Esti Ukar and Jay Kipper
The Bureau of Economic Geology generates a significant amount of its annual funding from the ability of its researchers to garner grant support from a variety of funders keenly interested in their research. In 2023, a particularly successful year, Bureau researchers brought in large grants from governments, foundations, and industry.
Every year, the highly resourceful folks who have raised the most money in support of their innovative research initiatives—our “rainmakers”—are recognized at the annual Rainmakers’ Dinner, a wonderful opportunity to celebrate them and to bring the Bureau community together.
This year’s Rainmakers’ Dinner was held recently and was hosted by Bureau Deputy Director Jay Kipper. The top rainmakers recognized (having raised at least $256,000 each this year) include (alphabetically) Mohsen Ahmadian, Shuvajit Bhattacharya, Tiffany Caudle, David Chapman, Jake Covault, Dallas Dunlap, Sergey Fomel, Peter Hennings, Seyyed Hosseini, Susan Hovorka, Xavier Janson, Jay Kipper, Toti Larson, Steve Laubach, Tyson McKinney, Tip Meckel, Jeff Paine, Alexandros Savvaidis, Bridget Scanlon, Mark Shuster, Katie Smye, Alex Sun, Zoltan Sylvester, Scott Tinker, Ramón Treviño, Esti Ukar, Carlos Uroza, Michael Young, and Tongwei Zhang.
Each year, Bureau Visiting Committee member Elliott Pew and his family sponsor the Pew Family Bureau of Economic Geology Rainmaker of the Year Award, a cash award supporting the top fundraiser’s work. This year’s Rainmaker of the Year Award recipient, recognized for her exceptional success in attracting funding, is Esti Ukar. Much of her work in 2023 was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Please join all of us at the Bureau of Economic Geology in congratulating these tremendously effective rainmakers!
