The Association’s top achievers, geoscientists and dedicated volunteers for the past year will be honored at the AAPG Annual Convention in San Antonio.
A total of 34 people will be honored this year, including two posthumously: Fred Meissner, this year’s Sidney Powers Memorial Award winner, and John C. “Jack” Edwards, one of four Distinguished Service Award winners.
The awards ceremony is part of the meeting’s opening session, which will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 20, in the Lila Cockrell Theatre of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
The session also will include:
- A pre-show, multi-media look at the geology, culture and current petroleum industry activity of San Antonio and the surrounding region.
- Welcoming remarks from General Chairman Gene L. Ames III.
- The presidential address from Will Green.
- A special AAPG Foundation announcement and presentation of the inaugural L. Austin Weeks Memorial Medal to Marta Weeks.
- A tribute to Meissner, presented by close friend and AAPG pas presidents M. Ray Thomasson Jr. and Marlan Downey, that will honor the geologist who learned of receiving AAPG’s top award just weeks before his death.
AAPG awards, approved by the Executive Committee, are presented annually to recognize individuals for service to the profession, the science, the Association and the public. Also being recognized will be three award winners from the House of Delegates.
Receiving this year’s Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award – AAPG’s second highest honor – is AAPG Honorary member and past president James Gibbs.
Full biographies and citations of all award winners will be included in a future BULLETIN.
Those award winners approved by the Executive Committee and who will be honored in San Antonio are:
Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award
Presented for exceptional leadership demonstrated and extraordinary service to the petroleum geosciences and the Association.
- James A. Gibbs, Five Star Energy, Dallas.
Honorary Member Award
Presented to members who have distinguished themselves by their accomplishments and through their service to the profession of petroleum geology and to AAPG.
- George Eynon, Canadian Energy Research Institute, Calgary, Canada.
- Donald W. Lewis, consultant, Lafayette, Calif.
- Peter M. Lloyd, Heriot Watt University, Falicon, France.
- Ernest A. Mancini, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
- Stephen A. Sonnenberg, Sonnenberg Associates, Golden, Colo.
- Jack C. Threet, independent, Houston.
Outstanding Explorer Award
Presented to members in recognition of distinguished and outstanding achievement in exploration for petroleum or mineral resources, with an intended emphasis on recent discovery.
- [PFItemLinkShortcode|id:11196|type:standard|anchorText:Dudley J. Hughes|cssClass:asshRef|title:Geology Drives Explorer’s Success|PFItemLinkShortcode], Hughes Oil Inc., Flowood, Miss.
Distinguished Service Award
Presented to those who have distinguished themselves in singular and beneficial long-term service to AAPG.
- Katharine Lee Avary, West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, Morgantown, W.V.
- John “Jack” D. Edwards, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.
- Barry A. Goldstein, PIRSA, Adelaide, Australia.
- Douglas C. Peters, Peters Geosciences, Golden, Colo.
Grover E. Murray Distinguished Educator Award
Presented for distinguished and outstanding contributions to geological education, both at the university level and toward education of the general public.
- Robert S. Gray, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, Calif.
- S. George Pemberton, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Special Award
Presented to individuals and organizations whose area of work may not qualify for one of the existing awards, but is worthy of Association recognition.
- Nikolai V. Lopatin, Geosystem Institute, Moscow, Russia.
- Steven L. Veal, AAPG Europe Office, London, England, and DCX Resources.
Public Service Award
Presented to recognize contributions of AAPG members to public affairs – and intended to encourage such activities.
- [PFItemLinkShortcode|id:11205|type:standard|anchorText:Ashton F. Embry|cssClass:asshRef|title:Science, Tenacity Causes Change|PFItemLinkShortcode], Institute of Sedimentary Petroleum Geology, Calgary, Canada (see related story).
- Douglas C. Ratcliff, Jackson School of Geosciences, Austin, Texas.
Pioneer Award
Presented to long-standing members who have contributed to the Association and who have made meaningful contributions to the science of geology.
- Leonard Frank Brown Jr., Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin, Texas.
Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the author(s) of the best AAPG BULLETIN article published each calendar year.
- Graham R. Davies and Langhorne B. Smith Jr., for “Structurally-Controlled Carbonate Diagenesis: Creation of Hydrothermal Dolomite and Leached Limestone Reservoirs,” which appeared in the November 2006 BULLETIN. Davies is with GDGC, Calgary, Canada, and Smith is with New York State Museum, Albany, N.Y.
Robert H. Dott Sr. Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the author/editor of the best special publication dealing with geology published by the Association.
- P.M. “Mitch” Harris and L.J. “Jim” Weber, for AAPG Memoir 88, Giant Hydrocarbon Reservoirs of the World: From Rocks to Reservoir Characterization and Modeling. Harris is with Chevron Energy Technology, San Ramon, Calif., and Weber is with ExxonMobil, The Woodlands, Texas.
J.C. “Cam” Sproule Memorial Award
Presented to recognize and reward younger authors of papers applicable to petroleum geology.
- Alejandro Escalona, for the paper “Petrophysical and Seismic Properties of Lower Eocene Clastic Rocks in the Central Maracaibo Basin.” Escalona is with the University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway.
George C. Matson Award
Presented to honor and reward the best oral presentation at the AAPG Annual Convention in Long Beach, Calif.
- Cathy L. Farmer, for the paper “Structural and Sedimentological Evolution of the Ultra-Deep Gas Play Fairway – Gulf of Mexico Shelf, Texas and Louisiana.”
Her co-authors are Debra H. Phillips, R.H. Benthien, D.V. Dailey, B.W. Horn, D.G. Derbecker and K.L. Hargrove. All are with BP America, Houston.
Jules Braunstein Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the best poster presentation at the AAPG Annual Convention in Houston.
- Jose I. Guzman, Rod Sloan, Shengyu Wu and Shaoqing Sun, for the poster “A Comprehensive Classification of Seals Based on Worldwide Subsurface Analogs.” All are with C&C Reservoirs, Long Beach, Calif.
Geosciences in the Media Award
Presented for notable journalistic achievement in any medium, which contributes to public understanding of geology, energy resources or the technology of oil and gas exploration. Granting of this award in any year is discretionary.
- Tyler Priest, chief historian for the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators history project and author most recently of The Offshore Imperative: Shell Oil’s Search for Petroleum in Postwar America. Priest also is clinical professor and director of global studies, Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, Texas.
House of Delegates Distinguished Member Award
Presented to those who have distinguished themselves in singular and beneficial long-term service to the House of Delegates.
- John R.V. Brooks, Brookwood Petroleum Advisors, Brookwood, England.
- Alan L. DeGood, American Energies Corp., Goddard, Kan.
- Patrick J. Gooding, Manager, Kentucky Geological Survey Well Sample and Core Library