Mark Barton is Professor of Geology and Geochemistry at the University of Arizona and Co-Director of the UA Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources.  Mark grew up in the Washington DC area, graduating from high school in 1974. He earned BS and MS degrees from Virginia Tech (1977, 1978) and a PhD from the University of Chicago (1981) where he was an NSF and McCormick Fellow. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at the Geophysical Laboratory (Carnegie Institution of Washington), he taught at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for 6 years (Asst Prof 1984-88, Assoc Prof 88-90) before joining the faculty at the University of Arizona in 1990. His research interests and span many aspects of energy and mass transfer in the Earth's lithosphere and their applications to mineral deposits. Ongoing collaborative studies involve many mining companies and the USGS and were supported by these groups, the US National Science Foundation, Science Foundation Arizona, and the Keck Foundation among others. Ore deposit studies have focused on porphyry, IOCG, sediment-hosted Cu(-Co-Ag) and U(-V), and various precious metal systems, and their broader geologic context. His interests extend to the geochemistry, petrology and dynamics of broad range of other geologic systems, including arc-related magmatism and metamorphism, subduction zone processes, extensional tectonics, and fluid processes in sedimentary basins. Mark is a fellow of and has been active in several professional societies including the Society of Economic Geologists (Life Fellow), the Geological Society of America (Fellow), the Mineralogical Society of America (Life Fellow), the Society for Geology Applied to Ore Deposits (SGA), the Society for Mining, Mineralogy and Exploration (SME), the Geochemical Society, and the Arizona Geological Society. He has received awards from several of these, among them including the Lindgren (SEG) and MSA Award (MSA). He has served in various capacities including on editorial boards, on U.S. National Research Council Committees, and in other roles for professional societies and government panels. Since joining the UA faculty he has worked actively at the local and national levels to help secure the long term vitality of economic geology research and education in the United States. After 15 years directing the geology-focused, research-oriented "Center for Mineral Resources," he helped found the "Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources" (IMR) which is a state-, industry-, and privately-funded interdisciplinary organization for research and education that spans science and engineering to public health and policy related to mineral resources. In the early 2000s, he collaborated with his former PhD students David Johnson and Eric Jensen in developing Bronco Creek Exploration (now part of EMX Royalty, as of 2010).