Tectonics, basin analysis, petroleum geology
Principal investigator of Caribbean Basins, Tectonics and Hydrocarbons (CBTH) industry consortium at UH: http://cbth.uh.edu
CBTH K-12 outreach page: http://cbth.uh.edu/outreach

Summary of student research awards at the University of Houston Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from 2012-2014. ( Youtube video)

Teaching

Currently I teach the following courses:

• Graduate level course intended for first year grad students: Basin analysis for petroleum exploration (GEOL 6397) - Fall semester, lectures Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1-2:30 pm (course is held in evenings 5:30-7 pm in alternate years). Lecture-based part of course uses text Allen and Allen, Basin Analysis, including work station exercises using 3D seismic and well data sets from rift, passive margin, foreland, strike-slip, and inverted fault block settings. Prerequisite: consent of the instructor.
• Graduate level course intended as a follow on to Basin analysis for petroleum exploration: Petroleum prospecting workshop (GEOL 6384) Co-taught with Dr. John Castagna, spring semester, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-5:30 pm. This course builds on GEOL 6397 and is for grads and advanced undergrads. The course is a time-intensive, team- and lab-based activity that uses workstation to analyze 2D or 3D subsurface data set for oral presentation at annual AAPG Imperial Barrel Award competition. Prerequisite: consent of the instructors.
• Course intended for beginning and advanced graduate students and advanced undergraduates: Petroleum geology of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and Circum-Atlantic margins (GEOL 6383) - Fall semester, Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:30-7 pm. This course will provide an integrated tectonic, stratigraphic, paleogeographic, and structural framework for the entire region and require students to read and present to class on latest publications and research from the area. Geology and geophysics students with undergraduate honors, MS and PhD research topics in the region are welcome to participate. No prerequisites.
• Structure/tectonics seminar intended for graduates at all levels and advanced undergraduates with honors thesis projects (GEOL 6396) - Fall and spring semesters, Fridays, 10-12 am. This informal seminar team-taught by several UH faculty consists of graduate and undergraduate student oral presentations on starting and mentoring undergraduate honors theses and graduate MS and PhD projects on structure, tectonic, and petroleum topics. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.