. Hi, Ryan. One of my favorite beam lines is XFM. The other one is Tess. Anyway, in addition to the research opportunities he gave us, I also had the opportunity to travel. And I never traveled before. I think I was on a plane one time before my life, and now I'm traveling all the time. Fast forward to today, well, August, of 2023, with Dr. Sparks' mentorship throughout my PhD and beyond. I became assistant professor at Texas A&M University. Yeah, I'm wicked happy about that. So it's just great, but I don't know if you guys know it, but Dr. Sparks is actually also a Hagler professor at Texas A&M University. So what they do for that is they offer leaders in their field of professorship to come work with students and faculty at the university. So it's fantastic. I get to see Dr. Sparks a couple weeks, a couple times a year, and, you know, it's great. And so my department head, before the last time he was coming, the department head says, Kate, what are your plans with Dr. Sparks when he comes? I said, oh, we're going to go out to all the finest restaurants and drink all the best wine. And he says, the look on his face was like, that's not what I meant. I meant, what research are you going to work on? And I said, oh, well, we're going to talk about research at dinner. Don't worry. So anyway, in the fall, after, right at the end of one of his visits, Dr. Sparks says, Now, Kate, as your academic father, I need to make sure that you're doing well and being productive. And I just smiled. But what I wanted to say was, Dr. Sparks, as your academic daughter, I'm going to need to borrow some money. Thanks for everything. All right, we're going to hear from Dawn next, but before I do that, one thing, You can tell how long we've been out of Don's group, if we still call them Dr. Sparks. So Kate still, it took a long time for me to get past that as well. Now I've been out long enough. I think I've finished my PhD before Kate was probably born. So I worked on it. But anyways, Dawn, you heard all these things. I want to tell everybody else, too, that you heard Don gives us a lot of latitude as students to work. and that was really remarkable. It also led to just really amazing stories. You haven't heard about just tidbits. I could go on actually for days probably telling stories, both my era, previous eras. I don't know the post eras as much, right? But I know some of the stories. But I won't because we want to get on to hearing Dawn and then I have a few closing remarks. And then we'll get around and mingle with everybody. So, Don, I want to turn it over to you to give you time to say some things. Wow. I don't have much more to say after that. One thing I will say is you notice that almost all my students, former students have ties on. Because I used to wear a tie. and coat every day until about five years ago then I stopped wearing it so today I asked my great niece Katie I said Katie do you think I should wear a tie no no she said it's it's casual more casual so I didn't wear a tie so I walked in what did I see all of them are in ties and coats so I started out I had about 20 pages of remarks and then I talked to Karen and notice and she said that's way too much you're going to have to cut back. So anyway I have an abbreviated version. I'll try to do this quickly because I know all of you want something to eat and drink. But first of all I want to thank all of you for your very touching and humbling tributes and all of you for being here today. I want to especially thank the event planning committee who Karen and Nunes is an event organizer extraordinaire. So I want to thank Karen along with the rest of the committee. Forty-five years ago, a graduate student friend of mine saw an announcement of an assistant professor position in soil chemistry at the University of Delaware, posted on a bulletin board. Okay? Now just so you younger attendees understand in those days, we didn't have personal computers, we didn't have cell phones, and we didn't have internet. And he said, Don, I think you should apply for this position. Well, I was 25. I had a year and a half left on my graduate fellowship, and so I thought about it, and then talked to my advisors, and they said, go for it. If you don't get it, you'll get good experiencing interview. So I applied, I got an interview, never thinking I'd get hired. I interviewed during an East Coast snowstorm, nor Easter, had to stay an extra day. I went back to Virginia Tech, and about three weeks later, One Saturday morning, the department chair called and offered me the position. The department wanted me to start the position in July, and it was late February. I went to my advisors and I told them, and they said, you can finish. So they were wonderful scholars and wonderful mentors who had a huge impact on my life. So in early June, I graduated, and on July the 16th, 1979, I began my truly wonderful journey at the University of Delaware. As only the second soil science in the department and the first soil chemist, it has been an unforgettable ride. There are so many to thank for all their support, their assistance, or generosity. One success is largely dependent upon the people whom you surround yourself with. And I have had a plethora of high talented and dedicated colleagues, friends, students, and postdocs. I want to first thank Amy Slocum and Jerry Hendricks, who both worked with me for decades. Amy served as assistant to the chair when I led the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences for 20 years. She then joined me as assistant director of the Delaware Environmental Institute for 13 years and we worked many years together in the Delaware Epscore office. Amy is a multitasker par excellence. I am sure I could have called, messaged Amy at 2 a .m. in the morning, and within 10 minutes she would have responded. Jerry Hendrick served as research associate in my lab for 32 years and provided invaluable assistance to my students, postdocs, and to me. He was succeeded by Matt Fischel, who served as both postdoctoral researcher and lab manager, and for the past few years, Mateo Speretto has served in that role. Matt and Mateus were superb, and I thank them. Kathy Fleyshoot, who's here, was my secretary and administrative assistant for 20 years, and Kathy did a masterful job keeping my calendar, planning my travel, and helping my group members. After she retired, Karen Rodolounis provided much assistance. I had a wonderful staff supporting me, including Amy, Jeanette Miller, Beth Chages, Kathy, and Karen. So I want to give a big, big thank you to Amy, Jerry, Matt, Mateos, Kathy, Jeanette, Beth, and Karen. I also want to acknowledge the incredible support from the University of Delaware administration, including the presidents, the provost, and deans, and department chairs whom I have worked with. Robin was a great dean, a great faculty member, a great provost, and she was so kind and wonderful to me and to my late wife, Joy. In fact, she's wearing earrings today that I gave Robin after Joy passed away. The especially want to pay tribute to President David Roselle, who sadly passed away recently. Dave and his wife, Louise, were so supportive and dear friends to both Joy and me. I had three offers to join other major universities with storied programs and plant and soil sciences, and each time, Dave Roselle was instrumental in me staying at U.D. The continuous financial support for more than 20 years from the DuPont Company was invaluable. The only requirement was that the research be published. This freedom allowed my students and postdocs, which you've heard today, to pursue both fundamental discovery and impactful research. Such freedom to explore blue-sky research or curiosity -driven science is unfortunately less common today due to funding constraints and ever -changing research themes of federal agencies. However, curiosity-driven science is so important. to humankind, as well as to the training of students. My students have heard me quote Albert Einstein, who so eloquently expresses my sentiments on this topic of curiosity science. And he said, I have little patience with scientists who take a board of wood, look for its thinnest part, and drill a great number of holes where drilling is easy. The success of any faculty meetings in many ways attributable to their graduate students and postdocs. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would have the privilege of advising and mentoring such an amazing group of students. They have been the best and the brightest and they have come to UD from all over the world. We even today have former group members from China. from Switzerland, and from the United Arab Emirates, and all over the United States and Canada. It has been the honor of my career to advise 65 graduate students and 35 post-doctoral researchers and playing host to 36 visiting professors and scholars from around the world. I want to just take a couple of minutes to brag a little bit about the quality of these students because they're all modest, including all these aspects out in the audience. During their time of UD, they were recipients of major awards and honors. These include prestigious fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the Departments of Defense, Energy, NASA, USDA, and U.D. Three of my doctoral students received the Theodore Wolf dissertation prize from the university and won a University of Delaware Teaching Award. I've always felt that the best metric for a high quality graduate program is what happens to the students after they leave. In this regard, our soil chemistry program has excelled and is recognized both nationally and international. Let me give you some indices of this. 25 former students serve as faculty members at some of the best universities in the country and abroad. Nine hold significant positions in federal agencies, including the EPA, Department of Defense, and USDA. Three, are lead scientists at National International Laboratories and a number have been placed in research and managerial positions in the private sector including the DuPont Company. Three of the students have received the Presidential Early Career Award for Sciences Engineers and went to the White House. Two of the students have received UD alumni awards including the UD Wall fame. Scott received also a alumni award. Five students have received the top award in soil chemistry and mineralogy from the Soil Science Society of America and a number have been named fellow of societies. Two former PhD students, including Scott, hold name professorships. What a list of accomplishments. If there's any legacy I have, they will be my legacy. So with all my former group members just stand up because of their number analogy, you stand up for applause please. Last but not least, I want to thank my family, a number of whom are here today. And I want to especially thank somebody that I wish we're here, and that's joy. My parents instilled in me a strong work ethic, a love of reading and learning, and the importance of stewarding our natural resources, soil and water. My sister Betty and brother-in-law Henry were like second parents. Betty was 19 years old when I was born. And I would often kid my parents that I must have been an accident. They would smile, but they never said yes or no. Joy was my best friend and the love of my life. She had a distinguished career at U .D., but always found time to support me every step of the way in my career. She had a great affection for all my graduate students, and I know they were very fond of her. We had many wonderful social events at our house and at conferences, which Joy always played a major role in. Just to conclude, I must say it's not been an easy decision to retire. I'm still so excited about the wonderful research opportunities that lie ahead, and we'll miss advising and mentoring my graduate students. But I've always felt that I wanted to retire when I was still productive, making contributions, and hopefully close to the top of the game. It's time to provide someone else an opportunity to further enhance the excellence of our soil chemistry and our soil science programs. But as Yogi Berra said, it ain't over till it's over. So I'm entering a new chapter of life. What am I going to do in retirement? I don't know. It's not all sorted out yet. But for those who know me well, I love to travel. And even though I've traveled to all seven continents, there are always new places to visit. I'm an enophile, so I will continue visiting wineries around the world and shipping bottles of wine home and drinking a lot of wine. You know, George Burns once said he left a drink, not wine, but he had martinis, and he was 100. So one of his friends said to him, George, what do your doctor say about this? He said, they're all dead. So I have a large stack of books I want to read. I plan on reviewing manuscripts proposals. Volunteering, as mentioned, I have this wonderful fellowship at Texas A&M, which will continue for a couple more years. And so I'm able to provide lectures there. I'm co-advising two graduate students, but Robin, as you said, they're not my students, so I don't have all the responsibilities. But rest assured, I'm not going to be a couch potato. Well, I've got to stop. I'm standing between you and food and drink, so I need to stop, okay? So again, many, many thanks to all of you for being here in person and virtually. This is certainly a day I'll never forget. Thank you. Don, before you go. So we have two last things. First, I'm going to turn it over to Amy. It's a gift for you, Don, that from all of us, that hopefully you will enjoy, so you don't have to take it out of the bag. Oh. It's all of your students. Oh. You'll bear with me for just two or three minutes. I first also want to echo Don's thanks of everybody who put this on, because it's really been a spectacular event. everybody who's traveled here, all of you for participating, most of all, you, Don. But I do have one or two minutes story to bestow one last award that is unique. Bear with me on the story. A couple years ago, maybe three years ago, we were at a goldschmidt meeting in Hawaii. And Don and I went out to dinner, but my wife, Liz, who's here, and our younger son, Eric, went along. And Eric is not very tolerant of, let's say he's not very accommodating of a lot of our dinners when we go out with other people and certainly doesn't like to engage with my, with adults, let's say, let's put it that way. He's 20, right, the 18 at the time. And we sit down at dinner and Don starts engaging with Eric and starts telling you about his travels and places he's gone and what he's seen. And we get done with dinner. And we leave Donda near this part. And Eric turns us and says, Dawn's really cool. So I've never heard Eric ever tell any, like to say a comment about any adult that they were cool, except for you. So you have the Eric Vendorf Cool Award as well. And so with that, I will say that, everything else Donna has done, he's also impressed our son as being a cool guy. So there you go. With that, I will stop and we're good. Yeah, and welcome everybody to go out food and drink. So look forward to talking to all of you as well. Thank you.
Legacy Celebration for Donald L. Sparks, Ph.D.
From Andrew Brett January 29, 2025
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Legacy Celebration for Donald L. Sparks, Ph.D.
This program was recorded June 7, 2024 at the University of Delaware.
This program was recorded June 7, 2024 at the University of Delaware.
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