2007 Dean’s Desk
May 16, 2007
Welcome to the Dean’s Desk, which periodically celebrates accomplishments of people in the Jackson School. Like the first edition last November, this one is packed with honors won by our faculty, researchers, staff and students. This edition also includes a recap of the award winners announced at our school-wide ceremony May 10. We’ve included thecitations honoring this year’s Walter Excellence award winners. We’ve also started a new tradition of adding to our library a book chosen by a newly promoted faculty member or research scientist with a name plate in their honor. We have included here the scientists’ explanations for the books they chose, which are quite interesting. Bragging about our community’s accomplishments is one of the best parts of my job. Thanks for making it easy. —Eric
| Recipient | Award | Division/Organization |
| Thomas Barrow | William B. Heroy Jr. Award for Distinguished Service | American Geological Institute |
| Frank Brown | Doris Malkin Curtis Medal | Gulf Coast Section, Society for Sedimentary Geology |
| William Fisher | Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist Medal | American Geological Institute, 2007 |
| Sergey Fomel | Loránd Eötvös Award (co-author) | European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, 2007 |
| Sergey Fomel | Top 30 Presentations at Annual International Meeting (two times) | Society of Exploration Geophysicists |
| Michelle Foss | Senior Fellow Award | U.S. Association for Energy Economics, September 2006 |
| Omar Ghattas | Winner, Analytics Challenge | SC06, the international conference of high performance computing |
| Bob Hardage | Certificate of Merit | American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 2007 |
| Brian Horton | Exceptional Reviewer | GSA Bulletin, Geological Society of America, March 2007 |
| Michael Hudec | Distinguished Lecturer | American Association of Petroleum Geologists, November/December 2006 |
| Michael Hudec | George C. Matson Memorial Award | American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 2006 |
| Xavier Janson | Best Poster Award (co-author) (two-way tie) | Society for Sedimentary Geology, April 2007 |
| Christopher Kendall | Best Poster Award (co-author) (two-way tie) | Society for Sedimentary Geology, April 2007 |
| Dr. Terrence M. Quinn | Distinguished Lecturer | Joint Oceanographic Institutes, 2006-2007 |
| Bridget Scanlon | Birdsall Dreiss Distinguished Lectureship | Geological Society of America Hydrogeology Division, 2007 |
| Scott Tinker | Member | Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, May 2007 |
| Wayne Wright | Best Poster Award (two-way tie) | Society for Sedimentary Geology, April 2007 |
- Ginny Catania
- Sergey Fomel
- Sean Gulick
- Susan Hovorka
- Mike Hudec
- Rich Ketcham
- Steve Laubach
- Luc Lavier
- Terry Quinn
- Robert Scott
| Recipient | Award | Division/Organization |
| Jay Banner | Award for Excellence in Teaching, Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment | UT Austin, 2007 |
| Jay Banner | G. Moses and Carolyn G. Knebel Distinguished Teaching Award for excellence with introductory-level courses | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Chris Bell | Outstanding Teaching Award, Chancellor’s Council | UT Austin, 2006-2007 |
| Chris Bell | Recipient of a ~FAST Tex Faculty and Student Team Grant, Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment | UT Austin, 2007 |
| Chris Bell | Teaching Award | Texas Exes, 2007 |
| Bayani Cardenas | G. Moses and Carolyn G. Knebel Distinguished Teaching Award for teaching undergraduates | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Jamie Coggin | Staff Excellence Award (BEG) | Jackson School, 2007 |
| Sheree Courney | Staff Excellence Award (Dean’s Office) | Jackson School, 2007 |
| Chip Groat | Teaching Award for Best Managed Policy Research Project | LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT Austin, 2006-2007 |
| Charles Kerans | G. Moses and Carolyn G. Knebel Distinguished Teaching Award for teaching graduate students | 2006-2007 |
| Ty Lehman | Staff Excellence Award (DGS) | Jackson School, 2007 |
| Leon Long | G. Moses and Carolyn G. Knebel Distinguished Teaching Award for excellence with introductory-level courses | 2006-2007 |
| Marcus Milling | Alumni Award | Jackson School, 2007 |
| Glynis Morse | UT Staff Excellence Award | UT Austin, 2007 |
| Don Yarbro | Staff Excellence Award (UTIG) | Jackson School, 2007 |
| Joseph Yeh | Staff Excellence Award | UT Austin, 2007 |
| Bill Ambrose | Vice Chair, Astrogeology Committee | American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 2006-2009 |
| Jamie Austin | Trustee | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2007 |
| John Sharp | President | Geological Society of America, 2007-2008 |
| Scott Tinker | Member | Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, May 2007 |
| Scott Tinker | Member | National Petroleum Council, 2007 |
| Student | Award | Division/Organization |
| Steven Arauza | Winner, Petrography Contest (Undergrad) | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Jen Aschoff | SPIRIT Scholar | ConocoPhillips, 2006-2007 |
| Amy Baker | Thelma Lynn Guion Geology Library Staff Award | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Miriam Barquero-Molina | Teaching Award (graduate instructor) | Texas Exes, 2007 |
| Chris Berg | Winner, Petrography Contest (Grad) | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Will Burnett | SPIRIT Scholar | ConocoPhillips, 2006-2007 |
| Will Burnett | Tech Sessions Best Speaker (M.S.) | Jackson School, Spring 2006 |
| Andy Dewhurst | SPIRIT Scholar | ConocoPhillips, 2006-2007 |
| Pat Dickerson | Thelma Lynn Guion Geology Library Staff Award | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Ryan Ewing | Student Service Award | UT Geology Graduate Student Executive Committee, 2006-2007 |
| Ned Frost | Tech Sessions Best Speaker (Ph.D.) | Jackson School, Spring 2006 |
| Christian George | Outstanding T.A. (three-way tie) | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Lindsay Gulden | Outstanding T.A. (three-way tie) | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Stephanie Mills | Winner, Petrography Contest (Undergrad) | Jackson School |
| Jad Hixon | SPIRIT Scholar | ConocoPhillips, 2006-2007 |
| Sarah Milewski | SPIRIT Scholar | ConocoPhillips, 2006-2007 |
| Julie Mitchell | Winner, Petrography Contest (Undergrad) | Jackson School |
| Aysen Ozkan | SPIRIT Scholar | ConocoPhillips, 2006-2007 |
| Aysen Ozkan | Research Fellowship | GDL Foundation, 2006-2007 |
| Emily Pangborn | SPIRIT Scholar | ConocoPhillips, 2006-2007 |
| Kat Robertson | Outstanding T.A. (three-way tie) | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Christopher Sine | Tech Sessions Best Speaker (M.S.) | Jackson School, Fall 2006 |
| Wesley Schumacher | Estwing Hammer Award | Jackson School, 2006-2007 |
| Christina Skelton | Top George H. Mitchell Award for Academic Excellence | University Co-op, April 2007 |
| Abena Temeng | Undergraduate Scholarship | Chevron, 2006 |
| Nina Triche | Tech Sessions Best Speaker (Ph.D.) | Jackson School, Fall 2006 |
These students earned external grants and those that applied also received matching funds from the Jackson School to complement their external grants. If this list is incomplete, please email additions. Thanks.
| Student | Title of Research | External Agency | Award | JSG Match |
| Jen Aschoff | TBA | ConocoPhillips | $20,000 | |
| Matthew Carter | A Structural Analysis of Southern Conanicut Island at Beaverfall, Rhode Island | Geological Society of America | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Jason Clayton | Grant in Aid | American Association of Petroleum Geologists | $1,500 | |
| Kerin Cleason | Ontogeny & systematics of Elasmobranchs | MAPS Outstanding Student Research Award | $800 | $800 |
| Gareth Cross | Donald A. & Mary O’Nesky Named Grant | American Association of Petroleum Geologists | $750 | |
| Ryan Ewing | An Investigation of National Dune-Field Patters as self-organizing complex systems | National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Beatriz Garcia-Fresca | Graduate Research Grant | Geological Society of America | $2000 | $1000 |
| Beatriz Garcia-Fresca | Graduate Student Scholarship | Southwest Section, American Association of Petroleum Geologists | $750 | |
| Jennifer Olori | Ontogeny of the Microauria and Implications for Microsaur intra-relations and Lissamphibian origins | Texas Academy of Science | $1,500 | $1,000 |
| Aysen Ozkan | William Dow Hamm Memorial Grant | American Association of Petroleum Geologists | $2,000 | |
| Lauren Green | Co-Op Undergraduate Research Fellowship | $1,000 | $1,000 | |
| Elizabeth Hatley | A Study of Garnet Pair Misorientation and Boundary Geometry | Co-Op Undergraduate Research Fellowship | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Blair Stanley | Developing a detailed estuarine facies model by analyzing Upper Cretaceous bay-head delta deposits exposed in the Book Cliffs, Utah | Co-Op Undergraduate Research Fellowship | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Abby Temeng | Co-Op Undergraduate Research Fellowship | $1,000 | $1,000 | |
| Carlos Uroza | Harold J. Funkhouser Memorial Grant | American Association of Petroleum Geologists | $1600 |