Awards

November 20, 2017

Common Abbreviations

AAPG-American Association of Petroleum Geologists

ACM-Association for Computing Machinery

AGS-Austin Geological Society

AGU-American Geophysical Union

AIPG-American Institute of Professional Geologists

BEG-Bureau of Economic Geology

DGS-Dept. of Geological Sciences

GCAGS Gulf Coast Association Geological Society

GSA Geological Society of America

GSEC Graduate Student Executive Committee

JSG Jackson School of Geosciences

SEG Society of Exploration Geophysicists

SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology

UTIG Institute for Geophysics

Faculty and Researchers

WILLIAM AMBROSE
Southwest Section’s Levorsen
Memorial Award, AAPG

ROBERT BAUMGARDNER
2017 Tinker Family Publication
Award, BEG

WHITNEY BEHR
Faculty Annual Evaluation Award
Assistant Professor, DGS

THORSTEN BECKER
Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG

DONALD BLANKENSHIP
Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG

GULF COAST CARBON CENTER
Outstanding Research Award, JSG

SEAN GULICK
Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG

SCOTT HAMLIN
2017 Tinker Family Publication Award, BEG

WONSUCK KIM
2016 Geoscience Information Society
Best Paper Award, Geoscience
Information Society

STEPHEN LAUBACH
2016 Tinker Family Publication Award, BEG

JOE LEVY
Outstanding Educator Award, JSG

ROBERT LOUCKS
2016 Best Poster Award, GCAGS

ROWAN MARTINDALE
Knebel Outstanding Teaching Award,
Introductory Course, DGS

ASHLEY M. MATHENY
2nd Place Oral Presentation, 32nd
Conference on Agricultural and
Forest Meteorology

KITTY MILLIKEN
2017 Runner-up Tinker Family
Publication, BEG

MAHDI HEIDARI MOGHADAM
Future Leader, American Rock
Mechanics Association

STEPHEN C. PHILLIPS
Visiting Fellowship, University of
Minnesota Institute for Rock Magnetism

KATHERINE ROMANAK
2016 Friend of Water−Rock Interaction
Award, International Association for
Geophysical Contractors

MRINAL SEN
Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG
Outstanding Researcher Award, UTIG

KRISTA SODERLUND
Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG

MATTHEW B. WELLER
The ExxonMobil Outstanding Graduate
Student Award, Rice University

CHOCK WOODRUFF
2016 Outstanding Educator Award, GCAGS

XINMING WU
2016 Best Paper in Geophysics, SEG

MICHAEL H. YOUNG
Fellow, Soil Science Society of America

Promotions

GAIL CHRISTESON
Associate Director, UTIG

JOEL JOHNSON
Associate Professor, DGS

OSARENI CHRISTOPHER OGIESOBA
Research Scientists, BEG

MARIA NIKOLINAKOU
Research Scientist, BEG

ALEXANDROS SAVVAIDIS
Research Scientist, BEG

MRINAL SEN
Associate Director, UTIG

ALEXANDER SUN
Senior Research Scientist, BEG

Students

DANNY ANDERSON
Austin Geological Society, DGS

YASER A ALZAYER
Meckel Family Named Grant, AAPG

HANNAH BRAME
Outstanding Teaching Assistant, DGS
KERI L. BELCHER

Ronald K. DeFord Field Scholarship, JSG
AAPG Grants-in-Aid, AAPG

JAMES BIEMILLER
Outstanding Graduate Student Award, UTIG

EMILIE BOWMAN
Estwing Hammer, DGS

RACHEL BERNARD
GSA Research Grant, GSA
NSF Graduate Research Internship
Program, Smithsonian National
Museum of Natural History

TOMAS N. CAPALDI
Student Research Grant, SEPM
Graduate Research Fellowship:
Honorable Mention, NSF

BENJAMIN T. CARDENAS
2017 Travel Grant to the Fifth Planetary
Dunes Workshop, NASA/Mars
Exploration Program
JSG Seed Grant, JSG

SOL COOPERDOCK
Duchin Endowed Presidential Scholarship,
The University of Texas at Austin
Student Research Grant, GSA

KRISTOPHER N. DARNELL
Ewing/Worzel Fellowship, UTIG

MACKENZIE DAY
DeFord Technical Sessions Best Speaker
Spring Ph.D., DGS

SARAH DAVIS
Outstanding Teaching Assistant, DGS
Graduate Research Fellowship, NSF

SCOTT A. ECKLEY
Outstanding Undergraduate, Planetary
Geosciences Institute
Gordon Award for Professional Promise,
The University of Tennessee, Earth and
Planetary Sciences

NICHOLAS ETTINGER
DeFord Technical Sessions Best
Speaker Spring M.S., DGS

STEPHEN FERENCZ
Groundwater Field Methods Award
Graduate, DGS

REYNALDY FIFARIZ
Ronald K. DeFord Field Scholarship Fund, JSG

GAIL MULDOON
DeFord Technical Sessions Best Speaker
Spring Ph.D., DGS

STEFANO NEROZZI
Graduate Student Travel Award for
6th Mars Polar Science Conference,
European Geophysical Union

ELYSE NICHOLS
Groundwater Field Methods
Undergraduate Award, DGS

MICHAEL NIETO
DeFord Technical Sessions Best Speaker
Fall M.S., DGS

MARGARET ODLUM
Statoil Fellowship

NATALLIA PIATRUNIA
Outstanding Teaching Assistant, DGS

EDGARDO PUJOLS
Folk/McBride Petrography Contest
2nd Graduate, DGS

EVAN J. RAMOS
Duchin Endowed Presidential Scholarship,
The University of Texas at Austin
Ronald K. DeFord Field Scholarship
Fund, JSG

VALENTINA ROSSI
DeFord Technical Sessions Best Speaker
Fall Ph.D., DGS

JASON SANFORD
JSG Best Graduate Paper, DGS

STEPHANIE E. SUAREZ
Minority Student Scholarship
Program, GSA

JOHN M. SWARTZ
Travel Grant, GSA

MURAT TAMER
2017 Honorary Research Associate,
University of Melbourne
Nomination for the best Ph.D. talk
award, 15th International Conference of
Thermochronology in Brazil

CAROLYN TEWKSBURY CHRISTLE
Graduate Student Fellowship, The
University of Texas at Austin
Academic Promotion to Assistant Professor,
United States Air Force Academy

DAMIAN WAHLMEIER
Austin Geological Society, DGS

ANNA M. WEISS
2017 DeFord Field Scholarship, JSG

JING “JILL” YANG
Best Poster Award, Consortium for
Materials Properties Research in
Earth Sciences

DANIEL YOUNG
Folk/McBride Petrography Contest 1st
Undergraduate, DGS

Staff

DAN DUNCAN
Outstanding Staff Award, UTIG

KEVAUGHN EVANS
Guion Library Staff Honors, DGS

KATELYN HELBERG
Guion Library Staff Honors, DGS

NATHAN IVICIC
2016 Staff Excellence Award, BEG

ELSA JIMENEZ
Staff Excellence Award, DGS

JESSICA KOLSTAD KIM
Outstanding Staff Award, UTIG

JULIE LAKE
Staff Excellence Award, DGS

STACI LOEWY
Staff Excellence Award, JSG

SARA SIEBERATH
Picard Excellence Award, UTIG

JON VIRDELL
Outstanding Staff Award, UTI

BRIAN ZAVALA
Outstanding Service Award, JSG