Distinguished Member Award
Citation: To Alan L. DeGood, in special recognition for his continuous, dedication and distinguished service to the House of Delegates and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
Alan was born in Goodland, Kansas and grew up in St. Francis, Kansas. He attended Fort Hays State University and graduated with a B. S. in Geology.
Alan’s first job out of college was with Kansas Nebraska Natural Gas in Lakewood, Colorado. He worked as a district geologist working the D-J Basin, Rocky Mountains and the Mid-Continent.Working for KN, along with Alan’s love for the out of doors, resulted in a transfer to KN’s engineering department as a drilling and completion engineer in the Hugoton Field and Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle fields. After five years with KN, Alan went to work for Texas Oil & Gas in Wichita, Kansas as a staff geologist, advancing to area geologist then the exploration geologist for the Kansas district. Alan went to work for American Energies Corporation as a district geologist in 1981 and is now president. The company has grown from four employees to 40, and from 40 operated wells to more than 400. American Energies has added two LLC’s, American Energies Pipeline LLC to gather gas, and American Energies Gas Service LLC, which is a gas utility.
In 1976, Alan became an active member in AAPG and was elected to the House of Delegates in 1985 and has represented the Kansas Geological Society since. He has served on several committees for the House of Delegates, including the Honors and Awards committee, the Resolution committee and Youth and Education Activities. The AAPG Public Service Award was awarded to him in 1996 for the work he has done and is doing, by working with the public on educating them in geology and leading fieldtrips. Alan has spoken to more than 200 organizations, directly touching more than 9,000 people. The work Alan is most proud of is his work with the Kansas teachers. Alan and six other Kansas Geological Society members conduct one-day workshops for Kansas’s teachers. The workshop consists of 6 hours of presentation and is packed with “hands-on” learning activities. The teachers leave with more than 40 different specimens of rocks and minerals and a CD covering the topics that were covered during the workshop. The specimens, workshop literature and CD can then be used in the teacher’s lesson plans.
Alan has been active in the Mid-Continent Section of AAPG by serving in the following officer’s positions: secretary, treasurer, vice president and president. He also served as general chairman of the 1999 Mid-Continent Convention. He received the Robey H. Clark Award in 2003.
On the local level, Alan has been very active and supportive of the Kansas Geological Society and the Kansas Geological Foundation, having served on most of KGS’s committees, and as vice president and president.