Citation by Leslie (Jingle) Ruppert
Dr. Peter D. Warwick, USGS, is a Supervisory Research Geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, Eastern Energy Science Center Team. Peter was born in North Carolina and earned both his B.S. and M.S. degrees at North Carolina State University in 1977 and 1982, respectively, majoring in Political Science and Geology. Immediately after graduation, he was accepted into a PhD program in the Geology Department at the University of Kentucky (UK). He worked under John Ferm and graduated in 1985 with a degree in Sedimentology and Coal Geology.
In 1982 as Peter started on his PhD, he began working at USGS as a student intern under Romeo Flores and Ed Belt. He spent entire summers in the field measuring alluvia ldeltaic facies associated with coal deposits in the Williston and Powder River Basins. He reminisces about that time, alone in the field from late spring until September, staying in 1 star hotels if he was lucky and the only requirements were getting the work done and calling in every two weeks or so, not to say that he was safe and alive, but to report on his progress.
After obtaining his PhD, Peter continued working at USGS as a National Research Council Post-Doc. With his expertise in coal depositional environments, stratigraphy, and tectonics he was asked to serve as a project geologist and regional coordinator for the USGS Pakistan Coal Resource Exploration and Assessment project where he planned and coordinated field and project activities for USGS and Pakistani geologists. In 1987, Peter accepted a full-time USGS position and continued working on the Pakistan project until it ended in 1992. From 1993 to 1996, he served as the project chief of the Armenian coal assessment responsible for defining the stratigraphic and depositional settings in selected coal basins. His other foreign project (1996 – 2002) took him to the Sohagpur coalfields of India, where, as project chief, he investigated the geologic influence on coking coals.
During the time Peter worked internationally, he also conducted field sedimentologic and stratigraphic investigations of the Fort Union coal fields of North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming and was named the project chief of the Gulf Coast Coal Assessment project (1995 – 2001). Assessment results were published as an AAPG Studies in Geology report.
Was Peter multitasking enough already? Evidently not, because he also worked on the USGS Coal Resource Assessment, World Coal Quality Inventory, and World Energy projects through 2005. Between 2005 and 2010, Peter had overlapping responsibilities as a project geologist or a project chief of the Alaska Rural Energy Project, Origins of Biogenic Gas task, and the Gulf Coast Framework Studies and Assessment Project.
Finally, in 2010 Peter could focus on one project, geologic carbon sequestration. He had multiple responsibilities including leading more than 20 geoscientists in the identification of storage assessment units (not a straightforward process), conducting geologic assessment panels, and probabilistically assessing CO2 storage in U.S. saline formations and oil and gas reservoirs. Peter and his team completed the assessments within Congressional mandated deadlines and obtained additional funding to assess hydrocarbon resources that could be recovered from CO2 injection and storage and to examine natural CO2 and hydrocarbon reservoirs, seals, and induced seismicity associated with storage.
Peter has authored or co-authored over 220 publications and 175 abstracts. His publications record attests to his ability to work collaboratively with scientists from a wide variety of disciplines and to his broad scientific expertise and curiosity. He has been a member of the Coal/Energy Geology Division since 1981 (Chair 2001-2002), and currently has membership and has served on multiple committees in SEPM, GSW, TSOP (Secretary/Treasurer/Vice President/President 1998-2003), AAPG (EMD Vice President/President Elect/President 2003-2006), ASTM (Chair Working Group EK8750 2005-2010), and the Geochemical Society. He serves on review panels, including NSF, the editorial boards of International Journal of Coal Geology and AAPG Bulletin, and he’s been an editor of a multitude of USGS, GSA, AAPG, and ASTM publications. He is an in-demand speaker and graduate student advisor. Throughout his career he has served as an advisor to other government agencies and industry within the U.S. and abroad, led multiple field trips, and established cooperative research programs with universities, State surveys, and industry groups. In addition, Peter has received multiple awards from DOI, USGS, University of Kentucky, AAPG and the Energy Minerals Division (EMD), and the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. He is a GSA Fellow, an AAPG Charles Taylor Fellow, and an Honorary Member of AAPG EMD.
Peter D. Warwick is more than qualified to be the 2018 GSA Energy Geology Gilbert H. Cady Awardee. He is also one of the most knowledgeable and well-rounded coal geoscientists that I know and it is my pleasure to nominate him.
Response by Peter D. Warwick
Response forthcoming