Two new grants have been approved
by the AAPG Foundation Trustees, both named in honor of people who have made enormous contributions to the profession, industry and geosciences.
In both cases, the grants have been started with generous initial donations from the honorees, with the intent of attracting additional support to ensure the funds’ ongoing impact.
The new grants are:
- The Igor and Betty Effimoff Named Grant, which establishes an unrestricted named grant for the Foundation’s Grants-in-Aid program:
AAPG Foundation Named Grants are awarded annually to help cover expenses directly related to a graduate student’s thesis work
Igor Effimoff, a Houston-based international consultant, started his career with Shell Oil and later held positions with Larmag Energy N.V., Pennzoil Caspian Corp. and Teton Petroleum. He was specifically engaged in the resurgence of activities as the Soviet Union reopened to Western investment and involvement starting in the 1980s. Betty Effimoff is a retired nurse.
The grant will be awarded annually to a geoscience graduate student “whose research concerns the origin, exploration and development of geology or petroleum geology.”
- The Mary E. and Richard D. Fritz Grant for Geoscience Publishing, which is created to support “the writing and publication of human-interest stories about geoscientists, and to develop a program to publish geoscience work from universities, particularly student M.S. theses.”
AAPG and the AAPG Foundation will help publicize the opportunity to geoscience students and professors, and will assign stories to writers, consultants and members.
Both Fritzes made significant impacts to and for AAPG throughout their careers.
Mary Fritz worked for a decade as a staff reporter for the AAPG EXPLORER, often writing stories that highlighted the life and work of geoscientists. Starting in the 1990s she continued her career as a correspondent/journalist for both the EXPLORER and other AAPG publications, often documenting members’ achievements by writing biographies that emphasized their contributions to petroleum geology.
Mary died this past October in Tulsa.
Richard Fritz, current advancement chair for the AAPG Foundation, has had a long career in leadership for AAPG and the Foundation, including stints as president for both AAPG and DPA. He served as the AAPG-AAPG Foundation executive director from 1999-2011, and in 1996 was one of four members to establish Datapages Inc.
Information on AAPG grants, including how to contribute, can be found on the AAPG Foundation website, or by contacting Heather Hodges ([email protected] or [email protected]; 918-560-2621).