Alumni News

Roper, Doug (69 BS, 77 MS U. Tenn Geology)

Currently Manager Permian Basin for Continental Land and Fur Co. Inc., evaluating and buying Oil & Gas deals. ten years prior, worked as Consulting Geophysicist in Midland.

Division Geophysicist for Forest Oil Corp for 12 years.

Retired from Air Force Reserve on 1 Oct 99 with rank of Colonel. Tell Dr Hooks I bought land and house in Costilla Co. Colorado to retire to. Has great view of Spanish Peaks on one side and Blanca on the other. Invite all members of "Grand Alliance of Spanish Peaks" to visit!
1973

Sheffield, John (73 BA, ??MA/AA Science Ed.)

Maybe not interesting, but, I have been teaching Marine Biology at Tuscaloosa County High School for the past 24 years. I married in 1980, and my wife, Alice, and I have traveled extensively throughout the states. In our travels, I have used my geology background to take us to some highly unusual places.
1974

LeVan, Bernard (74 BS Geology, 80 MS Business, 97 BS Comp)

From my Geology experience at UA, I have been associated with the Army Corps of Engineers for over 26 years. Although I did not find too many minerals, I did push a lot of dirt and bridge a lot of rivers. Geology rocks!

Tunnell, Larry (74 BS, Geology, 93 MS, Env. Eng)

Previously spent 16 years as a geophysicist in oil and gas exploration in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma.
Currently Chief Engineer with Orange County Utilities in Orlando and am project manager for the County's Integrated Water Resources Program.
1977

Duncan, Joel (77 BS, 98 Ph.D (Florida State) Geology)

I completed my Ph.D. in Geology at Florida State University in August of 1998. I am currently employed by the Florida Geological Survey as a research geologist specializing in the deep subsurface geology of Florida (Paleozoic through Jurassic).

See, Thomas (77 BS, 85 MS University of Houston Geology)

Principal Scientist / Project Manager at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston.  I spent the first 24 plus years of my career with Lockheed Martin and am currently employed by Barrios Technology under the ESCG contract at JSC.  Since 1980 I have been working as a Planetary Geologist conducting and supporting research in the Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science (ARES; http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov) directorate located in Houston; for the past 10 years I have also had the additional duties of serving as a project manager.  ARES conducts basic research in Earth, planetary, and space sciences, as well as having the curatorial responsibility for all NASA-held extraterrestrial samples (e.g., Moon rocks, meteorites, etc.).

I received my Masters Degree from the University of Houston studying under Dr. Elbert King, the first curator of lunar samples following the return of Apollo 11 from the Moon.  The early part of my working career focused on research related to the understanding of the impact cratering process on both small scales into spacecraft, as well as planetary sized events.

I have been fortunate to work on three flight missions including the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) as a member of the Meteoroid & Orbital Debris Special Investigation Group, the Orbital Debris Collector (ODC) that captured natural and man-made particles in low-Earth orbit (http://setas-www.larc.nasa.gov/index.html), and most recently Stardust, which successfully captured materials from the Comet Wild-2 and returned them to Earth for study (http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/stardust/index.cfm).

One of the highlights of my life still remains the Geology/Geography rafting trip that the department took down the Grand Canyon during the summer of 1977.

Robertson, Philip (79 BA Geology)

Selected to represent the Director, National Imagery and Mapping Agency to Headquarters, Air Combat Command at Langley AFB, VA in July 2002. Plan to stay here indefinitely! You have to love a region called TIDEwater!
1981

Howard, Ralph (81 BS, 90 MS, Geology)

Susanne and I will soon celebrate the first birthday of our second son, Daniel Ralph Howard, in
April of 2001. As a Project Manager for USEPA, my job is to direct and oversee investigation and cleanup activities at Superfund hazardous waste sites. I worked with a private environmental consulting firm (1988-91) before EPA.
Bottom line for cleaning up sites: Geology Rules.

1982

Cook, Diane(Dana) (82 BS, Geology)

Two children, Emma - 12 years old, Molly - 7 years old.

Corn, Larry (82 BS, Geology)

After graduating from Bama in 1982, I went to work in the geotechnical engineering field. I am currently the manager of the Atlanta, Georgia office of PSI, Inc.. I am married to Carla ( who I was dating at Bama) and have three wonderful children.
1983

Gavin, Scott (83 BS, Geology) Single father of Conrad, born Mar 13, 2000.

President DocuCentric Corporation, Tulsa OK, Systems. Integrator, SGML/XML Application development. Company established 1992.

Hooks, David (83 BS, 85 MS, Geology)

Still married to Betsy Groover (BS GEO 1984). David Hooks (BS '83, MS '85) is currently employed as a geologist in the International division of DeGolyer and MacNaughton, a petroleum consulting firm located in Dallas, Texas. David joined D&M in September, 1995 after 11 years with ARCO. Betsy is occupied with 2 boys- Bill (10) and Nelson (7).
1984

Chapman, Mark (84 BS, Geology, 97 MSEM, 99 MBA)

Currently working for United States Steel in Land Management. Also I am in my third year of law school at the Birmingham School of Law.
1985

Osborne, Terry (85 BA, 88 MS, Geology)

Been married 13 years. I have one son 7 years old. Recently changed jobs. I now work for a company owned and run by geologists. A very nice change from engineering companies.

Parker, Steve (85 BS, 89 MS Geology)

I recently (2001) relocated from Paducah, Kentucky to the Charleston, South Carolina area. I have been with EnSafe Inc. (Environmental Consutltants) for nearly 10 years after spending 5 years at the Alabama Geological Survey. I manage our South Carolina office where we work primarily with the U. S. Navy. I have a wife Anna and two children, Ella and Maura.
1986

Floyd, Timothy (86 BS, Geology)

Owner of Floyd Environmental, Inc. an environmental consulting firm since November 1990. Will be merging with another Birmingham based consulting firm as of January 1, 1998. The new firm will be named CFM-Layton, Inc.
1987

Garner, David (87 BA, Geology)

My not-so-interesting news: finished my M.S. in geology at LSU in 1990; began work with Shell; just completed 10th year; married Lee Anne Sumrall of Baton Rouge in 1994; no kids yet; still make several trips a year back to Tuscaloosa to visit family and friends; what I miss most about Alabama - REAL HILLS.
1988

Hines, Bob (88 PhD, Geology)

Life after the oil patch brought me to Mobile in 1993 as a Senior Project Scientist with Woodward-Clyde (now URS Greiner Woodward Clyde) and Senior Geologist for the Mobile office. I married the former Cindy (Lucinda) Austin in June 1997 and we are very proud to announce that we are expecting a girl to be born sometime between Christmas and New Years. Yes, she may very well be a millenium bug in her own right. Best Regards to All.

Smith, Patrick (Pat) (88 BS, Geology)

Working in Mapping and GIS Training at Intergraph Corp. in Huntsville. Enjoying work on the farm and exploration of local caves! :-)
1991

Murray, Brian (91 MS, Geology)

I am currently employed as a Sr. Geologist/Section Manager with Science Applications International Corp. in Oak Ridge, TN. We(wife Donna and two sons) have been in east TN for 8 years and really appreciate the scenary after living in TX and LA working in the oil exploration business.
1995

Gillies, Sally (94 MS, Geology)

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 21, 2008) - Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE:CXX)(AMEX:CXZ) is pleased to announce the appointment of Sally Gillies to the position of General Manager, Lonestar Division. Ms. Gillies is a geologist with over 13 years of international experience in mineral exploration.

"Our Central Mineral Belt (CMB) Uranium Property in Labrador has grown and advanced to the point where two divisions are required in order to explore and develop it efficiently. The CMB Property has been divided into the Northstar (or northern) Divison and the Lonestar (southern) Division. We are very pleased that Sally has joined our team as General Manager for the Lonestar Division," says Mark Morabito, CEO of the Company. "Sally will be spearheading an extensive exploration program in the largely unexplored southern half of the project."

Since obtaining her Masters in Economic Geology from the University of Alabama in 1995, Ms. Gillies has worked as Senior Geologist on several projects world-wide. She has developed, implemented and managed exploration programs for numerous companies including Continental Minerals (Hunter Dickinson Group) in China; Bema Gold Corporation in Canada, USA, Venezuela, Chile and Russia; and Falconbridge Ltd. in Canada.

The Lonestar Division will focus primarily on exploring for structurally-controlled ("Michelin type") uranium mineralization in the southern portion of the CMB Property. The Northstar Division will be responsible for the resource development of the C Zone as well as the continued exploration for IOCG and unconformity-related uranium deposits in the northern and central portions of the Property. The company expects to have six diamond drills turning this summer. This will allow the Northstar Division to continue to increase the 43-101 compliant uranium resource estimate of the C Zone and potentially define resources at other emerging targets as well as allow the Lonestar Division to test the underexplored southern half of the project.

The Lonestar Division area is underlain by felsic volcanic rocks hosting known uranium occurrences. A property-wide airborne radiometric and magnetic survey flown in late 2005 revealed the most intense uranium anomalies both in size and magnitude identified on the property. In the fall of 2007, these anomalies were further refined by the results of a 798 sample lake sediment survey. In 2008, the Lonestar Division will focus on the uranium-in-lake-sediment anomalies associated with the airborne uranium anomalies and cross-cutting structures identified by the magnetic component of the airborne survey.

Howell, Rob (95 BS, 98 MS, Geology)

After finishing graduate school I took a job as an Environmental Geologist with Southern Company in Birmingham. I still get to have a lot of contact with the Geology Department. My company is actually funding research the department is conducting on new remediation technologies.

Cole, Charles (96 BS, Geology)

I married Wendy Webb on Feruary 14, 1997. I worked briefly for Law Engineering in Birmingham and began working for CGG in Houston in September of 97.

Toxey, Jeff (96 BS (minor in Physics and Math), 97 MS (Univ. of AZ), Geology)

I am currently working with Exxon Mobil Corporation in Houston with the Production Company in Field Studies. April and I are happily married, coming up on our 2nd anniversary in May. We are about to move into our first home at the end of April 2000. We visit Alabama occasionally but relive our time there by working with the Houston Chapter of the Alabama Alumni and spending time with our friends John Kimbro, Chuck Cole and Jeff Fortenberry who also live in Houston.
1997

Ward, Bryan (97 BS, Geology (Minor in Fuels and Mineral Resources), 99 BS, Mining Engineering)

After graduation in May in 1999, My wife (Tammy), who is Alabama Alumni as well (BS in Nutrition 1997), and I moved to a suburb of Atlanta. I accepted the position of Land Manager with Blue Circle Aggregates, which is one of 3 divisions. Blue Circle Cement, one of the other divisions, currently has a quarry in Calera, AL. I work in conjuction with mining engineering, geology, and environmental. My main responsibility is acquiring land for reserves and disposing any additional land for our 11 quarries and 2 sand & gravel operations around the Atlanta and Columbus areas. (update)-Since the last time I updated this sometime in 2000, My wife, Tammy, and I have moved in our new house and have enjoyed it for a year now near the Mall of GA. So gneiss being known as the rock guy in the subdivision. Everybody has to know what kind of rock they have found, and then you tell them "Oh, that's biotite gneiss" or "That's amphibolite" and they reply "That's what?". The best line of all: "Is this a part of Stone Mountain?".

Mainly, I wanted you to know that my wife and I will be having a son in September, 2001. I hope to see some of you at Homecoming this year.

UA Department of Geological Sciences | Box 870338 | Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 | Phone: (205)348-5095 | Fax: (205)348-0818