The
Geology Foundation Advisory Council
of The University of Texas at Austin held its 90th meeting
at the Bureau's main facility on Friday, March 30, 2001.
Discussions included reports by UT System Chancellor
Dan Burck, College of Natural Sciences
Dean Mary Ann Rankin, Geology Foundation Director
USGS Director Charles
G. (Chip) Groat with Bureau Director Scott W. Tinker
(and former BEG Director) William L. Fisher,
BEG Director Scott W. Tinker, and Institute
for Geophysics Associate Director Ian Dalziel, as well
as summaries of Department initiatives and programs presented
by members of the Department of Geological Sciences.
Hard
at work: The Geology Foundation Advisory Council discusses
program initiatives.
The Bureau of Economic Geology's Advisory
Boardheld its Midyear Meeting on Thursday, March 29, 2001
at the Bureau's main facility in Austin, Texas. In attendance
were committee members
Dr. Thomas Barrow, Mr. L. Decker Dawson,
Mr. James Gibbs, Dr. John Hopkins,
Mr. Mark Leonard, Mr. Russell Slayback,
and Dr. Scott W. Tinker. Also present were
Dr. William Fisher, and Associate Directors
Dr. Jay Raney and Doug Ratcliff.
Presentations were made by Dr. Lesli Wood,
Dr. Bridget Scanlon, and Scott Rodgers.
Visitors from Ecuador toured the Bureau
on Thursday, March 29, 2001. The group included Victor Bastidas,
Rector, a delegation from Escuela Superior
Politécnica del Litoral in Guayaquil, Ecuador,
and Freddy A. Larrea, Director of Lamco Energy
Group, LLC, of Houston, Texas. The contingent was here to review
the research and technical capabilities of the Bureau.
The Bureau resounded with excitment and chatter on Monday, March 26, 2001,
as 110 fifth graders from Spicewood Elementary
came to learn about geologic mapping from the experts at the Bureau.
The program, titled "My Location on
Earth: How Geologists Make Maps," introduced the students
to the wonders of mapping using LIDAR, drilling core, GPS, Virtual
Reality, dual-monitor workstations, and old-fashioned fieldwork.
(Photos)
The Bureau
was the focus of the Texas Education
Agency’s (TEA) Eye on Earth
video program for the month of March. This nationally
acclaimed, award-winning program isdesigned
to introduce teachers and educators to the wide variety
of
environmental education opportunities that abound in Texas;
a different environmental issue, event, or resource is presented
each month. Eye on Earth is produced
by the T-STAR Satellite System, which develops quality educational
programs for the Texas public school system. The half-hour
videos are shown on TEA’s cable channel and copied free
of change for interested parties.
Research
Scientist Stephen Ruppel presented "Sequence-
and Cycle-Scale Stratigraphy of the Leonardian: Lessons from Outcrops
and the Subsurface" at the monthly luncheon meeting of
the PBS-SEPM, March 20, 2001. (Abstract)
Bureau Scientist Stephen E. Laubach visits
with representatives of the Kuwaiti
Oil Company at the Middle East Oil Show and Conference
held March 17–20, 2001 in Bahrain. Steve and Bureau
Associate Director Doug Ratcliff traveled there to represent
the Bureau at the conference.
Bureau scientist Bob Hardage has been awarded the
prestigious A. I. Levorsen Memorial
Award for Best Paper that he presented at the
recent Southwest Section, American Association of Petroleum
Geologists meeting in Dallas on March 12–13, 2001.
Bob’s paper is titled "3-D Seismic Evidence of
the Effects of Carbonate Karst Collapse on Overlying Clastic
Stratigraphy and Reservoir Compartmentalization." He
will receive the award at the next annual Southwest Section
meeting June 6, 2002, in Roswell, New Mexico. (Abstract)
PTTC RLO Directors meet in
D.C. Petroleum Technology Transfer
Council (PTTC) Regional Lead
Organization (RLO) Directors and PAG chairpersons were
invited to attend the March 2001 PTTC Board of Directors meeting
in Washington D.C.
In
attendance were (from left to right) new Texas PTTC Chairman
Gene Ames, III, Texas Congressman Lamar
Smith, and Texas RLO Director Scott W. Tinker.
This three-day event included Capitol Hill briefings, strategic
planning, and visits to Congressional members on Capitol Hill.
They met to discuss the importance of technology transfer to
independent producers, who now account for 80% of U.S. oil and
gas production.
