Alumni: Where are they now?

Jul 19, 2016

An update into what some of our alumni are up to and where they have gone since graduating from Texas A&M University.

Randy Crowe ’74

“26 years as Chief Geologist for a family owned drilling and engineering company. 10 years as independent and consultant. Retired and moved to College Station 6 years ago (kids and grandkids live here).” 

Dave Weinberg ’77

“Dave got his PhD in geology from Texas A&M University, and worked for 20+ years for Shell, CITGO, and Conoco. In 1995, he went to DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory developing and overseeing technology-development projects aimed at the petroleum industry. Starting in 2002, Dave spent over 12 years in and consulting with the Department of Homeland Security on issues addressing infrastructure protection and terrorism risk analysis. “

Clint Barnette ‘13

“Completed grad school (Univ. of Houston) and working on the Eagle Ford development team at an independent E&P.“

Donald Campbell ‘68

“After teaching geology for three years at Stephen F. Austin State University, I worked in the oil patch in Houston for a couple years, then went into the cement and concrete industry, doing research and diagnosing problems at the Portland Cement Association in Skokie, Illinois, and eventually set up a lab in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, where I continued work in cement and concrete microscopy. Retired in 2012, but could not resist doing petrographic work on shale (lagerstatte) deposited in an Ordovician meteorite crater in Decorah, Iowa. I look back with many treasured memories of friends and events. “

Meredith Denton-Hedrick ‘89 & ‘92

“Completed grad school (Univ. of Houston) and working on the Eagle Ford development team at an independent E&P.“

Don Harville ‘82 & ‘85

“Started my career in Denver as a Petrologist for Core Laboratories running XRD and doing TS petrography; became a Research Geologist and gained a US Patent for developing an FTIR rapid mineralogy system; advanced to management as a Reservoir Geology Supervisor and (later) as Rock Properties Manager for Core Lab Canada in Calgary. I am currently Reservoir R&D Manager at Chesapeake Energy where I helped build the CHK Reservoir Technology Center, a state of the art rock properties laboratory specializing in analysis of tight unconventional shale, tight sand and carbonates; been here for almost 10 years growing the group to currently 30 employees.“

Matt Bergman ’11

“After graduating from A&M, I earned a petroleum engineering degree from Texas Tech. I then went to work for an Aggie owned and operated E&P, Walsh Petroleum, here in Midland.”

William Blount ‘85

“Worked for thirty years in petroleum, mostly exploration. ‘Retired’ from ExxonMobil officially in 2006 after 21 years and several significant discoveries. Then worked for El Paso E&P and Marathon Oil in Unconventional Resources. Retired again in February 2015. Now traveling, swimming, writing and playing chess.”

Lisa Buckner ’84

“I survived the up and down cycles of the oil & gas industry as a processing geophysicist for 30+ years. I obtained a MS Geophysics degree from UH, attending part-time while working full-time at Western Geophysical. Then promptly took an offer for nearly double the pay from Chevron. Worked for them for 2 years in Houston plus 8 years in New Orleans and was finally laid off in the Texaco merger. I went to work at Shell in New Orleans as a contract employee until Hurricane Katrina. While in New Orleans I was an active member of the New Orleans A&M Club and served as their President in 1999. My first day in office started with Yell Practice and singing Auld Lang Syne. Later that day, the Aggies got beat by Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. I also served two terms on the board of the Southeastern Geophysical Society (local SEG society) as Secretary and 2nd VP. Four days after evacuating for Katrina, I interviewed with Hess, got the job and moved back to Houston. I manage and load seismic data to interpretation systems most of the time but still get to have some fun processing data now and then. I was the Hess recruiting team lead for UH G&G graduate students for eight years and the UH EAS Dept. recognized me last November with Outstanding Alumni Award for my service to the students. I have co-lead the Hess Geophysics Acquisition and Processing Technical Community for a number of years mainly organizing lunch 'n learns. Now I'm serving the Geophysical Society of Houston (GSH) as the 1st Vice President Elect responsible for all technical events. I've been the GSH Outreach Committee Chair since 2008. I was co-guest editor of the October 2015 issue of the SEG's The Leading Edge Special Section: Education in the Geosciences. I am also a GSH Section Representative to the SEG Council. In a way, I've been recruiting future Aggies as a role model mentor in the Houston A&M Club's Caring Aggies Mentoring Program (CAMP). We started mentoring a group of 3rd graders and have followed them all the way through high school. We took them on a trip to visit the College of Geosciences a year ago and couple of them attended GeoX Camp last summer. We visited campus and attended the last home game in Kyle Field in November. I'm the lead for group one and they are now high school seniors. A couple of students have been accepted to A&M and others are planning to transfer in later. We're really proud of all of them. My husband and I are really looking forward to the birth of our first grandchild this summer.”

Hunter Lockhart ’11

“Immediately upon leaving TAMU, I decided to pursue graduate studies at Rice University. Following my first year of studies, I interned at BHP Billiton in their New Ventures group, where I completed a seven month study on the stratigraphic and structural evolution of the Great Australian Bight (GAB) Basin. One year later, I was awarded an MS in Geology from Rice in 2013. Upon graduation, I was hired by BHP Billiton, first working in a role in field development on the billion-barrel Stampede field, central Gulf of Mexico. After that, I was rotated into BHPB's Permian Basin operations team, where I was responsible for planning and executing a proprietary helicopter-borne gravity, resistivity, and magnetics survey over a large portion of our acreage in the Delaware Basin. Following a year in that role, I was again rotated into my current position as exploration geologist, responsible for the Caribbean region. In addition, I served as the Short Course Chairman for GCAGS 2015, and am currently the Chairman for the AAPG Gulf Coast Young Professionals as well as the Sponsorship Chairman for AAPG ACE 2017.”

Jim Gordon ’80

“Living just north of San Antonio and married with two children. Daughter is an Aggie graduate of December 2015 and son is currently attending Texas A&M. Retired in March 2015 after a 35 year career with Dowell and Schlumberger Pressure Pumping Services in various engineering, sales, and management roles. Hired on with Dowell during the 1980 oil boom as a Field Engineer trainee in Abilene, TX. Worked in field operations and engineering/sales support for the first thirteen years at various locations in Central and South Texas including Bryan, Luling, Corpus Christi, Alice, Mission, and Pleasanton. Transferred to Dallas in 1993 as a Technical Sales Engineer for about four years before moving to Midland in 1997 as Area Engineer for the Permian Basin. Moved to San Antonio in 2003 as a Sales Engineer for stimulation and cementing services in the South Texas area and retired in 2015 during the decline of the Eagle Ford Shale drilling activity.“

Brian Elias ’93

“Most recently working for Southwestern Energy developing the Marcellus and Utica in PA and WV.”

Laura Carr ’97

“I left in Texas A&M in the summer of '97 after my last class - field camp. I changed paths and pursued a career in GIS versus hard core Geology. I worked for the City of Denton, TX in their GIS department for three years and moved into the private sector of GIS consulting. My pri-mary focus is City governments and I've worked all over Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and many other states. Through my career I've been able to dabble in other areas such as environmental GIS, geotechnical and oil and gas. Some of these brought back those Geology skills I learned so long ago. In May of 2015 I started my own company called NewEdge Services with another Aggie alumni. Once again the focus is GIS consulting for City governments, but we are wide open and I'm very excited about where this opportunity will take me. Hopefully to some clients a little more Geology related. I have two boys that I love to bring to the hill country in Texas and show them the old stomping grounds for my Geology classes. Gig 'Em '96”

Matthew Patrolia ’15

“I am at Boise State working towards my MS in Geology.”

Thinh Nguyen ’14

“Since August 2015, I am serving Denver community as a Denver Math Fellow and an AmeriCorps member, working closely with Denver Public Schools to provide small group math tutoring to highest need students, in order to close the opportunity gap and accelerate their academic growth.”

Adam Harper ’14

“Geoscientist at WESTON Solutions, Inc.”

R. Shane McGary ’07

“Went to graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint program finishing with a PhD in Geophysics in Feb. 2013. Spent two years as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Physics department at The College of New Jersey. Started as an Assistant Professor in the Geology and Environmental Sciences department at James Madison University in the fall of 2015.”

Javin Hatcherian ’15

“I am working for the USGS as a Physical Science Technician. I'm working with a team researching shales and assisting Research Geologists with oil and gas assessments for their assigned regions. My leadership and coworkers are great, I have a lot of variety in my work, I love what I do, and I live close to family and friends. When I was looking for a job though, I applied to 137 jobs, got turned down after 5 interviews, and was certain I had blown the interview that got me my current job. If you are looking for work, keep at it! I know it sucks, but the right job is out there. Never forget, it's a great day to be alive, and be an Aggie, a beautiful day to be alive and be an Aggie.”

Stephen Woods ’04

“I graduated from Rice University with a Masters in Geophysics in 2007. I have since been employed with ExxonMobil.”

Sameer Chandra ’02

“Upon graduating from A&M, I joined an environmental consulting firm in San Antonio, Texas. I've been in the industry ever since, and currently a Senior Geologist with a global engineering/consulting firm (Tetra Tech, Inc.). I recently completed an Executive MBA from Mays Business School in 2015 as well. On the personal front, I got married in 2004, my wife, Nidhi is Regional Vice President at Oracle, and we have a beautiful daughter, Ria.“