Geotimes June 1996 - About People

ABOUT PEOPLE

June 1996

The Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration presented the following awards at its 1996 annual meeting: William Lawrence Saunders Gold Medal Award to Leonard Harris for his work as a metallurgist; Robert H. Richards Award to Anthony G . Moon for his contributions to copper concentration technology; Erskine Ramsay Medal to B.R. Brown for his work to secure a role for science in policy decisions affecting the coal industry; Howard N. Eavenson Award to Robert W. Dalzell for his leadership in mine safety and health; Rock Mechanics Award to Brian T. Brady for his work on rock-burst monitoring and analysis; Daniel Cowan Jackling Award to John S. Livermore for his contributions to exploration and discovery of C arlin-type gold deposits; Antoine M. Gaudin Award to Lynn B. Hales for his work in mineral processing operations; Milton E. Wadsworth Extractive Metallurgy Award to Robert W. Bartlett for his work in chemical metallurgy; Hall Williams Hardin ge Award to James F. Westcott for his contribution to the industrial minerals field; Ben F. Dickerson III Award to James H. Bright for his contribution to the mining industry.

Judith L. Hannah, Association for Women Geoscientists Member-At-Large, has been appointed Head of the Department of Earth Resources at Colorado State University.

James Taranik, president of the Desert Research Institute, was appointed Arthur Brant Chair in Geology and Geophysics, University of Nevada, Reno. As chair, Taranik will develop a new program for placing students in mineral exploration and envi ronmental management jobs. Taranik has been a tenured geology/geophysics professor at the university since 1982.

George Hornberger, a hydrologists and professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, has been named to the National Academy of Engineering for his work on hydrogeochemical models and environmental problem solving. Currently, he is studying the effects and movements of the pesticide atrazine through water systems of the Shenandoah Valley. Hornberger became a 1996 fellow of the Association for Women in Science earlier this year. In 1995, he received the John Wesley Powell Awar d from the U.S. Geological Survey and was elected to the American Geophysical Union.

The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) awarded Ray Clough the George W. Housner Award, the institute's highest honor. Clough, Nishikian Professor Emeritus of Structural Engineering at the University of California Berkeley, co-deve loped the finite element method of structural analysis. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Science. In 1994, Clough received the National Medal of Science. EERI presented the Alfred E. Alquist Award Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Earthquake Mitigation to another professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Joseph Penzien. Penzien was founding director of the university's Earthquake Engineering Research Center and has served o n various committees working to improve the safety of man's environment.

The Offshore Technology Conference presented its Distinguished Achievement Award for individuals to Carl G. Langner, senior staff research engineer for Shell E&P Technology Co. Langner was recognized for his work in pipeline and subsea technol ogy; he is considered to be Shell's resident expert on deepwater pipelines, holding 29 patents on related technology. Conoco received an equivalent award given to companies, organizations, and institutions for the Heidrun Project, the world's first floati ng platform made of lightweight aggregate concrete.

Sante Fe Pacific Gold Corporation, a gold mining and exploration company, appointed Peter Steen to its 1996 Board of Directors as chairman of the executive and policy committee. Robert L. Parratt was appointed director of exploration in the Americas; Roy W. Owen is now director of U.S. exploration and Robert P. Felder will serve as exploration manager for the Central Great Basin.

Jon Haacke, a geologist experienced in software development and exploration, has joined MINEsoft, Ltd. He will work in the Customer Support Department as a technical support representative assisting users of TECHBASE, a relational database man agement system.

John F. Riordan, president and chief executive officer of MidCon Corporation, was elected chairman of the 1996 Gas Research Institute Board of Directors.

The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, administered by the University of Southern California, was awarded to Willi Dansgaard, professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Claude Lorius, chairman, French Institute of Polar Resear ch and Technology; and Hans Oeschger, professor emeritus, University of Bern, Switzerland. These three scientists documented 150,000 years of global climate change through the collection and analysis of polar ice core samples. Dansgaard, a paleoclimatologist, demonstrated that measurements of trace isotopes indicated climate change. Lorius and Oeschger used ancient ice core samples to show that past atmospheric gas composition varied with global temperature ch ange.