Chip Groat, left, receiving the Bureau of Economic Geology 2005 alumnus of the year award from Bureau Director Scott W. Tinker. |
Charles G. “Chip” Groat was honored as the Bureau of Economic Geology’s alumnus of the year in 2005. He joined the Bureau in 1968 as a research scientist associate while he was a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin. Groat completed his doctorate in geology in 1970. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1962 from the University of Rochester and a master’s in 1967 from the University of Massachusetts. |
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Groat led the Bureau in research projects dealing with environmental issues and strengthened the Bureau’s programs in geothermal, lignite, and uranium resources. He also secured funding for the first investigation of high-level waste storage in the Panhandle, an effort that would grow into a major program at the Bureau in several years. In addition to his teaching responsibilities and administrative duties, Groat was involved in geological investigations in West Texas, environmental geologic mapping of the Texas Gulf coast, mineral resource studies on University Lands, a survey of surface mining in Texas, and studies of geothermal energy. Groat left the Bureau in 1976 to accept the position of chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso, where he also held the title of associate professor. In 1978 Groat moved to Louisiana to serve as director and state geologist of the Louisiana Geological Survey, in the Department of Natural Resources and Louisiana State University. He was also a professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics until 1990. Groat became the executive director of the American Geological Institute in 1990. In 1992 he returned to Louisiana State University to serve as the executive director of the Center for Coastal, Energy, and Environmental Resources until 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Groat again held leadership positions at The University of Texas at El Paso. He was director of the Center for Environmental Resource Management and the Environmental Science and Engineering Ph.D. Program, as well as a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences. In 1998 Groat was appointed director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the Department of the Interior by President Clinton. In his USGS position, Groat oversaw a budget of around $1 billion and coordinated programs in earth and life science with federal and state agencies, providing information to the U.S. Congress and private citizens to guide decisions in resource and environmental issues. He held that post until 2005, when he returned to The University of Texas at Austin to direct the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy and the Energy and Mineral Resources Graduate Program in the Jackson School of Geosciences. Groat is a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, where he holds the John A. and Katherine G. Jackson Chair in Energy and Mineral Resources. In 2008 Groat was named the interim dean of the Jackson School upon the departure of Eric Barron. Groat is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served on several boards of the National Research Council and is a past president of the Association of American State Geologists and the Energy Minerals Division of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He has given more than 300 talks to professional societies and state and federal legislative committees. He has also published more than 85 reports, maps, and abstracts dealing with environmental issues, as well as energy and mineral resources, water resources, coastal processes and management, industrial minerals, earth science education, and resources and environmental policy. |
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