This is just a quick note — and a list — of all the presentations we managed to catch while at CONVERGE, GIA’s Symposium joined with AGS’s Conclave in Carlsbad, California, September 7–10.
Sunday, September 7 was a full day of tours. We spent the afternoon at GIA’s Carlsbad campus, where our guide, led us through an incredible behind the scenes tour of the gem lab. Having once worked in the GIA lab myself, it was impressive to see how much it has grown — and just as surprising to see how much has remained familiar.
The “GIA Museum” displays now extend throughout the main building, and if you plan a visit to GIA, that alone could keep your attention all day! Unfortunately, there was more on our schedule.
Back at Converge (the Omni Resort), the evening opened with a meet & greet with GIA’s new president, Pritesh Patel. It was an extraordinary chance not only to meet face-to-face with members of GIA’s corporate team, but also to reconnect with old friends.
Educational Sessions
We’ll be sharing highlights of the many sessions we attended on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday very soon. In the meantime, here’s the list of sessions we were able to attend.
Pearl Testing and Research at GIA – A Brief History and Recent Updates
The legacy of pearl testing at GIA can be traced back to the 1930s, when Japanese akoya cultured pearls were successfully commercialized, and it became critical for gemological laboratories to be able to separate natural pearls from their cultured counterparts. In this presentation, a brief history of GIA’s technological and research advancements in pearl testing will be discussed. These developments have helped GIA to solve various identification challenges for this unique and timeless biogenic gem.
Chunhui Zhou, Ph.D.
Senior Manager, Research
GIA
The Value of Pearl Impact
The value of gems and precious metal is no longer limited to their physical attributes, as origin and impact are emerging as equally important throughout the jewelry value chain. One gem category that acknowledges and reconciles the need for human and nature to coexist in harmony is pearl. Those natural beauties have long been considered inherently sustainable because of their value factors reflecting the journey of the mollusk they grew within. This presentation focuses on the mission to measure, manage, and share the value of pearls’ social and environmental impact.
Pierre Fallourd, Director, Onegemme
Colored Stone Treatments in the 21st Century: A Review and Current State of Research
One of the major focuses of gemological research has always been enhancing the gemological laboratory’s ability to accurately and efficiently detect gems that are treated artificially to enhance their appearance. As our knowledge grows, the labs have had to focus on treatments that are ever more difficult to detect, such as low-temperature heat treatment, chromophore diffusion, and artificial irradiation. This talk will provide a review of the cutting-edge research focusing on colored stone treatment identification in the 21st century.
Aaron Palke, Ph.D.
Senior Manager of Research
GIA
The Vault and Beyond: The Exciting Lives of Museum Specimens
This behind-the-scenes look at the GIA Museum highlights the essential roles that our exhibits and specimens play in GIA’s mission to ensure the public trust in gems and jewelry. Not only does the Museum Collection serve to educate students and inspire our public tour visitors but it also is a crucial aid to GIA researchers in understanding new treatments, locality information, or particular gemstone features seen in the trade. Established in 2000, the Museum Collection has been built from strategic purchases and the generous donations of many individuals and companies. Our Collection is a treasure trove of unique, rare, and jaw-dropping specimens. Dive into the collection with us as we explore the ways in which the Museum supports the different facets of GIA and get a first-hand look at some of our special projects over the years.
Rachelle Turnier, Ph.D.
Manager, GIA Museum
GIA
Rare Gemstones: The Other 175
Over 6,000 mineral species have been described to date. Of these, only 200 species have ever been faceted, including roughly 25 species routinely seen in the gem and jewelry trade. Where do the other 175 species fit in the marketplace? Some are obscure and exceedingly rare, such as carletonite or nifontivite. Some are restricted to the collector market due to their low hardness and durability, coupled with being extremely difficult to cut and polish. Examples include phosgenite, phosphophyllite, or crocoite. Others have sufficient hardness and durability to be used in jewelry, but are rarely available. This last group is known as the “crossover gems,” which includes stones such as jeremejevite, kornerupine, haüyne, benitoite, rhodochrosite, and hackmanite. This session will expand your knowledge of stones that are “outside the box” for customers seeking something unique. You’ll explore rare gems that cannot easily be “shopped” and learn how each type offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for collectors and jewelry enthusiasts alike.
John Bradshaw, Owner, John J. Bradshaw
Rare and Radiant: The Science and Beauty of Fancy Colored Diamonds
Every natural diamond has a story of its creation written into its atomic-scale defects and its inclusions. We’ll explore the rainbow of diamonds and their varied causes of color. From incorporating unusual elements, to experiencing mountain-building geologic forces, to being in close proximity to radioactive minerals, a colored diamond’s history can be determined and deciphered. We’ll investigate the fascinating science behind the vibrant hues of natural fancy colored diamonds, highlighting some of the most rare and magnificent diamonds that GIA has ever seen.
Sally Magana, Ph.D.
Senior Manager, Identification
GIA
Innovative Spectroscopic Instrumentation for Gemstone Screening and Identification
GIA is developing new instrumentation to support gem testing, to include fluorescence spectroscopy for diamond screening, pearl testing and colored stone identification, as well as image-assisted Raman and photoluminescence equipment for diamond jewelry identification, and multi-excitation photoluminescence spectroscopy for gemstone analysis.
Tsung-Han Tsai, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
GIA
Towards a Fancy Cut Grade
Fancy cuts offer limitless design possibilities, with vast parameter spaces that defy exhaustive exploration. GIA’s upcoming fancy cut grading system will use ray tracing on 3D wireframe models to assess light performance, prioritizing diamond beauty over fixed proportion ranges. To support manufacturers, we are developing Facetware SaaS, enabling the submission of 3D models for preliminary cut grade assessments. This talk will introduce GIA’s grading methodology and demonstrate how Facetware SaaS can assist diamond designers and manufacturers.
Jason Quick
Senior Director, Diamond Cut Research
GIA
Modern Diamond Design
This talk explores how new computational tools help navigate the vast design space of facet arrangements, enabling both novel cuts and optimization of traditional cuts for light performance. A diamond’s virtual facet pattern—its unique segmentation of the visual field into polygons—plays a key role in defining its appearance. We will illustrate this concept with new cut designs and discuss how virtual facet analysis informs GIA’s approach to fancy cut evaluation.
Jim Conant, Ph.D.
Senior Research Mathematician
GIA
The Science that Makes Gems Shine: Understanding Metrology at GIA
Precision and accuracy are at the heart of every gemstone GIA tests and evaluates. Metrology – the science of measurement – ensures consistency and reliability across GIA’s global laboratories. This talk explores how metrology underpins GIA’s research and laboratory services through rigorous validation, verification, and intra- and inter-laboratory testing of various measurement instruments. We will also discuss the development of calibration processes that establish traceability to national standards, ensuring every measurement meets the highest scientific benchmarks.
Yun Luo, Ph.D.
GIA Director, Metrology and Quality Control
GIA
Our Changing Jewelry Industry
Do you want a comprehensive insight into today’s jewelry industry, which is navigating through challenging economic and geopolitical conditions? This session will provide a macro view of the headwinds and tailwinds influencing our jewelry industry covering market size and growth, industry health, and competitive influences. With a focus on the jewelry store market, topics include sales trends, custom jewelry, pricing trends, natural and lab-grown diamond markets, diamond screening technology, bridal market changes, color gemstone market, and an overview of the U.S. manufacturing market. Benchmark your own company relative to the current market changes.
Harold Dupuy, FGA, GG
Vice President, Strategic Analysis, Stuller, inc.
Stuller, Inc.
Carbon Cousins: Jet, Plastic, and the Future of Synthetic Diamonds
Diamonds may promise forever love, but the first synthetic forever belonged to jet—and the story of that gem has been largely forgotten. When Victorian demand for Whitby jet outpaced supply, the race to create a synthetic led to plastic—a ‘gem’ of innovation that has directly contributed to the rise of a new geological era—the Anthropocene. Today, lab-grown diamonds are marketed as sustainable innovation—but history warns us: synthetic gems rarely disappear when their beauty fades. This talk explores what happened when humans solved a material crisis with a synthetic innovation—and why the diamond industry should heed the warning from its carbon cousin.
Sarah Caldwell Steele
Doctoral Researcher
Durham University
An Overview of the Natural Gulf Pearl Trade
Since historical times, the Persian (also known as Arabian) Gulf was considered to be the center of the natural pearl trade. Pearl diving was an essential part of the livelihoods of many communities in the Gulf, particularly Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE, which were once renowned for producing some of the finest natural pearls in the world (also known in the trade as “Basra Pearls”). In this presentation, an overview of the natural Gulf pearl trade in the past will be discussed. In addition, the resurgence of interest in natural pearls in the present day, driven by a growing appreciation for their rarity and unique history will also be highlighted.
Abeer Alalawi
Pearl Consultant
GIA
Exploring the Behind-the-Scenes of the Smithsonian National Gem Collection
Dr. Gabriela Farfan, curator of gems and minerals at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, will be sharing how research behind-the-scenes and iconic exhibits work to spark curiosity about the natural world. She will also be highlighting the new Winston red diamond and the Winston fancy color diamond collection that was unveiled this spring.
Gabriela Farfan, Ph.D.
Coralyn Whitney Curator of Gems and Minerals
Smithsonian Institute
Field Gemology: A Foundation to Better Understand Gemstones
Field Gemology is an exciting part of gemology. For over 15 years, GIA has visited mining locales around the globe to collect gems for scientific research. Collecting samples with a high reliability is critical for any research institution, since the quality of scientific data is directly related to the quality of the samples. But Field Gemology offers more opportunities than just building a scientific reference library. It allows gemologists to better understand the intricacies, dynamics and complexities that are related to gemstones. It can help us understand how gemstones form in the earth, how they are mined, what they represent for local communities or how they move through the supply chain. Forming a holistic view of a gem and what it represents, is critical for any modern gemologist who wants to address the current challenges that the gem industry faces!
Wim Vertriest
Manager, GIA Field Gemology
GIA
Gemology by Numbers – Why It Just Doesn’t Add Up!
In today’s fast-paced world, gemology can sometimes become oversimplified — relying on a single test or a quick visual assessment. In this session, we’ll explore real-world examples where deeper testing and thorough methodologies made all the difference in achieving accurate gem identification. This session is a focused review of recent case studies highlighting errors made by those who, despite their expertise, relied too heavily on “gemology by numbers.” This session will demonstrate how to select and apply the correct tests to secure accurate gem identifications. Participants will learn how to support their findings with verifiable methods and avoid costly mistakes and legal challenges through sound, practical testing practices.
Kerry Gregory
Head of Shiny Stuff
Gemmology Rocks
We also attended to the two panel sessions, Thriving Through Change: Strategies for What’s Next, and Legends of Gemology.
LOTS to cover! And we will share it all as soon as we can!
