Lorena G Moscardelli
State Geologist of Texas, State Geological Survey of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology
Professor, Edwin Allday Endowed Chair in Subsurface Geology, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences
Mailcode: E0630
Dr. Lorena Moscardelli is the Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology and the State Geologist of Texas. She holds the Edwin Allday Endowed Chair in Subsurface Geology at the Jackson School of Geosciences. Lorena co-chairs the executive council for the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center and serves on the NCS2030 scientific advisory committee at the University of Stavanger in Norway. Prior to her appointment as director, she was the Principal Investigator of the State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery (STARR) program at BEG. Her expertise includes seismic geomorphology and interpretation, sedimentology and stratigraphy, and geoscience data integration. She earned a degree in Geological Engineering from Central University of Venezuela and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from The University of Texas at Austin.
Her industry experience includes roles as an exploration geologist for the national oil company of Venezuela and as a researcher for the Norwegian energy company Equinor, where she worked on projects in the Americas and the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Her academic career spans over 10 years at the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG), where she also co-founded and co-directed the Quantitative Clastic Laboratory (QCL) in 2007.
Dr. Moscardelli is deeply committed to understanding the role of the subsurface in emerging energies while supporting ongoing oil and gas research to enhance the production and profitability of energy resources in Texas. She also encourages responsible economic development and supports education and environmental stewardship.
Research Locations
Current Research Programs & Projects
State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery (STARR) Program ( view )Medal of Merit for Best Paper Related to Canadian Petroleum Geology - Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (2020)
Grit Award Individual Category by ALLY - The Community for the Energy Workforce of the Future (2020)
Exemplary Publication of Scientific Impact - Bureau of Economic Geology (2010)
Ed Picou Full Fellowship Grant - Gulf Coast Section of SEPM (2007)
AAPG Grant in Aid - American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation (2006)
Graduate Student Research Grant - Geological Society of America (2005)
Thomas R. Banks Memorial Scholarship - San Antonio Area Foundation (2004)
Outstanding Student Paper Award - Hydrology Section AGU (2004)
L. Austin Weeks Grant - American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation (2004)
Exxon-Mobil Student Grant Participation Award - AAPG/SEPM Annual Convention (2001)
Chair, Significance of Modern and Ancient Submarine Slope Landslides (S4SLIDE/IGCP-640), IGCP/UNESCO (2015)
Session Co-Chair, Gulf of Mexico Geology East to West, GCAGS/GCSSEPM 62nd Annual Convention and Exhibition / Austin, Texas (2012)
Session Co-Chair, Mass Wasting Events and Related Sediments, 18th International Sedimentological Congress / Mendoza, Argentina (2010)
Session Chair, Mass Movements and Their Consequences for Deepwater Exploration and Production, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (2010)
Convener, 4th International Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences / Austin, Texas, International Geosciences Programme 511 / UNESCO (2009)
Session Co-Chair, Recent Advances in Deepwater and Shelf Siliciclastic Facies Models: Implications for Reservoir Characterization, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (2006)
Postdocs
Nur Schuba, 2022 - 2023, The University of Texas
Graduate Students
Fritz Palacios, Ph.D., 2023
(Supervisor)
The University of Texas at Austin
Kiara Gomez, Ph.D., 2022
(Supervisor)
Partial paleobathymetric restriction from local North Sea Dome in the Viking Corridor during Early-Middle Jurassic
Maria Prieto, Ph.D., 2016
(Co-supervisor)
Sediment gravity-driven vs. bottom-current-controlled processes and interactions : a study of multiple geomorphologic domains in the central Gulf of Mexico and comparison with global systems / by Maria Isabel Prieto
Migdalys Salazar, Ph.D., 2014
(Supervisor)
The impact of shelf margin geometry and tectonics on shelf-to-sink sediment dynamics and resultant basin fill architectures
Sarika Rammarine, M.S., 2011
(Supervisor)
Late Cretaceous turbidites, Heidrun Field, Norwegian continental shelf
Anmar Davila-Chacon, M.S., 2010
(Supervisor)
Sand distribution along shelf-edge deltaic systems: A case study from eastern offshore Trinidad
Migdalys Salazar, M.S., 2008
(Supervisor)
Seismic and stratigraphic interpretation of the Morichito sub-basin, Eastern Venezuelan Basin
Mass-Transport Deposits and the Advantages of a Real Three Dimensional Perspective (invited), Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists, Jackson Hole, Wyoming (2011)
Mass-transport deposits and the advantages of a real three-dimensional perspective, AGU Invited Talk, San Francisco (2010)
The economics of diversity, competing for and leveraging employee diversity in a global petroleum industry (invited panelist), American Association of Petroleum Geologists, New Orleans, Louisiana (2010)
Processes of Late Tertiary-Age Mass Transport and Associated Deposits along the Eastern Mexico Margin, Southern Gulf of Mexico (invited), West Texas Geological Society, Midland, Texas (2010)
Cultural differences: people who have been successful at leveraging cultural differences (invited panelist), Women s Global Leadership Conference in Energy and Technology, Houston, Texas (2009)
Processes of late Tertiary-age mass transport and associated deposits along the eastern Mexico margin, southern Gulf of Mexico, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, San Antonio, Texas (2008)
Mass transport complexes in offshore Trinidad and their significance as potential tsunamigenic hazards, Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences: Third International Symposium, Santorini, Greece (2007)
Mass transport complexes in offshore Trinidad and world wide analogs (invited), Houston Geological Society International Dinner, Houston, Texas (2006)
Morphometry of mass transport complexes in offshore Trinidad, Geological Society of London, London, England (2006)
High-impact cycle-stratigraphy (HIC): a method applied in a Miocene-Pleistocene subsurface section, Northern Monagas, Eastern Venezuela Basin, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Barcelona, Spain (2003)