Leadership

Dr. Charles G. Groat is Director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, Director of the Energy and Earth Resources Graduate Program, and holds the John A. and Katherine G. Jackson Chair in Energy and Mineral Resources in the Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, at The University of Texas at Austin. He assumed these positions in June 2005 after serving 6 ½ years as Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, having been appointed by President Clinton and retained by President Bush.

Prior to his position with the U.S. Geological Survey, he was Associate Vice President for Research and Sponsored Projects at The University of Texas at El Paso following a term as Director of the Center for Environmental Resource Management and Professor of Geological Sciences there. His previous experience includes Associate Director and Acting Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology and Associate Professor of Geological Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin; Chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso; State Geologist and Director of the Louisiana Geological Survey; Assistant to the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources administering the Coastal Zone Management  and Coastal Protection programs; Professor of Geology and Geophysics and Director of the Center for Coastal, Energy and Environmental Resources at Louisiana State University; and Executive Director of the American Geological Institute.

He has been a member of the National Research Council Board on Earth Sciences and Resources and the Outer Continental Shelf Policy Board. He is a past President of the Association of American State Geologists and of the Energy Minerals Division of American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

His degrees in geology are from the University of Rochester (A.B.), University of Massachusetts (M.S.), and The University of Texas at Austin (Ph.D.)

His current interests focus on advancing the role of science and engineering in shaping policy and informing decisions, and on ways to increase the integration of the science disciplines as a means of improving the understanding of complex resource and environmental systems.