Appendix C
Biographies of Workshop Planning Committee
Steven P. Hamburg (Workshop Planning Committee Co-Chair) is chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). In this role, he works to ensure that EDF’s advocacy is based on the best available science. He is currently coordinating 16 studies on methane emissions from along the natural gas supply chain. Prior to joining EDF he spent 25 years on the faculty at Brown University and the University of Kansas, published extensively on biogeochemistry, climate change impacts on forests, and carbon accounting, and served as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He currently co-chairs the Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative (joint project of The Royal Society, the World Academy of Sciences, and EDF) and serves on the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation; the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board; and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Environmental Science and Toxicology, as well as many university and government advisory bodies. EDF is a sponsor of the Roundtable.
Kris J. Nygaard (Workshop Planning Committee Co-Chair) is senior stimulation consultant, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co. In his senior technical professional role, Dr. Nygaard is the corporation’s recognized expert on hydraulic fracturing and related well construction technologies. Dr. Nygaard advises the research and development program at ExxonMobil’s Upstream Research Company and works with ExxonMobil’s business units on technology strategy, deployment, and applications. He began his career at Exxon Production Research in 1992 following a postdoctoral research and teaching assignment at the University of Arizona. During his 23 years with ExxonMobil, he has held technical and management positions in the areas of drilling, subsurface engineering, well completions, and unconventional resources. In 2010, he was assigned to lead the Upstream Fracturing Center of Excellence, coordinating ExxonMobil’s worldwide hydraulic fracturing resources and fracturing related technical interfaces. During the past 3 years he has also led ExxonMobil’s efforts to address risks of induced seismicity, serves as chair of the American Petroleum Institute’s induced seismicity workgroup, and is currently a technical advisor to several oil and gas regulators in the United States (via the StatesFirst initiative). In addition, he has served as consultant to the Environmental Protection Agency related to studies associated with hydraulic fracturing and under-
ground injection. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Seismological Society of America. He holds a BS in mechanical engineering, an MS in aerospace engineering, and a PhD in mechanical engineering, all from the University of Arizona. ExxonMobil is a sponsor of the Roundtable.
Brian J. Anderson is the director of the West Virginia University (WVU) Energy Institute and the GE Plastics Materials Engineering Professor in Chemical Engineering at WVU. The WVU Energy Institute is the central university organization coordinating and facilitating collaborative research projects at WVU in fossil energy, sustainable energy, energy policy, and environmental stewardship related to energy. Dr. Anderson was awarded the 2012 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers, and a 2014 Kavli National Academy of Science Frontiers of Science Fellow. He has been a National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)-Regional University Alliance Faculty Fellow at the NETL since 2008, where he is the coordinator of the International Methane Hydrate Reservoir Simulator Code Comparison study. In 2011, he was awarded a Secretary Honor Achievement Award from the Secretary of the Department of Energy for his role in the Flow Rate Technical Group, a team spanning multiple National Laboratories that worked in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. After joining the faculty at WVU in January 2006, he co-authored the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) report The Future of Geothermal Energy: Impact of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) on the United States in the 21st Century, considered the seminal report on EGS and the future of geothermal energy. He serves on the technical advisory board of AltaRock Energy and in 2011, along with colleagues from Stanford University, MIT, Cornell University, University of Utah, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Nevada, he co-founded the National Geothermal Academy. His research interests include molecular, reservoir, and multiscale modeling applied to energy and biomedical systems. Dr. Anderson received his BS in chemical engineering at WVU and his MS and PhD in chemical engineering from MIT. WVU is a sponsor of the Roundtable.
Melissa Batum is a senior program analyst and technical subject matter expert for the Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). As a senior analyst she manages complex program issues and initiatives, drives strategic planning, and influences policy decisions and procedure development. With her education in geology, she serves as the BOEM principal representative for policy and technical issues regarding subseabed CO2 use and sequestration on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). She is a liaison for and within the Department and Bureau and works collaboratively across other federal agencies, state and local governments, foreign governments, and international groups. She also works on policy and technical issues regarding hydraulic fracturing on the OCS. She received her BS in geology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and her MS in geology from Texas Tech University. She is also a Licensed Professional Geologist (PG) in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Department of the Interior is a sponsor of the Roundtable.
Susan L. Brantley (NAS) is the Distinguished Professor of Geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University, where she is also the director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. She has been on the faculty at Penn State since 1986. Dr. Brantley’s career as a geochemist focuses on the chemistry of natural waters both at the surface of Earth and deeper in the crust. Dr. Brantley and her research group investigate chemical, biological, and physical processes associated with the circulation of aqueous fluids in shallow hydrogeologic settings. She has published more than 160 refereed journal articles and 15 book chapters. Dr. Brantley is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Geological
Society of America (GSA), the Geochemical Society, the European Association of Geochemistry, and the International Association for GeoChemistry. She was president of the Geochemical Society from 2006 to 2008. Dr. Brantley was awarded the Arthur L. Day Medal from GSA in 2011, the Presidential Award from the Soil Science Society of America in 2012, and an honorary doctorate from the Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse III, France) in 2012. Dr. Brantley was appointed to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board on September 21, 2012, by President Barack Obama. Also in 2012, she was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Brantley received her AB in chemistry (1980) and her MA and PhD in geological and geophysical sciences in 1983 and 1987, respectively, all from Princeton University.
Akhil Datta-Gupta (NAE) is Regents Professor and holder of the L.F. Peterson ‘36 Endowed Chair in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station. Dr. Datta-Gupta is known for his contributions to high-resolution flow simulation and inverse modeling related to petroleum reservoir characterization, management, and calibration of geologic models. Dr. Datta-Gupta received two of the top three technical awards (Carll Award, 2009; Uren Award, 2003) given by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the 2015 SPE distinguished achievement award for petroleum engineering faculty. Dr. Datta-Gupta co-authored the SPE textbook Streamline Simulation: Theory and Practice. His second book, Subsurface Fluid Flow and Imaging, is scheduled for publication by the Cambridge University Press in early 2016. In addition to his SPE awards, he is recipient of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers’ Rossiter W. Raymond award (1992) and the Department of Energy (DOE) Award for Outstanding Contributions to Basic Research in Geosciences (2008), and he served as member of the Polar Research Board of the National Research Council (2001-2004) and the Technology Task Force of the National Petroleum Council (2007). His research program is funded by the National Science Foundation, DOE, and oil companies worldwide. Dr. Datta-Gupta was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas in 2012. Texas A&M University is a sponsor of the Roundtable.
Joe Lima is the global environmental solutions manager and director of environmental sustainability for Schlumberger Services, Inc. Before this role, Mr. Lima served as the unconventional resources theme manager for North America, where he was responsible for directing technology development and application throughout the region specifically for shale and tight gas environments. From 2004 through 2008 he was the Oilfield Services Marketing Manager for the western United States, developing strategic growth plans for Schlumberger as well as managing the sales organization and executive-level client relationships. Previously, he was the business development manager for Schlumberger’s multistage hydraulic fracturing technologies. Mr. Lima also served in various management roles for Well Services facilities throughout the U.S. hydraulic fracturing markets, including the San Juan, Anadarko, and Arkoma Basins. He spent 4 years as an in-house completions engineer for various Schlumberger clients and has served on the boards of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, the Interstate Petroleum Association of Mountain States, and the California Independent Petroleum Association. He holds a BS in petroleum engineering from Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio. Schlumberger is a sponsor of the Roundtable.
Daniel Lind is an engineer for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and is currently on detail as the BSEE liaison to the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. Before joining BSEE, Mr. Lind was a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Graduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fellow in Washington, DC, where he worked at the American Petroleum Institute and in the U.S. Senate. Mr. Lind has also worked for the Department of Homeland Security, ExxonMobil, GE, and Toyota across a variety of different
positions from manufacturing trains to conducting Hispanic outreach in the state of Montana. He is a mechanical and automotive engineer, earning his BS degree from the University of Miami in Florida and his MS degree from Clemson University in South Carolina. The Horatio Alger Association awarded Mr. Lind a scholarship to be able to attend college, and he has remained involved with the Association ever since. He has also been a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers for almost a decade. The Department of the Interior is a sponsor of the Roundtable.
Jan Mares is a senior policy advisor at Resources for the Future. He was previously a business liaison and deputy director at the Private Sector Office of the Department of Homeland Security. During the Reagan administration, Mr. Mares was an assistant secretary of commerce for import administration and a senior policy analyst at the White House, where he was involved with environment, energy, trade, and technology issues. He also served as assistant secretary of energy for international affairs and energy emergencies; assistant secretary of energy for policy, safety, and environment; and assistant secretary of energy for fossil energy. For 6 months, he was the acting under secretary of energy. Before entering federal service, Mr. Mares was with Union Carbide Corporation for 18 years, half in the Law Department, working on antitrust compliance and purchasing issues, and half in its chemical business, including leading an effort for 3 years to create a chemicals joint venture with a Middle East government company and being the operations/profit manager for several groups of industrial chemicals. Subsequent to his service in the Reagan administration, he worked with the Washington, DC, law firm Shaw Pittman, the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association, and the EOP Group (a Washington, DC, environment, energy, and budget consulting firm). He received his BA in chemistry from Harvard College, his MS in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his LLB from Harvard Law School.
Elena S. Melchert is a petroleum engineer with more than 30 years of experience in the oil and gas sector including exploration and production, field operations, research and development, and domestic and international policy development (Latin America). She is currently the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Director for the Upstream Oil and Gas Research Division, which includes shale development and offshore spill prevention. She was a program manager at DOE headquarters from 1990 to 2013, and led the development of several DOE technology research plans and research programs, including the Advanced Drilling, Completion and Stimulation Research Program Plan and the Offshore Technology Roadmap. Starting in 1985, she was a production engineer at DOE’s commercial oilfield, producing oil and natural gas for 4 years, after spending 5 years in field operations for Getty Oil/Texaco, all in California. From 1995 through 2000, she served as DOE’s U.S. coordinator for natural gas in the Western Hemisphere under the President’s Summit of the Americas/Western Hemispheric Energy Initiative. In 2001, she served as a member of the Senior Professional Staff for oil and gas technology at the Executive Office of the President of the United States/National Energy Policy Development Group, and provided subject-matter expertise for the President’s National Energy Policy. In 2010, she served as the committee manager for the President’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, where she also served as the Designated Federal Officer for several of the Commission’s subcommittees, and at times for meetings of the full Commission. In 2011, she supported the Shale Gas Subcommittee, Secretary of Energy Advisory Board. In 2012, she served as a subject-matter expert on the Spill Prevention Subcommittee of the Department of the Interior’s Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee. In 2014, she led the development of the “fuels” section of the Department’s Quadrennial Technology Review. A lifelong learner, her education includes a BS in soil science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, an MSC in petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and an Executive Certificate in International Business at Georgetown University, Washington, DC; she is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Bridget R. Scanlon (NAE) is a senior research scientist in the Bureau of Economic Geology and also teaches courses in the geology and civil engineering departments at The University of Texas at Austin. Her expertise lies in evaluating the impact of climate and land use change on groundwater resources, application of numerical models for simulating saturated flow and transport, and assessment of natural and anthropogenic contamination of aquifers. She served on various National Research Council committees. These include Spatial Data Enabling U.S. Geological Survey Strategic Science in the 21st Century and Integrated Observations for Hydrologic and Related Sciences, and Subsurface Contamination at Department of Energy Complex Sites. She has served as a consultant to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board and associate editor for Hydrogeology Journal. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2016. Dr. Scanlon received her PhD in geology at the University of Kentucky.
Craig Simmons (FTSE) is the Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Hydrogeology and Schultz Chair in the Environment at Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia. He is a leading groundwater scientist, recognized for major national and international contributions to groundwater science, education, and policy reform. As director of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, he is one of Australia’s foremost groundwater academics and has been a significant contributor to global advances in the science of hydrogeology for many years. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and is a member of the Statutory Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development. Professor Simmons’s work has been recognized by numerous national and international research and teaching awards, including the Anton Hales Medal for outstanding contributions to research in the Earth Sciences by the Australian Academy of Science. He was named the 2015 South Australian Scientist of the Year. Professor Simmons has served as an editor and associate editor for numerous major international journals, including Water Resources Research, Journal of Hydrology, Hydrogeology Journal, Groundwater, Environmental Modeling and Assessment, and Vadose Zone Journal. He received his BE in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Adelaide, his BSc double major in theoretical and experimental physics from the University of Adelaide, and his PhD in hydrogeology from Flinders University/Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Flinders University is a sponsor of the Roundtable.
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