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