Axe ’Em, Jacks!
Professional Geologist Licensure
When you’re looking for a job or trying to build a business, you want potential employers and clients to have confidence that you meet required standards of training, experience and professional conduct. Geological work can often have a large impact on human health, safety and property, so establish your professional credentials by becoming a Licensed Professional Geologist.
The Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists establishes and enforces the minimum standards in the geoscience disciplines that must be maintained. By Texas state law, any individual taking “responsible charge” of geoscientific work before the public, including state and local governmental entities, must be licensed. A P.G. license is required to supervise the work of other geoscientists in Texas, so if you plan to climb the corporate ladder in geology, earning a BS in geology is your first step!
Geologists can work anywhere
One of the best things about studying the Earth is that there’s nowhere that you can’t work:
- Predict volcano hazards in Indonesia
- Map the seafloor from the middle of the Pacific Ocean
- Clean up a toxic spill in California
- Log drill cores on a rig in the North Sea
- Search for fossils in the deserts of Africa
- Interpret seismic data in a Houston high-rise
- Determine the stability of new subway tunnels under downtown London
- Improve soil conservation for farmers in India
- Consult on levee design along the Mississippi River
- Find rare earth metals in the Andes to power electronics
Someday soon, your skills could even be needed to lay the foundations for a colony on the Moon or Mars! Anywhere there is rock or soil to be found, there is a puzzle waiting for a geologist to solve.
SFA geologists on the rise
Graduates of the SFA Department of Earth Sciences and Geologic Resources have a rocky road ahead of them—and that’s exactly what they want! Whether they’re overseeing multiple drill rigs, modeling one of the biggest shale fields in North America or running a lab for a world mining leader, they are deeply immersed in their careers.
John Lebus, Class of '09, '11
MS in geology
John Lebus launched his career while still in graduate school at SFA during a trip to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Convention Convention, where ConocoPhillips snatched him up. He began in reservoir characterization before receiving training as an operations geologist, quickly moving up to development geologist in the Bakken Shale, first at Conoco and then at Hess in 2014, where he became team lead overseeing 17 drill rigs. As operations team lead, John refined geologic models to improve wellbore placement, spacing, and targeting accuracy. As a senior geologist at Hess, he is currently working to understand natural and artificial fracturing in the Bakken Shale to improve predictive analytics when determining the best way to drill.
Kevin Ausburn, Class of '03, '06
MS in geology
Kevin Ausburn has used his geology training at SFA to forge an interesting career in the mining industry, starting out at Phelps Dodge Mining Company as a process mineralogist. After Phelps Dodge was acquired by Freeport McMoRan Mining Company, he managed their automated production mineralogy laboratory, which is the largest lab of its type in the mining industry, processing more than 1,000 samples per day. In 2011, he joined FLSmidth, a worldwide leader of equipment and services to the mining industry, as their chief mineralogist. There he oversaw the construction and commissioning of their Ore Characterization & Process Mineralogy and their Automated Robotic Mineralogy laboratories in Salt Lake City, Utah. His work focuses mainly on the implementation of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Near Infrared (NIR), optical microscopy and robotics analyses for the mining industry.
Richard Ball, Class of ’05
BS in geology
Richard Ball earned his Bachelor of Science in geology at SFA. After he graduated from SFA, he earned a Master of Science in geology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Richard’s career includes work in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs during his 10-year career with Chevron, including onshore U.S., Gulf of Mexico Shelf/Deep Water and West Africa Shelf. At Detring, Richard focuses on upstream acquisitions and divestitures, in addition to market-leading basin research. Richard recently served as general vice chair for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ 100th anniversary annual convention, a four-day conference attended by more than 7,500 geologists. He served on the AAPG executive committee from 2013 to 2015.
Christina Vasquez, Class of '99, '05
MS in geology
Christina Vasquez earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from SFA. During her time as a Lumberjack, Christina participated in the Mickey Leland Environmental Internship Program at TXU’s Martin Lake Power Plant. As an intern, she worked in the environmental department, learning from experts in the field the ins and outs of efficiently running a power plant while maintaining governmental regulatory compliance. After graduation, Christina accepted a job with TXU Luminant in mine planning and later took a job at Halliburton Landmark, where she worked in quality assurance for the earth modeling application. She is currently working as a solution marketer manager at Landmark, supporting the Reservoir Management R&D group, where she works on go-to-market and commercialization strategy, solutions marketing, partner marketing, and PSL and portfolio-wide value propositions.