Alfred Lacazette is a structural geologist. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Geology from the University of Kentucky, and in 1991 received his PhD in Geoscience from Penn State, where he studied with Terry Engelder. Al’s PhD work focused on natural hydraulic fracturing of tight gas sandstones and gas shales. His PhD work resulted in publication (with Terry Engelder) of the first papers on the mechanics of natural hydraulic fracturing by poroelastic effects, which have become the basis for understanding catagenic fracturing in gas shales.

Al has worked for both operating companies and service companies in exploration, exploitation, and technology research & development roles. His work and publications have focused on seismic-to-borehole-scale structural interpretation; fractured reservoir exploration, development, and simulation; the chemical and mechanical interplays of fluid-rock interaction; outcrop analog studies of fractured reservoirs; borehole imaging; and since 2008 the reservoir-scale structural geology of unconventional resources and passive seismic imaging of induced and natural subsurface fracture networks.

Al's professional activities have focused on the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), where he served two terms on the Reservoir Development Committee, is in his sixth term as an Associate Editor of AAPG Bulletin, is a Charles H. Taylor Fellow of AAPG, a founding member of AAPGís Petroleum Structure and Geomechanics Division, and is a reviewer for the new AAPG-SEG journal Interpretation. Al works as a Senior Geological Advisor for Global Geophysical Services in Denver, Colorado.