John B. Curtis is Professor Emeritus of Geology and Geological Engineering and Director, Potential Gas Agency at the Colorado School of Mines. He received a B.A. (1970) and M.Sc. (1972) in geology from Miami University and a Ph.D. (1989) in geology from The Ohio State University. He is a licensed Professional Geologist (Wyoming).

Dr. Curtis has been at the Colorado School of Mines since July 1990. He had 15 years prior experience in the petroleum industry with Texaco, Inc., SAIC, Columbia Gas, and Brown & Ruth Laboratories/Baker-Hughes. He co-chaired the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Committee on Unconventional Petroleum Systems from 1999-2004 and is an invited member of the AAPG Committee on Resource Evaluation. He was a Counselor to the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists from 2002-2004.

He was an Associate Editor of the AAPG Bulletin from 1998 – 2010. Curtis has published studies and given numerous invited talks concerning hydrocarbon source rocks, exploration for unconventional reservoirs, and the size and distribution of U.S., Canadian and Mexican natural gas resources and comparisons of resource assessment methodologies. As Director of the Potential Gas Agency, he directs a team of 100 geologists, geophysicists and petroleum engineers for the Potential Gas Committee’s biennial assessment of remaining U.S. natural gas resources. Prior to beginning transitional retirement, he taught petroleum geology, petroleum geochemistry and petroleum design at the Colorado School of Mines, where he continues to supervise graduate student research.

Dr. Curtis has worked with GeoMark Research, Ltd. in a consulting capacity since 1996. He is currently responsible for their Rocky Mountain petroleum system/resource potential studies in the U.S. and Canada. He has most recently co-authored studies evaluating the resource potential of the Niobrara, Mowry, Phosphoria, Greenhorn, Heath, Lodgepole/Mission Canyon, and Red River/Winnipeg petroleum systems in Rocky Mountain basins.