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 an AAPG Office."
Their responses and biographical information were provided by each candidate and edited only for grammar, spelling and format.
This information will also be provided as hard-copy in the January issue of the EXPLORER and available on the AAPG Web site through the election period. Ballots will be mailed, online in the first quarter of 2013. Results will be posted mid-May 2013.
Candidates were asked to limit their biographies to 350 words and responses to 500 words.
2012-13 Editor Candidate
Michael L. Sweet Learn about Michael Sweet
ExxonMobil Production - Houston
Why I Accepted the Invitation to be a Candidate for an AAPG Office ...
I grew up in Alaska, a place where the aspiring young geologist can see earth processes in action. Climbing glacier-clad mountains and feeling earthquakes kindled my passion for geology. I received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois, respectively. Two fine schools, but quite removed from the Oil Patch. I joined AAPG when I was a new-hire geologist working in Oklahoma City. Reading papers in the AAPG Bulletin helped me make the connection between my academic training and my new life as a petroleum geologist. Since that time, I have published three papers in the Bulletin, served as associate editor and have been a member of the Publication Committee, most recently serving as vice chair. It is a great honor to stand for Elected Editor. I accept this nomination because the Bulletin has been important to my career and I want to contribute to its continued success.
The Bulletin is not merely a geoscience journal; the Bulletin publishes leading-edge geoscience concepts applied to energy exploration and production. I believe that having worked in all phases of the upstream industry, from exploration to production and research, has prepared me to be an effective editor. While my primary area of expertise is stratigraphy, I have broad interests in earth sciences and have worked on projects involving structural geology, geologic modeling, reservoir engineering and basin analysis. I continue to maintain close ties with academic institutions doing research in areas of interest to the oil industry. In my career I have had the good fortune to travel extensively and study the geology of basins around the world while collaborating with geologists from many different countries. As a result, I have developed an international network of contacts within the geoscience community that can be a source of publications and reviewers. I understand from first-hand experience the challenges of trying to publish externally in an industry environment.
Two key issues, the impact of electronic media and the Internet on scientific publication and an increasingly international pool of contributors, will affect the Bulletin in the coming years. The rapidly changing world of electronic publication allows us to publish our science in a more timely fashion to a more global audience. However, the Bulletin will face greater competition for good papers from for-profit publishers hungry for content to fill their journals. While North America will continue to be the focus of many Bulletin papers, more of the geology discussed in the Bulletin will be from basins outside of North America and more of our authors will be writing in English as a second language. The opportunity for the Bulletin to attract the best papers on petroleum geology from around the world should be welcomed, but it will be a challenge to maintain our high standards of writing and content.
About Michael Sweet ...
Geological adviser
Born 1957, Anchorage, Alaska
Academic Degrees
Ph.D., geology, University of Texas Austin
M.S., geology, University of Illinois - Champagne-Urbana
B.S., geology, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Experience
2010-present
Geoscience technical team lead, ExxonMobil Angola Production, Houston
2001-10
Research geologist, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Houston
1999-2001
Geologic consultant, Knowledge Reservoir, Houston
1996-99
Exploration geologist, BP, Houston
1993-96
Production geologist, BP, Aberdeen, Scotland
1989-93
Sedimentologist, BP, Houston
1982-84
Exploration geologist, Getty Oil, Oklahoma City
AAPG Activities
Joined AAPG 1983
2009-present
Vice chair, Publications Committee
2008-present
Publications Committee
2004-present
Associate editor, AAPG Bulletin
2011
Field trip co-chair, ACE 2011
2000-05
Publications Committee
Publications
Over 40 peer-reviewed publications and presentations on stratigraphy/sedimentology, reservoir connectivity and production geology
- 2007, Genesis field, Gulf of Mexico: Recognizing reservoir compartments on geologic and production time scales in deep-water reservoirs, AAPG Bulletin
- Distal Basin Floor Fan Deposits of the Middle Eocene Tyee Formation, Oregon, United States - Atlas of deep-water outcrops, AAPG Studies in Geology 56
- 2002, Contrasting styles of eolian, fluvial and lacustrine sequence development: UK southern North Sea - GCSSEPM 22nd Annual Research Conference
- 1999, Interaction between aeolian, fluvial and playa environments in the Permian Rotliegend Group, UK Southern North Sea -Sedimentology
- 1997, South Ravenspurn Gas Field, Offshore United Kingdom: Sequence Stratigraphy and Heterogeneity Modeling in a Low Permeability Continental Reservoir - GCSSEPM 18th Annual Research Conference
- Rotliegend core from the 48/6-34 well, Hyde Field, Southern Gas Basin - Cores from the Northwest European Hydrocarbon Province: An illustration of geological applications from exploration and development. Geological Society of London
- 1996, Modeling heterogeneity in a low permeability gas reservoir using geostatistical techniques - Hyde Field, Southern North Sea, AAPG Bulletin.
- 1995, Three-dimensional distribution of lithofacies, bounding surfaces, porosity and permeability in a fluvial sandstone - the Gypsy Sandstone of northern Oklahoma, AAPG Bulletin
- 1992, Lee-face airflow, surface processes and stratification types: Their significance for refining the use of eolian cross-strata as paleocurrent indicators - GSA Bulletin
- 1990, An empirical model of aeolian dune lee-face airflow -Sedimentology
- 1988, Algodones dune field of SE California: Case history of a migrating modern dune field - Sedimentology.
AAPG Editor Responsibilities as defined by AAPG Bylaws, Article II, Section 8.
The Editor shall have general supervision and final authority in soliciting, accepting, and rejecting all material on technical subjects for publication. The Editor shall have policy oversight and responsibility for editorial content of all technical and peer reviewed publications. With the approval of the Executive Committee, the Editor shall appoint, replace, and reappoint such volunteer associate editors from among the membership of the Association that may be required to accomplish the publication activities of the Association. The Editor shall submit an annual report of editorial activities to the Executive Committee.