The topics this year? Varied, innovative and compelling. Intentionally so.
The speakers? Experts all, with a dash of charisma – specialists already recognized and acclaimed by global audiences, now poised and prepared to reach new audiences.
Its impact? Historically, this is the very definition of sharing cutting-edge geoscience thought, practices and discernment – and this year, potentially it’s as dramatic as it is timely.
A new season of the AAPG Distinguished Lecture program has been announced, and expectations are high for the seven speakers who will continue one of the Association’s greatest geoscience traditions.
Since its creation in 1941, AAPG’s DL program has been the Association’s flagship initiative for offering expert, engaging and often entertaining presentations to geologists and geoscientists around the world.
The program is managed by AAPG and funded by the AAPG Foundation.
This year’s lecturers represent not only the top of their professions – included are award-winning geoscientists – but also offer a blend of academic excellence as well as practical industry experience.
These speakers will address the newest technical developments, the latest updates in geoscience concepts, headline-grabbing topics (climate change and artificial intelligence, for example), and for the career-minded geoscientist, practical advice and insights into navigating the challenges of tomorrow’s workforce and environment.
“The DL program is critical to our mission of ensuring the future of our profession,” said AAPG Foundation Chair Jim McGhay. “It brings the best and current thinking to our practicing geoscientists, thus elevating their ability to contribute meaningfully to finding solutions.”
Most of its early years featured expert geologists, chosen by the AAPG DL Committee, traveling to visit local groups, bringing expertise to audiences that may not have had such access without the program. Today the program exists largely in a digital format and is available to a global audience on a 24/7 basis via the AAPG website.
“With the ‘virtual’ delivery of these lectures we are able to reach a great many more people than in earlier years,” McGhay said.
“This program has long been a favorite of mine,” he added, “particularly when I was charged with bringing speakers to our local societies.”
Each year, speakers are selected based on the relevancy of their topics and individual excellence in their respective fields, said current DL Committee chair Jonathan Allen.
“The committee generates a list of potential speakers for each theme, along with nominations from other groups,” Allen said, referring to AAPG divisions, other committees and individual members. “We discuss them, and then a ballot is sent out … the top vote earner in each theme is then invited to serve as a DL.
“We try to get as diverse a group as possible when we generate potential speakers,” he added.
A Global Offering, Starring …
This season’s diverse DL lineup and their respective topics are:
- Isabelle Moretti, senior fellow and vice president-Energy Pole, French Academy of Technology, Paris, France
Her topic is “Geoscience to Address the Modern World.” Her talk: “The Natural H2 Exploration Started: Why, Where and by Who?”
- John Castagna, the Margaret S. and Robert E. Sheriff endowed faculty chair in applied seismology at the University of Houston, who also is this season’s AAPG-SEG Distinguished Lecturer
His topic is geophysics; his talk is “Beyond Physics in Geophysics.”
- John Suppe, distinguished professor at the University of Houston
His topic is tectonics and structure. His talk is, “Probing What Makes the Crust Strong (or Weak): Insight from Boreholes, Earthquakes, Active Fault Systems and Toy Models.”
- Kurt Rudolph, adjunct professor, University of Houston and Rice University
A two-time recipient of AAPG’s Wallace Pratt Memorial Award and past presenter of the Foundation’s prestigious Michel T. Halbouty Distinguished Lecture, his theme is integrated hydrocarbon systems, and he offers three talks:
- “The Assembly of Pangea, A View from Laurentia: Paleozoic Orogenies and Their Impact on Basin Evolution and Petroleum Systems”
- “Tectonic Controls on Source Rock Deposition”
- “Estimating, Benchmarking and Managing Subsurface Uncertainty: Principles and Examples”
- Shane Prochnow, strategic digital geology adviser for Chevron’s Subsurface Innovation Lab in Houston
His topic is machine learning and AI in petroleum geoscience. His talk is “Subsurface Machine Learning Approaches at Hydrocarbon Recover and Resource Forecasting for Unconventional Reservoir Systems.”
- Sherilyn Williams-Stroud, research scientist, Illinois State Geological Survey, and research associate professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Change, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
An AAPG Honorary Member (and featured in the AAPG documentary “Rock Stars: Women in Petroleum Geology), she is this year’s ethics and professionalism lecturer. Her talk is, "Atmospheric and Social Climate Change: Implications for the Future Geoscience Workforce."
- Tip Meckel, senior research scientist, Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin
His topic is energy transition and sustainable development. His talk is “The Role of Carbon Capture and Geologic Storage and Opportunities for Geoscientists Accompanying Energy Diversification.”
Experts Available 24/7
The Distinguished Lecture program is free of charge and available at any time, to anyone, anywhere on Earth via the AAPG website and thanks to the AAPG Foundation’s support. The talks will be recorded and added to the website for on-demand viewing.
Also, live virtual talks, including a Q&A with the speaker, are offered by AAPG throughout the season. Also, a specific DL can talk can be virtually arranged for a group setting, including the Q&A session.
Those who remember the program’s early years recall how all speakers made actual, face-to-face tours – a practice that was halted during the global pandemic and continues to be challenged by health concerns, company policies and speaker schedules that impact and restrict travel availability.
The committee, Foundation leadership and AAPG staff continue to monitor travel conditions, however, and express hope that some visits can be considered, even if only on a spot basis as circumstances allow.
For more program information, or to arrange a live virtual talk with a speaker, visit the AAPG website (click Careers>Training>Distinguished Lecture Program), or contact [email protected].