August 2003

Friday, August 29 marked the beginning of the Bureau's 2003 Fall Technical Seminar Series. The first presentation was by Bureau scientist Dr. Robert M. Reed. He presented, "Introduction to the Bureau's Scanning Electron Microscope." [Abstract] 08/25/03

A group of seven officials from Pemex visited UT on August 25 and 26 as guests of Dr. Juan Sánchez, UT Vice President for Research. The purpose of the visit was to follow up on previous discussions between UT and Pemex regarding broadening interactions between the two institutions. Meetings were held at BEG and the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering. Geoscience, petroleum engineering, environmental science, community development, business, and training were among the topics discussed. The kickoff meeting at the BEG is pictured above. [More pictures] 08/27/03

"Who Needs a License? What You Need to Seal and What Happens if You Don't" was the presentation at the Austin Geological Society meeting on Monday, August 25, 2003, 7:00–8:00 p.m. This presentation was by Edward G. Miller, P. G, Vice Chairman, Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists. A question-and-answer session followed. [Details] 08/21/03

On Sunday, August 24, Bureau scientist Robert Reed participated in Texas Memorial Museum's Identification Day, a twice-yearly event that provides an opportunity for the public to bring natural objects (fossils, rocks, insects, etc.) for identification and interpretation by experts. Rob was among the experts from The University of Texas at Austin, Austin Paleontological Society, Texas Center for Environmental Quality, and Travis County Archeological Society. Click here for more information. 08/25/03

UT Austin developed, funded, and is managing a new elementary school in Austin, the first of its kind in Texas. This open enrollment school serves students east of I-35 and south of Highway 290 and is located at East 6th and Martínez streets. The UT Austin Elementary School reached maximum enrollment and classes begin for 118 pre-K through 1st graders on August 19. Teachers will be using innovative teaching tools developed by the UT College of Education in reading, mathematics, science, social studies, P. E., fine arts, cultural awareness, technology and character education. Each year, the school will add a grade until it is a fully functioning pre-K through 5th grade elementary school. The Bureau delivered packets for each teacher that included materials that can be used in the classroom and information on how to use the Bureau as a resource. 08/19/03 Pre-kindergarten students attended the open house August 18 and got to visit their classroom.

The last lecture of the Bureau's Summer Seminar Series was held Friday, August 15. The speaker, Dr. Gordon Wells, Research Associate at the UT Center for Space Research, presented "The Use of Remote Sensing and GIS Technology during the Space Shuttle Columbia Recovery." [Details] 08/14/03

Virginia Martínez Cal, a geologist with RepsolYPF, spent three days in mid-August at the Bureau working with the Fracture Research and Application Consortium on techniques for the characterization of deeply buried, fractured siliciclastic reservoirs. 08/25/03

On Monday, August 11, Bureau researcher Dr. Bridget R. Scanlon presented an allday short course, "Groundwater–Surface Water Interactions," to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). This course covered groundwater–surface water interactions relative to water resources and contaminanttransport (point and nonpoint source). Techniques for quantifying groundwater–surface water interactions were also described. 07/31/03

Bureau employees John Andrews, Sue Hovorka, Paula Beard, Scott Rodgers, and Alan Dutton have produced a new version of the 3-D visualization of the Edwards aquifer for the Witte Museum of San Antonio. This visualization was shown at the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) meeting August 10–12, 2003, and will then be used by Witte staff at the museum as part of their fund raising efforts to develop a new "World of Water" exhibit. The new visualization includes introductory material and a simulation of flow derived from the recently completed Bureau–USGS numerical model of the aquifer. Staff at the Edwards Aquifer Authority and San Antonio Water System also assisted with this effort. Websites: Witte Museum and NSPE 07/08/03

On August 5–6, Bureau researchers Becky Smyth and Tiffany Hepner participated in a workshop for Round Rock and San Antonio science teachers titled "Cataclysms and Catastrophes—The Role of Science in Natural and Human-Induced Disasters" held at the Institute for Geophysics. The workshop is one of several initiatives funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation; the purpose of the grant is to create inquiry-based learning activities through a partnership involving K-12 teachers, graduate students, and research scientists at the Institute for Geophysics and the Bureau. The activities provide opportunities for teachers to use technology in science learning. Becky presented a Hurricane module that used lidar data to recreate the landslide caused by flooding in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, during Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Tiffany presented a Coastal Zone module that used data collected by students participating in the Texas High School Coastal Monitoring Program to demonstrate changes in beach topography following Tropical Storm Frances in 1998. Teachers participated in a hands-on GPS demonstration at the Bureau Wednesday morning and were treated to a Virtual Reality demonstration from John Andrews. Click here for more information about this workshop. 08/08/03

Bureau Director Scott Tinker attended the Rocky Mountain Natural Gas Strategy Conference and Investment Forum in Denver, Colorado, August 4–6. While there he presented "Decarbonization—The Coming Natural Gas Economy" in the session "A Long-Term View of the Big Picture: Balancing Energy, Environment and the Economy." [PowerPoint 9.9MB] 08/05/03

Bureau researcher Sue Hovorka recently attended the 2003 Annual Meeting of Digital Library of Earth Science Education (DLESE) (www.dlese.org) in Boulder, Colorado, August 2–5. DLESE, funded by the National Science Foundation, supports teaching and learning about the Earth system and is being built by a community of educators, students, and scientists to support Earth system education at all levels. Sue is a member of a DLESE "strand," or working group, that met to strategize at the annual meeting. Sue's strand, Place-Based Learning, led by Stuart Birnbaum of UT San Antonio, examines how local educational materials such as those produced at the Bureau and through efforts of the Jackson School Geoscience Alliance can be integrated into the DLESE library. 09/02/03

On Friday, August 1, the Bureau's weekly seminar was presented by Dr. Charles (Chock) M. Woodruff, Jr. The title of his presentation was "The Balcones Escarpment—A Geocultural Borderland." Dr. Woodruff is a Senior Lecturer at the UT Department of Civil Engineering and is a geological consultant here in Austin. [Details] 07/29/03

UT Austin Bureau researcher Sue Hovorka recently served on the Texas State Board of Education's (SBOE) Earth Science Task Force, a select group of Texas earth science professionals charged with studying earth science curriculum and graduation requirements for science in Texas secondary schools. Dr. Sharon Mosher of the UT Department of Geological Sciences also served on the committee. The Task Force report will be on the agenda at the Texas State Board of Education meeting of the Committee on Instruction on Thursday afternoon, September 11, at the Texas Education Agency, 1701 North Congress Ave. Interested persons are welcome to attend this public meeting. Task Force members are glad to receive and respond to comments and questions; please E-mail Sue Hovorka. [click here for details] 08/11/03

Longtime Bureau researcher and RCRL scientist Jim Jennings has returned from living the expatriate life in Rijswijk, The Netherlands, where he spent the past year working as a Visiting Professor for Shell International Exploration and Production Company. Jim worked in the Technology Applications and Research division on the Carbonate Development Team (CDT), teaching CDT staff "everything I could from what the RCRL knows about modeling carbonate reservoirs" as well as receiving inspiration for future RCRL research involving reservoirs in Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan. 08/11/03

A paper by Bureau researchers Bob Hardage, Michael DeAngelo, and Paul Murray titled "Defining P-Wave and S-Wave Stratal Surfaces With Nine-Component VSPs" has been published in the August 2003 edition of The Leading Edge. Click here to see the article in PDF format. 08/15/03