Scott W. Tinker, Director
Bureau of Economic Geology
The University of Texas at Austin
State Geologist of Texas

Recently named President-Elect of AAPG (and currently president of AASG), Dr. Tinker’s interests span oil, natural gas, coal, and environmental research; energy and environmental policy; and technologies for the evolving energy economy. He has been closely involved in research management and efficient organization and operation of professional societies for some time. Dr. Tinker’s technical background is in carbonate depositional systems, sequence stratigraphy, and 3-D reservoir modeling.

Professional Work Experience

  1. Present Positions:
  2. Director, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin (January 2000–present); Responsible for strategic direction setting; financial health of soft money organization with funding sourced from Federal, State, and private competitive grants and contracts; management of complex program array representing up to 100 simultaneous active contracts and 150 professional and support staff; identifying and attracting highest level research talent; identifying and leading high-level University-wide collaboration and funding opportunities.
  3. State Geologist of Texas (January 2000–present); assessment, inventory, and evaluation of Texas energy, mineral, land, and water resources; research and technical advisor to Governor’s Office, Texas Legislature, and State regulatory agencies; identifying and leading high-level State-wide collaboration and funding opportunities.
  4. Major programs developed or enhanced and teams built as Director and State Geologist.
  5. PEMEX: 2000–2005. Developed high-level relationships leading to several million dollars of funding and several major basin studies.
  6. STARR: 2005. Led successful effort to increase state support from $500 thousand/yr to $1.5 million/yr.
  7. Carbon Management: helped initiate and develop a multi-project multimillion/year program that includes the GulfCoastCarbonCenter, SE and SW Carb partnerships, Frio brine experiments, CO2 EOR programs and FutureGen.
  8. HoustonResearchCenter: Negotiated gift of $11-million (facility and cash) gift from BP. Developed business model and built private donation endowment and federal operational grants model resulting in a permanent $11-million endowment.
  9. FutureGen: 2005. Led team for Texas that attracted $5 million in State Funding to the Bureau, resulted in two short-listed Texas sites, and caused FutureGen specific legislation to be passed.
  10. Unconventional Oil and Gas Research: Wrote proposal for original $1.5-million seed grant, guided research planning and led effort to attract major external support.
  11. Advanced Energy Consortium: 2004. Developed high-level industry contacts and guided process resulting in initial $24-million, eight-company consortium for developing advanced micro- and nano-scale subsurface sensors.
  12. Edwin Allday Endowed Chair of Subsurface Geology, Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin (September 2002–present); In-depth involvement in executive, steering, budget council, faculty, graduate research, and faculty search committees; advising and graduate committee membership; graduate teaching.
  13. Director, Petroleum Technology Transfer Council Texas Region (January 2000–present); Coordinate activities with Sigrid Clift, Associate Director; strategic direction coordination at PTTC National Level.
  14. Advanced Senior Geologist, Marathon Oil—PetroleumTechnologyCenter, Littleton, Colorado (1998–2000).

C.Senior Geologist, Marathon Oil—PetroleumTechnologyCenter, Littleton, Colorado (1995–1998).

D.Advanced Geologist, Marathon Oil—PetroleumTechnologyCenter, Littleton, Colorado (1991–1995).

E.Geologist II, Marathon Oil—PetroleumTechnologyCenter, Littleton, Colorado (1988–1991).

F.Geologist, Union Pacific Resources, Englewood, Colorado (1985–1988).

G.Geologist, Robert M. Sneider Exploration, Houston, Texas (1982–1983; summer 1984).

Recent Publications

Tinker, S. W., 2006, Making enhanced recovery feasible in natural gas fields: The American Oil & Gas Reporter, v. 49, no. 5, p. 58–64.

Tinker, S. W., 2006, The “I” in busIness ethIcs: American Institute of Professional Geologists, The Professional Geologist, v. 43, no. 2, p. 36–42.

Tinker, S. W., and Tobin, Katie, 2006, FutureGen: the world’s first near-zero emissions energy facility: Texas Region Petroleum Technology Transfer Council, ProducerNews, first quarter 2006, p. 2–3.

Tinker, Scott, 2005, Decline of oil not doomsday: News & Record, Greensboro, North Carolina, October 2, p.H1, H4.

Tinker, S. W., 2005, It’s not about ‘peak’ oil: Abilene Reporter-News, September 25, p. 5.

Tinker, S. W., 2005, The “I” in business ethics: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Midyear Report 2005, p. 7–16.

Tinker, S. W., 2005, Of peaks and valleys; Doomsday energy scenarios burn away under scrutiny: Dallas Morning News, June 26.

Tinker, S. W., 2005, Fossil fuels’ demise oversold; Boring fact is oil not soon tapped out: Houston Chronicle, June 25.

Recent Addresses

Forming a clean coal industry: presented invited talk to China University of Petroleum, Dongying, China, April 13, 2007.

The role of unconventional oil and natural gas in the global energy future: presented invited talk to China University of Petroleum, Dongying, China, April 12, 2007.

Unconventional gas research and technology needs: presented invited talk (with Eric Potter) at SPE 2007 Research and Development Conference, Lexington, Kentucky, April 19, 2007.

Global energy: the waltz of the three E’s: presented at seminar, AAPG Student Chapter, ImperialCollege, London, England, March 20, 2007.

FutureGen Texas: presented invited talk at U.S. Senate briefing, Washington, D.C., March 8, 2007.

Global energy: myths and misconceptions: invited talk presented to the Helena community, Helena, Montana, January 30, 2007.

Texas FutureGen: of sticks, carrots, and cabbage: Invited talk presented at 4th Annual EOR Carbon Management Workshop, The Woodlands, Texas, December 5, 2006.