November 2004

Josephine Casey (1907-2004), longtime secretary and editor at the Bureau, died on November 23, in Austin at the age of 97. She retired from the Bureau in 1972, after serving nearly 46 years under several directors. Known as “Miss Casey” at the Bureau, she provided administrative support to the staff and edited and oversaw the publication of   many manuscripts. A native Austinite, Miss Casey lived most of her life in the Hyde Park area and was active in the neighborhood association and the University United Methodist Church.11/30/04

Diana Sava, new Research Associate at the Bureau, holds a B.S. in Engineering Geophysics from the University of Bucharest, Romania (1995), and an M.S. (2001) and Ph.D. (2004) in Geophysics from Stanford University. Diana’s interests include statistical rock physics for reservoir characterization, quantitative integration of geological and seismic data, seismic fracture characterization, and gas hydrates.  11/24/04

New Research Associate Alan Lee Brown has joined the Bureau after 5 years as Product Development Manager at Landmark Graphics. Prior to his stint at Landmark, he was a geologist for 18 years at Amoco Production Company in New Orleans and Houston. Alan has a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University (2002), an M.S. degree from West Virginia University (1982),   and a B.S. degree from James Madison, Harrisburg, Virginia (1977). His interests include reservoir characterization and integrating petrophysics and geophysical analyses. 11/24/04

Paul Sava, new Research Associate at the Bureau, holds an engineering degree in Geophysics (1995) from the University of Bucharest, as well as M.S. (1998) and Ph.D. degrees in Geophysics from Stanford University (2004). His main research interests are in seismic imaging and velocity analysis using wavefield extrapolation techniques, computational methods   for wave propagation, optimization, and high performance computing. 11/24/04

Sharon Campos has been chosen as the Bureau’s new Senior Administrative Associate to replace Glynis Morse, who recently left to work at the Geology Foundation. Sharon comes to us from UT’s College of Engineering, where she worked for nearly 13 years. She holds a BLS (Bachelor of Liberal Studies) in Business Administration from St. Edward’s University and   has more than 20 years’ experience in government and industry. Outside of work, Sharon enjoys teaching piano, and she has recently become certified as a Registered Massage Therapist. 11/22/04

Mark Tomasso is a new Research Associate from the University College in Dublin, where he was working on a postdoctoral study with the Fault Analysis Group. Mark has a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Birmingham (2001) and a B.Sc. in Geology from Royal Holloway, University of London (1997). Mark's research interests are deep-water clastic sedimentology, stratigraphy, reservoir modeling, and seismic interpretation. 11/22/04

David Mohrig, Boyd Lecturer in Geological Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presided over the Friday seminar this week. David spoke on “Sandy Channel-Filling Deposits as Quantitative Indicators of Sediment and Water Flux for Ancient Terrestrial Environments.” [abstract] 11/18/04

Bureau Director Scott Tinker and Executive Assistant Wanda LaPlante made arrangements for Bureau staff to enjoy the Vanishing Texas River Cruise.   About 50 Bureau staff spent November 11 touring the Colorado River onboard one of the vessels of the Vanishing Texas River Cruise. The trip brought staff into the Llano Uplift, just beyond the town of Burnet, at the Canyon of the Eagles Lodge and Nature Park, from which the cruise departed. Rob Reed compiled a road log for the trip to help staff identify rocks in the uplift. Limestone cliffs along the river, waterfalls, herons, egrets, and turtles provided scenic views, even though no eagles were spotted during the cruise. Photos by Jay Raney and Sue Hovorka capture some of the reflective moments on this Bureau retreat. Click here to see more pictures.

Sue Hovorka, Tiffany Hepner, Kathy Ellins, and Sigrid Clift, Members of the Jackson School of   Geosciences, recently attended the annual Conference for the Advancement of Science Teacher (CAST). The conference was held in Corpus Christi November 4–6, 2004. Each year thousands of Texas K–12 science teachers attend the event, which includes a large exhibit area and hundreds of professional development opportunities. The Jackson School booth was on display, and Sue, Tiffany, and Kathy offered professional development training to teachers.

Roberto Gutierrez   Rebecca Smyth   On November 10, Bureau researchers Roberto Gutierrez and Rebecca Smyth visited the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) in Seguin, Texas. Becky presented a critical analysis of commercial lidar data flown over the coastal part of the Guadalupe River, as well as an overview of the Bureau lidar system and lidar activities at UT. The meeting concluded with a discussion of (1) how UT might remediate GBRA’s commercial lidar data and (2) spark interest in a lidar survey of the Guadalupe River delta to better explain hydrologic flow in a delta system. 11/15/04

PTTC Texas Region organized a workshop titled Essentials of Subsurface Contour Mapping, which was held in association with the STGS monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 10, 2004, at the San Antonio Petroleum Club. The well-attended workshop was taught by Dick Banks from Scientific Computer Applications Inc. (SCAI). The very hands-on, day-long event instructed participants in new, helpful methods of hand   Workshop attendees contoured maps throughout the day, which included single-surface, multisurface, and faulted problems. contouring that compare and contrast hand and computer mapping. SCAI develops and markets exploration and production software for the energy industry. 11/15/04

Guest speaker David V. Wiltschko of Texas A&M University was featured at the BEG Friday seminar. Topic: Formation of Fibrous Banded Veins: Observations from the Core of the Ouachita Orogen, Arkansas [abstract]. 11/12/04

On October 26, representatives of the Austin CRC, Geophysical Log Library, HRC, and Midland CRC met at the Midland   CRC to discuss issues relating to all the repositories. It was the first time ever that teams from all the different repositories had met, and it was the first time for many to visit the Midland facility. Participants presented and discussed topics that pertained to their own facilities, as well as topics common to all locations (metadata issues, database improvement, sampling policies, funding, for example).

The Geological Society of America Annual Meeting was held November 7–10 in Denver, Colorado. Click here for a list of Bureau presentations and abstracts. 11/04/04

Chris Zahm, ConocoPhillips Upstream Technology, Houston, was the guest speaker at the Friday seminar. His topic: "Calibration   of Fault Damage Zones: Outcrop and Subsurface Examples." [abstract]

Team leader Dr. Susan Hovorka explains site operations and the experiment at South Liberty Oil field.   A Greenhouse Gas Breakthrough Briefing, hosted by BEG, was held at the Houston Research Center on Friday, October 29, 2004. The briefing included a panel discussion on greenhouse-gas issues and CO2 sequestration opportunities in the Gulf Coast, as well as a site visit to the Frio Brine Injection Pilot site (see Frio Log below). Panel speakers included staff from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Entergy, and BEG. 11/03/04

On October 25, Director Scott Tinker spoke in an executive session at the AAPG International Conference and Exhibition in Cancun, Mexico. Scott’s talk was part of the Management Forum: Business Trends in E&P session and was titled “The Impact of Global Energy Trends on Research Partnerships, Resource Estimates, and Future Technology.” On October 28, Scott   delivered a keynote presentation at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s Emerging Technology Conference in Austin. That talk was titled “The Future is Unconventional.” [Abstract] [PowerPoint]