9 tional Systems, Carbonate Petrology and Diagenesis, and Advanced Carbonate Systems/Reservoir Characterization) to supplement the other valuable courses our graduate students can take here in the BPSG. At the undergraduate level, this semester I am teaching Historical Geology with 60 students. This is also a good-sized class and an indication of the healthy number of undergraduate majors we continue to attract to OSU. In addition to teaching here at OSU, I also taught an industry class in Integrated Carbonate Reservoir Characterization for PDO in Oman this past November. This was my first trip to Oman and was very enjoyable both personally and professionally. I am scheduled to teach the same course in Saudi Arabia at the end of this semester and possibly again this summer in Kuwait to KOC. From the research end of things we were able to successfully get the Mississippian Reservoirs Consortium up and running and had our project kick-off meeting in November. We have a total of 11 companies who have joined the consortium to date (Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy, Marathon Oil Company, Newfield Exploration, SandRidge Energy, Longfellow Energy, Red Fork Energy, Tip Top Energy (Sinopec), Chaparral Energy, Unit Corporation, and SM Energy), and as of right now, it appears that we will have at least 11 graduate students working on the project. I am still working on getting my lab set up and going. In addition to a reference library for students, the lab will include petrographic microscopes with image analysis capability, a probe minipermeameter, and the capability to measure sonic velocity values on core plugs at confining pressures to tie to pore system architecture and permeability. All of these will be used to continue our work in carbonate reservoir characterization. Along with my work here at OSU, I have also been back to Michigan several times this Fall, getting the last of my students successfully graduated, as well working on the final technical report for a 3-year RPSEA project focused on the stratigraphic control of hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs away from major fault zones. The last of my Michigan students were working on carbonate reservoirs either associated with the above RPSEA project or in the EagleFord down in south-central Texas or the Bone Springs in the Permian Basin. I have 4 new graduate students here at OSU that I am very excited about (Stephanie LeBlanc from Baylor, Buddy Price from Western Kentucky, Amanda MackeyChildress from OSU who are all MS students, and Beth VandenBerg from Cornell and Western Michigan University who has transferred in to work on her PhD). All of these students will be working on some aspect of the Mississippian project. I will likely pick up one or two more this Fall as we are getting quite a large number of outstanding applications. As far as field work: I have a trip planned to the Bahamas in June and will likely be heading back to the Paradox Basin (and possibly the Guadalupe Mountains) in the near future. As an aside, in case any of you might have an interest, I also plan to put together a week-long, onboard ship field seminar to the Bahamas just for OSU alumni in the near future. So drop me a line if you are interested. In the meantime, I have enjoyed meeting a number of you at various BPSG functions already, and look forward to getting to know many more of you in the near future. Jay Gregg: In 2010 when Dean Sherwood asked me to take another term as Head of the Boone Pickens School of Geology I asked that two conditions be placed on it. First, that it be reduced to a three year term, not five years, and second that I be granted a sabbatical during one of those years. So after completing my seventh year as Head of the School I began a sabbatical working on Shell Global Solutions, Carbonate Research team here in Rijswijk, The Netherlands. This has been quite an experience both in terms of reorienting my mind back toward carbonate research (something I did too little of during the past few years) and an adventure in a country where I do not speak the language. (I do speak a bit of German, but it does you no good in Holland!) So between the wooden shoes and windmills it has been a great international experience. I have a very nice apartment in the city center of The Hague, a short train ride from work. The Hague is the most international city in the world. More than 50% of the population is foreign to The Netherlands. Every language can be heard spoken, from Spanish to Mandarin and every type of restaurant can be found from Argentine to Indonesian. Public transportation will take you everywhere. The beach is about 20 minutes away by tram. Amsterdam about 45 minutes away by train, and in between is Schiphol Airport. There is a large wooded park a few minutes away for long quiet walks. The Dutch Parliament is five minutes walk away as are the International Courts of Justice. Oh, and Queen Beatrix’s residence is a 10 minute walk from my apartment, but she has yet to invite me over for tea. In late August Mickey came over for a week and we spent our time seeing the city and traveling around Holland including to Amsterdam and a visit to Anne Frank’s house. In September my daughter, Tricia and I met in Schiphol Airport and flew to Rome for a long weekend before she left for a conference north of the “Eternal City” and I back to The Netherlands. She stopped for a few days on her return journey and gave a presentation for the Shell Basin Tectonics team here in Rijswijk (upstairs). Mickey returned in mid December and we traveled to Köln in the North Rhineland for the German Christmas Markets. What fun! Then by train to “The City of Lights” (Paris) for Christmas with our Niece and her family. And back to Den Haag by train for New Years. So how do I get the time off for all of this? Well, this is Europe and they do believe in lots of vacation time. Eight weeks of it in fact! Mickey and I are planning a cruise up the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basil, Switzerland in late May and June. That is something that Herb Davis recommended that we do. So, on to the work side of things. Last Spring I worked hard to get as many of my graduate students out the door as possible
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAxMjk=