Ernest A. Mancini is professor emeritus in the Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama. He received his B.S. degree in biology, Albright College, in 1969; an M.S. degree in zoology, Southern Illinois University, in 1972; and a Ph.D. in geology, Texas A&M University, in 1974. His teaching and research focus is in petroleum geology and stratigraphy. He is the founding director of the University of Alabama Center for Sedimentary Basin Studies and the Eastern Gulf Region of the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council and the first director of the Berg-Hughes Center for Petroleum and Sedimentary Systems at Texas A&M University. He served as state geologist and oil and gas supervisor for Alabama and director of the Geological Survey of Alabama and State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama. He has received the AAPG Sidney Powers Memorial Award, AGI Ian Campbell Medal, GCAGS Don Boyd Medal, GCS-SEPM Doris Malkin Curtis Medal, and University of Alabama Burnum Distinguished Professor Award.