Letter from the ES President

All Eastern Section AAPG Members,

I hope everyone had a nice summer. As the meeting season ramps up in the Affiliated Societies, it is an excellent time to update everyone on the activities of the Eastern Section.

Eastern Section AAPG Annual Meeting

The annual meeting will be held Oct. 12-16 in Columbus, Ohio. Meeting chair Steve Zody and many others from the Ohio Geological Society have done a great job in planning this event. All of the meeting details are on the website. There are multiple registration options, and Early Bird registration is open through Sept. 30.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available at all levels, including for luncheons and social events, as are a few exhibition slots.

In addition to the oral presentations and poster sessions, the meeting offers a full slate of field trips and workshops. We are still looking for company representatives to advise, present and network with student participants at the Student Job Quest, scheduled for Sunday.

Please take a moment to look at the website – and sign up now for the meeting and other activities.

Website

Speaking of our website, we have done a complete overhaul over the last six months – it is now faster and more accessible than ever. We are still working on updating it and intend to keep it fresh with Section and event information. We have also appointed our first-ever Website and Social Media Coordinator, Drew Smith of Seneca Resources. He will be handling updates on the website directly and pushing out information on social media, primarily via LinkedIn and Twitter. Many thanks to Drew for volunteering to step into this role.

AAPG Advisory Council Representative

Craig Eckert completed his three-year term representing the Eastern Section on the AC on June 30. Thanks to Craig for his many years of service to the Eastern Section, which will continue in other committee roles.

Dan Billman began his term on the AC on July 1 and already is engaging with us and AAPG.

Bylaw Changes

Revisions to the Section’s constitution and bylaws were passed at the council meeting in San Antonio. These changes were mostly associated with the Executive Committee election process and officer responsibilities. With Brian Keith retiring from his multiple-term archivist role, we decided to retire the position altogether and divvy up the duties to the Executive Committee, using cloud storage for archiving.

Many thanks to Brian for his many years of service. He did a great job of transitioning us from paper to electronic files.

Student and Educational Support

Also at the San Antonio meeting, the Council focused on ways to increase support for students and education. After much discussion, we approved “catch-up” contributions to our two AAPG Foundation Grant-in-Aid programs, the Richard Beardsley and the Eastern Section Named Grants. After this contribution, both will be funded to a sustained annual grant level of $2,000 each. The plan is to support them to a sustained $3,000 yearly grant level over the next five years.

Increases in student travel grants, poster awards and Teacher of the Year (TOTY) awards also were approved. As to the TOTY, we are revamping the program and trying to improve our connections at the local level ¬– and to do so we welcome input from local affiliates.

ES Committees

We have many dedicated committee chairs and members, and are always trying to recruit new participants. There is one open chair position (Membership) and several others where we are actively looking for replacements. It is a great way to get involved with the Eastern Section and AAPG. Please take a moment to visit the website and see if there are any areas where you’d like to get involved.

AAPG Initiatives and Resources

AAPG has several great resources for networking and education. To highlight a few, all of the Distinguished Lecture presentations are available via video. The DLs can still travel to local meetings, but the videos give everyone access to these great presentations. You can find these videos here. Another relatively new resource is the AAPG NET program for hosting discussions and committee information. It is available here.

2018-2019 Current Officers

• President – Drew Waggener – Triana Energy, Charleston, W.Va.
• Vice President – Scott Gorham – Seneca Resources, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Secretary – Brian Panetta, independent geologist, State College, Pa.
• Treasurer – Donna Willette, Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, Ill.
• Past President – Patrick Gooding, Kentucky Geologic Survey, Lexington, Ky.
• Advisory Council Representative – Dan Billman, Billman Geologic, Houston, Pa.

The election for incoming treasurer is ongoing and we hope you’ll cast your vote. The Eastern Section has the highest voter participation rate of any AAPG section. We hope to continue that achievement as we have two strong candidates for the position and are excited to get them engaged. The results will be announced at the October meeting.

Many thanks to all of the officers and committee members who have and continue to serve the Eastern Section. Your donated time is what makes the Eastern Section and AAPG a viable, valuable and integral part of our careers, network building and continuing education. We encourage all members of the Eastern Section to identify roles that you think you’d have a passion for and jump in and make your contribution. We’ll all be better for it.

Thank you, and I hope to see you in Columbus!

Drew Waggener
Eastern Section AAPG President (2018-2019)