Annual Report 2007: FY July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007
Eastern Section
The 35th annual meeting of the Eastern Section was held October 8–11, 2006 in Buffalo, New York, with 218 attending. Robert Jacobi was the general chair. The theme for the meeting, “New Concepts for Old Basins,” was reflected in the field trips, workshops, poster sessions, and technical sessions presented. The meeting was co-hosted by the New York State Geological Association (NYSGA), the University at Buffalo Rock Fracture Group, and the New York State Museum Reservoir Characterization Group. A total of 13 field trips were offered by the NYSGA as pre-Eastern Section AAPG trips and ranged from a trip in the Canadian Grenville rocks to burial, thermal and fracturing history of the Upper Devonian. Workshops on hydrothermally altered carbonate reservoirs, tectonic evolution of the northern Appalachian Basin reservoirs, and geochemistry of unconventional shale gas plays were offered, as well as a reduced-cost AAPG short course on reservoir engineering. Nine oral technical sessions were presented along with two poster sessions. The meeting also featured a core blast with hundreds of feet of core from the eastern half of the U.S. Exhibitor turnout was excellent with 35 companies, governmental agencies, and associations exhibiting their products.
Honors and Awards
The Honors and Awards presented at the 2006 Eastern Section meeting included:
- John T. Galey Memorial Award: Dr. John M. Dennison
- Honorary Membership: Stephen P. Zody
- Distinguished Service: Murray M. Matson
- George V. Cohee Public Service Award: Cheryl L. Cozart
- Outstanding Educator Award: Dr. Robert D. Jacobi
- Gordon H. Wood, Jr. Memorial Award (Eastern Section EMD): Leslie F. “Jingle” Rupert
- Certificates of Merit: Dr. Robert D. Jacobi, Bruce Kolesnick, Heather Kornecki, Cary P. Cuminecz, Richard Nyahay, Rose Schulze, Dr. Langhorne B. “Taury” Smith, and Mable T. Sumpter
- I. Levorsen Memorial Best Paper Award: Dr. J. Fred Read
- Margaret Hawn Mirabile Memorial Best Student Paper Award: Emre Artun, Shahab Mohaghegh, Jaime Toro, Tom Wilson, and Alejandro Sanchez
- Vincent E. Nelson Memorial Best Poster Award: A.E. Sandomierski, G.M. Grammer, and W.B. Harrison, III
- Ralph L. Miller Memorial Best Energy Minerals Division Paper Award: Thomas R. Moore, Ilham Demir, and David G. Morse
- Division of Environmental Geosciences Best Paper Award: S. F. Greb, B. C. Nuttall, M. P. Solis, T. M. Parris, J. A. Drahovzal, C. F. Eble, D. C. Harris, J. B. Hickman, P. D. Lake, B. Overfield, and K. G. Takacs
- Division of Environmental Geosciences Best Poster Award: Niah Venable and Dave Barnes
Officers
Officers of the Eastern Section were elected at the 2006 annual meeting for fiscal year 2006–2007. They are James A. Drahovzal, president; Dan Billman, vice-president; Robert Jacobi, secretary; and Ed Rothman treasurer.
Dave Harris was recently elected to represent the Eastern Section on the Advisory Committee, beginning July 1. He replaces Katharine Lee Avary.
Chairs and advisors include Peter MacKenzie, DPA Advisory Council representative; Charles Boyer, EMD councilor; Hannes Leetaru, DEG councilor; Katharine Lee Avary, Awards chairman; John Forman, Membership chair, and Brian Keith, archivist.
Future Annual Meetings
The 2007 Eastern Section Annual Meeting will be held in Lexington, Kentucky on September 15–19, 2007. The focus will be “Winning the Energy Trifecta: Explore, Develop, Sustain” and is Reports of the Regions and Sections Annual Report 1743 hosted by the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists, the Kentucky Geological Survey, and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kentucky. For more information please contact David C. Harris, General Chairman or visit the website.
The 2008 Eastern Section Meeting has been confirmed for October 11–15, in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. The theme is “Capture the past-Rediscover the future”. It will be a joint meeting with the Eastern Region Society of Petroleum Engineers. Doug Patchen is the general chair for the ES AAPG.
AAPG Liability Insurance Coverage for Sections
During the year, the Eastern Section has accepted the new insurance coverage provided by AAPG headquarters. This is a big help in planning annual meetings and field trips.
Eastern Section “Executive Director” Position
A committee chaired by Dan Billman has been appointed to explore the possibility of creating a position similar to that of an executive director for the Eastern Section or expanding the duties of the archivist position. A decision is expected at the September annual meeting on how to implement this initiative.
Business Plan
A business plan for the Eastern Section is being crafted by a committee chaired by Skip Hobbs. The plan is expected to be approved at the September annual meeting of the Section.
Student Chapter
A new student chapter was added to the section. It is the joint University of Kentucky-Eastern Kentucky University Chapter. Dave Harris is the advisor.
The Eastern Section Web site can be found at http://karl.nrcce.wvu.edu/esaapg/.
Membership
The number of Eastern Section members as of July 1, 2007 was 2,355.
Finances
The Eastern Section continues to be on solid financial ground. Total assets of the Section as of July 1, 2007 were $54,521.19 (not including the more than $11,600 from the Eastern Section at the 2006 annual meeting).