Robert J. (Bob) Graebner, Senior Research Fellow and member of the Exploration Geophysics Laboratory, was unanimously chosen by members of both the Society of Exploration Geophysicists
(SEG) Honors and Awards Committee and the Executive Committee to receive SEG's
highest honor, the Maurice Ewing Medal. This medal is awarded "… from time to time to a
person who… is deserving of special recognition through having made major contributions
to the advancement of the science and profession of exploration geophysics." The award
will be presented to Bob at the SEG International Exposition and 75th Annual Meeting in Houston,
Texas, November 6-11, 2005. 5/26/05
UT graduate student and FRAC team member Kira Diaz Tushman has been
awarded a $1,500 research grant by the Geological Society of America to cover
field expenses in NW Scotland. Her Master's project is titled “The Evolution of
Fracture Patterns in Northwestern Scotland: An Analogue to Sandstones at Depth.” Kira is working
with Steve Laubach on this project as
Research Scientist Sergey Fomel recently attended and presented at
the Society of Exploration Geophysicists Development & Production Forum, Attenuation:
What's to Gain from Seismic Loss? The forum was held in Austin and attracted 50 participants from industry
and academe. Sergey spoke on “Estimating Seismic Attenuation by Local Frequency Analysis.” 5/23/05
Ph.D. candidate Lorena Moscardelli was awarded a $1,000 grant from
the Geological Society of America to continue her research in catastrophic
processes in deep-water systems. Lorena, a research assistant in
the Deep Marine Depositional
Margins (DM2) research group under the direction of Lesli J.
Wood, is working on several enormous mass-transport complexes
imaged in 3-D seismic data from offshore eastern Trinidad. 5/16/05
Friday seminar guru and Bureau Research Scientist
Associate Paul Murray, was himself presenting this week, May 20, 2005. Paul spoke
on “High-Resolution Images of Near-Seafloor Geology in Deep Water from
Shear Waves” [Abstract] at 8:30 in the Main Conference Room. 5/18/05
On May 9, Senior Research Scientist F. Jerry Lucia was guest
speaker at the Petrophysical Knowledge Sharing Meeting hosted by Occidental
Petroleum Company. The title of Jerry's presentation was
“The 'Petro' Part of Carbonate Petrophysics: the Archie Approach.” 5/16/05
Steve Laubach is on the steering committee for the Society of Petroleum Engineers 2005 Forum Series on Future Challenges in Carbonate Resource Development to be held in Los Cabos, Mexico, October 23–28, 2005. The goal of SPE forums is to stimulate thought and accelerate development of technology in a selected part of the technical spectrum covered by the Society. Please contact Steve or visit the SPE Website for more information. 5/16/05
Bureau Research Scientist Sue Hovorka was one of three recipients of
the Jackson School's 2005 Joseph C. Walter Jr. Excellence Award. This honor is in recognition of Sue's
groundbreaking research on the Frio Brine carbon sequestration project and tireless educational outreach
efforts. The award, formerly called the Houston Oil and Minerals Corporation Faculty Excellence Award,
has been awarded since 1977 for excellence in research,
academic, and administrative efforts. Other award recipients
were Sharon Mosher (Department of Geological Sciences, academic excellence)
and Doug Ratcliff (Geology Foundation, administrative excellence). 5/9/05
Bureau Contracts and Grants Manager Lynda Miller was awarded the
2005 Jackson School of Geosciences Support Staff Excellence Award. Lynda received the award at the 2005
Jackson School awards ceremony on May 5. A Bureau employee for almost 30 years, Lynda was nominated for
being “routinely praised by the unit directorship, research scientists, support staff,
and our external clients. The Jackson School is lucky to have
Lynda as an employee; she richly deserves this type of special recognition.” 5/9/05
FRAC graduate research assistant and Ph.D. candidate Leonel Gomez won
the best Ph.D. presentation award from the Jackson School for the 2004 fall semester. Upon hearing of his
win, Leonel said “As someone from a non-English-speaking country, I take great pride in winning this award.” 5/9/05
Dr. Peter Eichhubl, Assistant Professor of Geology at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, was Friday's seminar speaker. His topic: “Structural Diagenesis—An Integrated Approach to Coupled Mechanical and Chemical Processes in Deforming Geomaterials.” The talk was at 8:30 a.m. in the BEG Main Conference Room. 5/11/05
Senior Researcher Shirley Dutton participated in the AAPG Hedberg Conference “Understanding, Exploring, and Developing Tight Gas Sands.” The conference, held April 24–29 in Vail, Colorado, brought together geologists and engineers to discuss exploration models and development and completion strategies required to exploit the vast North American tight gas sand potential. 5/6/05
On March 28, Lesli Wood presented a talk to the Austin Gem and Mineral Society titled “Mars: Water Planet.” The society, made up of more than 300 members, has an extensive library, which boasts titles on an array of topics from gem and mineral exploration to general geology, as well as a large collection of maps and materials. The group holds monthly meetings and hosts a variety of
speakers. Lesli Wood is the principle investigator in the Clastic Systems Research Industrial Associates Program at BEG. 5/6/05
Sean Sullivan, UT Ph.D. candidate and recent recipient of the
2005 Gulf Coast Section SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) Foundation Ed Picou
Fellowship Grant for Graduate Studies in the Earth Sciences (see story in April 2005 news
archive), was this week's seminar speaker. Sean's talk, “The Morphology, Chemistry, and
Sedimentology of Mud Volcanoes Offshore Trinidad”, was presented in the BEG Main
Conference Room on Friday, May 6, 2005,
at 8:30 a.m. 5/4/05
Bureau researcher Bill Ambrose is the new president-elect of EMD (Energy Minerals Division) of AAPG. His term of office is 2005–2006, to be followed by a 1-year term as EMD President in 2006–2007. Founded in 1977, EMD (one of AAPG's three divisions) serves as an international forum for those working in exploration, development, and production of unconventional
energy resources, including coal, coalbed methane, gas hydrates, geothermal energy, oil shale, tar sands, and uranium. 5/2/05
