AAPG Home > Inside AAPG > Officer Candidates > Elected Editor
AAPG Explorer AS SEEN IN THE DECEMBER 2003 ISSUE
Ballots will be mailed in the spring.
Results will be posted May 18, 2004.

Officer Candidates:

Elected Editor
Candidates:
President-Elect
Vice President
Treasurer
Elected Editor
Candidate Election Rules
Electronic Voting
Editor's note: Candidates for AAPG office have been given the opportunity to respond briefly to the subject: "Why I Accepted the Invitation to be a Candidate for AAPG Office." Their responses -- and biographical information provided by each candidate and edited only for grammar and spelling, including the biography -- will be published in the EXPLORER beginning here and continuing through the next two issues. Responses will be available throughout the election on the AAPG Web site. Ballots will be mailed in the spring.

Here are the responses from elected editor candidates James W. Hancschy and Ernest A. Mancini. Candidates were asked to limit their responses to 500 words.

James W. "Jim" Handschy

Jump to: Why I accepted the Invitation to be a Candidate for AAPG Office

Manager, global geology, ConocoPhillips Upstream, Houston

Born 1958, Carlsbad, N.M.

Jim Handschy started his petroleum industry career in the reservoir engineering department of El Paso Natural Gas Company in 1980. He left El Paso Natural Gas after three years to pursue graduate studies.

Following completion of his doctorate in 1988 Handschy joined Shell Exploration and Production Co., where he worked on exploration, production and research projects around the world for 10 years. He served from 1997 to 1998 as Shell's manager of trap evaluation research and services.

Handschy joined Phillips Petroleum Co. in 1998 and was named chief geologist for worldwide exploration and production in 1999, a position he held until the ConocoPhillips merger was completed August 2002.

Since the merger Handschy has served as manager of global geology for ConocoPhillips Upstream.

Handschy was born in 1958 in Carlsbad, N.M. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in geology from the University of Texas at El Paso.

He was awarded a Ph.D. in geology and geophysics from Rice University in 1989.

Handschy has published numerous papers in international geological journals and books. He has served as a reviewer for AAPG, GSA and JSG, as an editor for internal company reports in Shell, Phillips and ConocoPhillips, and as editor of a special AAPG BULLETIN volume.

An AAPG member since 1981, he also is a member of the Geological Society of America and the American Geological Institute.

Ernest A. Mancini

Jump to: Why I accepted the Invitation to be a Candidate for AAPG Office

Professor of Geology, University of Alabama

Director, Petroleum Technology Transfer Council's Eastern Gulf Region, Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Born 1947, Reading, Pa.

Academic Degrees

1969
Albright College, Reading, Pa., B.S., biology
1972
 

Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Ill., M.S., zoology

1974
 

Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, Ph.D., geology

Experience

1969-71
Earth science and biology teacher, North Greene High School, White Hall, Ill.
1974-76
 

Petroleum exploration geologist, Cities Service Co., Denver

1976-78
 

Petroleum research geologist, Mineral Resources Institute, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala.

1976-Present
 

Assistant, associate, full professor of geology, University of Alabama

1982-96
 

State geologist and director, Geological Survey of Alabama

1982-96
 

Oil and gas supervisor and director, State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama

1995-Present
 

Director, Eastern Gulf Region, Petroleum Technology Transfer Council, University of Alabama

1998-Present
 

Director, Center for Sedimentary Basin Studies, University of Alabama

 

AAPG Activities (Member 1979)

1980-83
Membership Committee
1985-86
Convention Coordination, EMD Field Trips
1986
Co-Leader, EMD field trip, annual meeting
1987-88
Haas-Pratt Distinguished Lecturer
1992-99
DEG Environmental Issues Committee
1993
Co-Leader, AAPG field trip, annual meeting and Trustees field trip
1994-97
DEG Advisory Board member
1996-2004
Research Committee (vice chair, 1998-2001, chair, 2001-04)
2000, 2001
Co-convener, AAPG Hedberg Research Conferences
2002-05
Reservoir Development Committee
2003-05
Associate editor, AAPG BULLETIN

Affiliated and Associated Societies

  • President, Alabama Geological Society (1980-81)
  • GCAGS Executive Committee and Convention Committee (1980-81)
  • President and Executive Council, GCS-SEPM (1984-85)
  • Co-chair, GCAGS Technical Sessions (1980, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2003)
  • Co-Chair, GCS-SEPM Research Conference Committee (1982-86, 1990-92, 2000-01)
  • Co-Leader, GCAGS, GCS-SEPM, AGS, LGS Field Trips (1982, 1987-89, 1992, 1998)
  • GCS-SEPM Luncheon Speaker (1992)
  • SEPM Research Committee (1990-92)

Other Professional Affiliations

  • Editor, Association of American State Geologists Journal (1984-86)
  • President, Association of American State Geologists (1990-91)
  • Editorial Board for Environmental Geology and Water Sciences Journal (1991-92)
  • President, Southeastern Section, Paleontological Society (1989-90)
  • Chair, Southeastern Section, Geological Society of America (1997-98)
  • Chair, North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature (1999-2000)

Honors and Awards

  • AAPG (A.I. Levorsen Award, Gulf Coast, 1980; Distinguished Educator Award, 2000)
  • GCAGS (Five Best Paper/Poster awards, 1980-82, 1995, 2001; Outstanding Educator Award, 1998; Honorary Member, 2003)
  • GCS-SEPM (Honorary Member, 1991)
  • AASG (Honorary Member, 1996)
  • GSA (Fellow, 1995)

Publications

AAPG/GCAGS publications and technical presentations on petroleum geology and related topics.
Editor's note: Candidates for AAPG office have been given the opportunity to respond briefly to the subject: "Why I Accepted the Invitation to be a Candidate for AAPG Office." Their responses -- and biographical information provided by each candidate and edited only for grammar and spelling, including the biography -- will be published in the EXPLORER beginning here and continuing through the next two issues. Responses will be available throughout the election on the AAPG Web site. Ballots will be mailed in the spring.
Here are the responses from elected editor candidates James W. Handschy and Ernest A. Mancini. Candidates were asked to limit their responses to 500 words.

Why I Accepted the Invitation To Be a Candidate For AAPG Office

By James W. Handschy

AAPG publications are second only to the professional integrity of the AAPG membership as a measure of the scientific excellence of the AAPG and the value of the organization to the petroleum industry.

As we look to the future and contemplate the lessons learned from the recent past, it is apparent that the professional environment of the petroleum industry is changing. The last decade has seen incredible consolidation in the petroleum industry and dramatic technology advances. These changes mean that everybody is expected to do more work in less time, regardless of whether you work for a super major or have your own small business.

AAPG publications provide a fundamentally important forum for knowledge sharing and help ensure that improvements in the technical quality of petroleum geoscience can keep pace with technology-driven productivity increases.

The petroleum industry generates some of the finest, most data-intensive and most well-documented geologic studies in our science. The scales of studies, types of data and analytical techniques used in the petroleum industry are also some of the most diverse used in any geologic based industrial or academic group. This diverse, data-intensive nature of petroleum geology and geophysics, coupled with the high-tech, high productivity environment in the petroleum industry today, presents several publication challenges for the AAPG.

First, publications need to be up-to-date with both modern concepts and modern technologies.

Second, they need to be high quality and consistent with proven geological and geophysical fundamentals.

Third, they need to be concise, well written, easy to read and delivered in a format that facilitates rapid assimilation and integration by the reader.

Since 1917 the AAPG has set the standard for excellence in petroleum geology and applied geology in general. My vision is that the AAPG can lead the way among all geoscience organizations for rigor and excellence in petroleum geology publications and geoscience publications in general.

To achieve this goal we need to continue the progress John Lorenz has spearheaded to reduce cycle time between manuscript submission and publication, we must continue to increase the standards for technical rigor in AAPG publications, we must continue to push the limit on effective ways to deliver publications quickly and effectively around the world and we must raise the awareness about AAPG publication quality outside of the petroleum industry.

Why I Accepted the Invitation To Be a Candidate For AAPG Office

By Ernest A. Mancini

I thank AAPG for being selected as a candidate for editor and look forward to serving the Association if elected. Since joining AAPG in 1979, I have benefited greatly from the Association through participating in AAPG activities and interacting with the membership. In particular, I have enjoyed attending and presenting papers at the annual and international meetings, participating in and organizing Hedberg Research conferences, serving on various AAPG committees and as chair of the Research Committee, and reading and publishing in the BULLETIN and Special Publications. Serving as editor will afford me an opportunity to give back to the Association and share my talents as an educator with the membership.

I believe my 27 years of experience as a professor of geology at the University of Alabama has prepared me for the challenges and responsibilities of editor. During my years as a teacher and researcher, I have had the opportunity to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in petroleum geology and related fields, supervise M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations, write research proposals in the area of petroleum geology, serve as principal investigator on petroleum geology research projects, organize and conduct technology transfer workshops, lead field trips to study Gulf Coastal Plain strata, publish papers on petroleum geology and related topics and review manuscripts and research proposals on petroleum geology and related subjects. These activities have provided me with the experience and needed observation base to determine what constitutes a quality manuscript. That is, one that is well written and has the potential to be a significant contribution to the science of petroleum geology and be of use to the membership in finding and producing more oil and natural gas.

I have learned much from my professional and educational experiences with AAPG and as a university professor. These experiences, in combination with my administrative assignments with geoscientific organizations, have uniquely prepared me to serve as editor and to continue the excellent geoscientific and technical quality of the BULLETIN.

TOP