Consortium Seeks Grant Proposals

By REBECCA GRIFFIN, AAPG Foundation Manager

The funds are waiting to be tapped, and now the AAPG Foundation is seeking proposals from industry professionals for research funding through the AAPG/OSU Geoscience and GIS Consortium.

The consortium, announced last year after a generous donation from Boone Pickens, is designed to create, accelerate and sustain digital peer-reviewed GIS products, carried out through OSU’s geology and geography departments and the AAPG Spatial Publications Standing Committee.

The products are expected to have direct application to the search for and development of petroleum and energy-related mineral resources, and/or related to environmental geology or related economic issues.

Annual funding for the consortium is provided through Pickens’ pledge totaling $240,000 per year for 10 years, plus a gift of $7 million bequeathed to the AAPG Foundation.

Applicants should submit letters of inquiry, which will be reviewed by the Consortia Advisory Committee, consisting of AAPG staff, AAPG GIS Committee and Oklahoma State University geology and geography departments (Jim Blankenship, Jeff Byrnes, Bret Fossum, Jiangyao Gong, Dale Lightfoot, Sam Limerick and Thomas A. Wikle).

LOI guidelines, as well as examples of projects for funding consideration, are provided online at foundation.aapg.org/gia/osugisindustry.cfm.

LOIs should be sent to Rebecca Griffin.

In other Foundation news:

• AAPG past president and Trustee Associate Eddie David recently hosted the Eddie David Challenge Grant Dinner in Roswell, N.M.

Over 40 Roswell-Artesia area members and guests attended as David and AAPG Foundation Executive Director Rick Fritz announced the “Texas Tech George B. Asquith Scholarship for Excellence in Petroleum Geology” and the Eddie David Challenge Grant Opportunity, in which Eddie and Jamie David will match gifts made to the AAPG Foundation in support of the “Eddie David Named Grant” up to $100,000.

Fritz also presented an update on Association activities and the Foundation’s campaign progress and program development. 

• Additional support for the Named Grants-in-Aid Program continues to expand, thanks most recently to a generous donation from Rosann F. Hooks and Jon R. Withrow.
• Hooks provided additional funds to the James E. Hooks Memorial Grant as a tribute to her husband. The James E. Hooks Memorial will provide $3,000 annually to a deserving geosciences student at Florida State or Texas A&M University.
• Trustee Associate Withrow provided additional funds to the Jon R. Withrow Named Grant, which will provide $750 annually beginning in 2010 to a student at the University of Oklahoma.
• The Grants-in-Aid Program awarded over 206,000 grants last year to 88 graduate students. The Named Grants Program includes special grants named in recognition of individuals and institutions that have made substantial contributions to the Foundation, petroleum and energy-mineral sciences, teaching or research.
• Students can apply to the 2010 program at aapg.gia.confex.com/aapg_gia/2010/index.html. 
• A $50,000 contribution was made by NGP Energy Capital Management to the Foundation’s Bridge Fund in support of the feature length educational documentary, “The Bridge.”
• The documentary will include conversations with CEOs of the world’s leading energy companies, top government officials and cutting edge energy scientists who provide their perspectives on what’s happening in energy. The documentary is scheduled for release in the summer of 2010.
• The AAPG Foundation recently provided $30,000 to the Kansas State University Foundation in support of the Paul and Deana Strunk Geology Fellowship, made possible by a donation from Trustee Associate Paul Strunk.
• Arthur R. Green, Gig Harbor, Wash., recently accepted an invitation to join the Trustee Associates. His membership brings the group’s total to 270.

To join the Foundation’s campaign, “Meeting Challenges… Assuring Success,” or to support the Eddie David Challenge Grant, Bridge Fund, Grants-in-Aid or other Foundation programs, contact Rebecca at (918) 560-2644 or Alison Robbins at (918) 560-2674.