Recipients of this year’s L. Austin Weeks Undergraduate Grants have been announced by the AAPG Foundation, which sponsors the annual program that supports educational expenses.
Recipients of this year’s L. Austin Weeks Undergraduate Grants have been announced by the AAPG Foundation, which sponsors the annual program that supports educational expenses.
This year the Weeks Grants went to a record-breaking 68 recipients, for a total of $68,000. The list includes 37 U.S./Canadian and 31 international recipients (see accompanying list on page 73).
Each grant consists of $1,000 per qualified AAPG Student Chapter; half of the grant ($500) is awarded to the undergraduate student and the other half ($500) supports the university’s AAPG Student Chapter.
The program was funded for 2011-12 through a generous endowment gift from the late L. Austin Weeks.
Last year 44 grants were awarded.
The AAPG Foundation Trustees recently approved funding for several proposals, including:
♦ The AAPG Publications Department was awarded $10,000 for AAPG Memoir 100 – “Tectonics and Sedimentation: Implications for Petroleum Systems.”
This award was made possible through contributions to the Amoruso Special Publications Fund and the L. Austin Weeks Memorial Fund.
♦ A request was approved for $15,000 to the AAPG Europe Region to help support student activities. The Region will match the funds as a condition of the award.
♦ Since 2008, the AAPG Foundation has been a partner with Oklahoma State University in a Geoscience and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Consortium to create, promote and provide access to digital peer-reviewed GIS products. It is carried out through OSU’s Boone Pickens School of Geology, the geography department and the AAPG GIS Publications Committee. The products have direct applications to the search for and development of petroleum and energy-related mineral resources, environmental geology and related economic issues.
With funding provided by T. Boone Pickens, the Boone Pickens Digital Geology Fund accelerates and sustains AAPG Datapages’ Geographic Information Systems publishing program through the AAPGF-OSU Geoscience GIS Consortium. Pickens’ pledge gift of $9.2 million provides $240,000 per year for this program for 10 years, and then continual support for years to come.
Two projects totaling over $58,000 recently were approved:
- Atlas of Shale Pits in the Devonian Mississippian Shales in Oklahoma.
- An Atlas of Modern Deltas.
The 2012 Michel T. Halbouty Fellowship recipients – $5,000 gifts awarded to four deserving geoscience graduate students – recently were announced by Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas.
The recipients are: Aileen Gaudinez, Sally Scott, Rachel Wells and Harold Johnson, each of whom received a check and a certificate as part of their award.
The AAPG Foundation funds this award through an endowment from the late Michel T. Halbouty.
The Foundation Trustees express their appreciation to the estate of Karl Arleth for remembering the Foundation in his bequest.
Bequests currently represent a major source of support for graduate students through the AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid Program as well as other AAPG Foundation programs.
Gifts may be a fixed amount, a percentage of the estate, or all or part of the estate residue – and often can be arranged with the simple addition of an amendment to your existing will.
After providing for loved ones, you may desire to support your choice of AAPG Foundation programs by designating a gift bequeathed through your will.
Bequests to the AAPG Foundation may qualify for an estate tax charitable deduction.
Clearly, the AAPG Foundation – thanks to the backing of dedicated supporters (see pages 74-75) – continues to impact the geosciences worldwide.
Please consider a gift, bequest or other form of support to the AAPG Foundation today.