Charles Ammon
• G. Montgomery and Marion Mitchell Award for Innovative Teaching

Sridhar Anadakrishnan
• Wilson Award for Excellence in Research

Timothy Bralower
• George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching

Roman DiBiase
• Rudy L. Slingerland Early Career Professor of Geosciences

Katherine Freeman
• Nemmers Prize in Earth Sciences from Northwestern University

Michael Mann
• Stephen Schneider Lecture, American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting
• World Sustainability Award, MDPI Sustainability Foundation
• Ten Most Influential Earth Scientists, Academic Influence
• Elected to National Academy of Sciences
• Louis J. Battan Author’s Award, American Meteorological Society (AMS), for “The Tantrum that Saved the World”
• Top 100 Twitter Accounts, The Climate Group

Byron Parizek
• Delta Mu Sigma Honor Society’s Susanne Waitkus Faculty Award for Academic Excellence

Christelle Wauthier
• Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation

Tieyuan Zhu
• E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Faculty Fellow 2020

Rick Abegg ’83
Abegg has been selected to a position on the Exploration Review Team (ERT), Chevron’s corporate exploration assurance team. The ERT assures standardized and consistent risk and volume assessments for the Chevron’s worldwide exploration portfolio and reviews results of exploration wells. Abegg has relocated to The Woodlands, Texas, where he is currently working remotely from home.

John Ackerman ’75
Ackerman received U.S. Patent 10,532,935 Water Harvester and Purification System and Method of Making and Using Same in January 2020. He was elected Fellow of theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers, Class of 2020. He was also elected Fellow, formerly known as the Distinguished Member Award,of theSociety for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, Class of 2021.

John Crook ’81
Crook retired in April 2020. He was the former senior vice president of Environmental Health and Safety at Diversified Gas and Oil.

Rebekah Hoffner ’14
Hoffner went on to graduate school at Philadelphia University, now called Thomas Jefferson University, to obtain a master’s degree in disaster medicine and management. Currently, she is the emergency management coordinator at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is responsible for all disaster preparedness planning, training, mitigation, and response. She wanted to work at a children’s hospital because of THON and feels a strong connection to the hospital because of her experiences at Penn State.

Daniel Hummer ’10
The past year has been extremely eventful for the Hummer family, but everyone is well. An exciting project assisting the American Museum of Natural History in New York to develop a new mineral exhibit occupied a portion of Hummer’s 2019, as did some new research on the statistics of mineral compositions and symmetry types. Hummer continues to teach as a geology professor at Southern Illinois University, but with only online classes this fall. Last July, the Hummersmoved into a new house that better accommodates their growing family, and includes wonderful space for his father-in-law and his mineral and element collections.

Ken LaSota ’77
In 1998, LaSota was elected mayor of the Borough of Heidelberg. He has since been reelected five times and is serving his twenty-second year as mayor. Heidelberg is located in Southwestern Pennsylvania, six miles southwest of Pittsburgh, has a population of 1,237, and was founded in 1903. LaSota was named Pennsylvania Mayor of the Year for 2020 by the Pennsylvania State Mayors Association.

Kent Newsham ’78
Newsham was promoted to senior director of subsurface characterization and application and chief of petrophysicist last fall as part of Occidental Petroleum’s (Oxy) acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum. He directs Oxy’s rocks and fluids and petroleum systems teams and provides technical and career guidance to sixty global Oxy petrophysicists.
Newsham and Ronald Chemali, were awarded a provisional patent for the development of the Pulsed Neutron Scanner, PNS. Oxy is partnering with Core Labs for the development and commercialization of the PNS. The system will allow continuous measurement of whole core or core samples using a high-energy neutron accelerator and high-precision CeBr3 neutron detectors. The elastic portion of the measurement will provide elemental yields while the inelastic portion will provide porosity and water saturation information. Continuous measurement of whole core will occur while the core cylinders are still in the sleeves, providing rapid measurement and results. Measurements will include spectral gamma ray, continuous mineral composition, total porosity and total water saturation. The reduced cycle time, hours to days, will allow for results to impact operations decisions, which is not the current norm for most core tests. The minimal exposure time to evaporative processes will yield greater precision and accuracy of fluid saturations, currently one of the greatest challenges in tight oil and organic mudstone reservoirs.

Phil Throwbridge ’13
Throwbridge is currently working for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Louisiana National Guard. This past spring the team he is working with won an award from the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association.

Alumni Passings

Mr. Gregory Baron ’58
Dr. Jen-Ho Fang ’61
Dr. J. Chris Kraft ’51
Mr. Everett K. Kaukonen ’51
Dr. John W. Mgonigle ’65
Dr. Howard P. Ross ’63
Dr. Dale R. Simpson ’56
Mr. Ronald F. Spamer ’71

Note: This list is the compilation of contributiins received between July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.

• Dr. and Mrs. Frederick E. Abegg
• Ms. Mary Jo Alfano
• Dr. and Mrs. Richard B. Alley
• Dr. Susan J. Altman
• Mr. Lance C. Anderson
• Mr. Charles E. Angerman
• Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Baczynski
• Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Berg
• Mr. and Mrs. Claude E. Bolze
• Mr. and Mrs. William A. Bragonier
• Dr. Timothy Bralower and Ms. Mary Lee Kerr
• Dr. Gregory P. Byrd and Mrs. Mary G. Byrd
• Ms. Karen Rasmussen Campbell
• Mr. and Mrs. Joseph J. Christy
• Mr. and Ms. Julius Craynock
• Mr. and Mrs. Bruce G. Crocker
• Mr. and Mrs. Randall T. Cygan
• Dr. John M. Darcy, II
• Dr. Christopher Davidson and
• Mrs. Sharon Christoph
• Dr. and Mrs. Timothy M. Demko
• Dr. Alan and Mrs. Ruth Donaldson
• Mr. and Mrs. John N. Dougherty
• Mr. James A. Doutt
• Mr. and Mrs. Mark Elson
• Dr. and Mrs. Richard Engelder
• James A. Ewart Jr. Ph.D.
• Dr. Martin B. Farley
• Mr. and Mrs. Raymond M. Follador
• Dr. Kevin P. Furlong
• Miss Vanessa L. Gallagher and Mr. Kevin N. Gallagher
• Mr. Robert M. Glazier Jr. and Ms. Azita Farjam
• Mr. and Mrs. William R. Gough
• Mr. Lloyd S. Grearson, Jr.
• Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Grenot Jr.
• Dr. Albert L. Guber
• Dr. Weixing Guo and Ms. Yuejih Xue
• Dr. John and Mrs. Susan Guswa
• Dr. and Mrs. John W. Hess
• Drs. Christopher H. and Chloe J. House
• Dr. and Mrs. David W. Houseknecht
• Mr. and Mrs. Stephen S. Howe
• Mr. Gary A. Hummel and Mrs. Katherine Hummel
• Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Jarmell
• Dr. David M. Jenkins
• Dr. and Mrs. David W. Johnson, Jr.
• Mrs. Janet C. Kappmeyer and Mr. Andrew M. Isaacs
• Dr. and Mrs. James F. Kasting
• Dr. and Mrs. John J. Kelley
• Dr. Leonard F. Konikow and
• Mrs. Phyllis Konikow
• Mr. and Mrs. Garry M. Kramchak
• Dr. Earle S. Lenker
• Ms. Amy K. Leon Guerrero and
• Mr. Timothy A. Leon Guerrero
• Mr. and Mrs. Michael G. Loudin
• Mr. Dennis J. Maiorino
• Mr. and Mrs. Jon J. Major
• Drs. Chris and Eliza Marone
• Mr. and Ms. Thompson O. Mc Connell
• Mr. James L. McNett
• Mr. Sean Mooney
• Mr. and Mrs. Timothy B. Mullen
• Dr. Ralph H. Nafziger
• Mr. Tye J. Numelin
• Dr. and Mrs. Hiroshi Ohmoto
• Dr. and Mrs. Allison R. Palmer
• Dr. Robert J. Pottorf and Ms. Christine A. Schmizt
• Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence D. Ramspott
• Mr. and Mrs. Thomas K. Reeves, Jr.
• Mrs. Linda Turnley Reif
• Dr. Anthony L. Riccardi
• Mr. and Ms. Frederick Richards
• Drs. John H. Rowland and Virginia B. Vincenti
• Dr. Robert and Mrs. Marlene Ryder
• Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Schoonen
• Dr. and Mrs. Stephen O. Sears
• Mr. and Mrs. Irvin C. Shambaugh, Jr.
• Dr. and Mrs. Barry S. Siegal
• Dr. and Mrs. Rudy L. Slingerland
• Dr. and Mrs. Arthur T. Smith
• Dr. Robert C. Smith, II and Mrs. Gloria J. Smith
• Dr. and Mrs. Allen R. Spelman
• Mrs. Beth Bishop Stump
• Mr. and Mrs. Carl H. Taylor
• Mr. Stephen J. Urbanik
• Dr. and Mrs. John W. Washington
• Mr. Timothy Watson and
• Ms. Courtney Wade
• Dr. Matthew L. Werner, III
• Dr. and Mrs. William E. Wertz
• Dr. Timothy S. White
• Mr. and Ms. Jack Wilcox
• Dr. Richard T. Wilkin and
• Ms. Carolyn R. Stacy-Wilkin
• Dr. and Mrs. Shu C. Yu

• Alley Family Graduate Scholarship in the Department of Geosciences
• Arthur P. Honess Memorial Award
• Baker Hughes Natural Gas Research Fund
• Barry Voight Volcano Hazards Endowment in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Barton P. Cahir Award Endowment in Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Benjamin F. Howell, Jr. Award in Geosciences
• Bruce Miller Scholarship in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Cannon Family Graduate Symposium Award in Geosciences
• Charles E. Knopf, Sr. Memorial Scholarship
• Chesapeake Energy Corporation Annually Funded Scholarship in Geosciences
• Daniel and Deborah Stephens First-Time Endowed Scholarship
• David M. Demshur Undergraduate Research Endowment in Geosciences
• David M. Diodato Geosciences Fund
• David P. “Duff” Gold Undergraduate Scholarship Fund in Geosciences
• Donald B. and Mary E. Tait Scholarship in Microbial Biogeochemistry
• Dr. David E. W. Vaughan and Mrs. Julianne S. Vaughan Field Camp Fund in the Department of Geosciences
• Earle S. Lenker Fund for Field Studies in Geology
• Edwin L. Drake Memorial Scholarship
• Frank and Lillie Mae Dachille Memorial Award in Geochemistry Fund for Excellence in Lithospheric Geodynamics in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• General Scholarship Endowment in Geosciences
• George L. Ellis Scholarship
• Geosciences Enrichment Fund
• Geosciences Research Fund In Honor of Hiroshi Ohmoto
• Heller Marcellus Shale Research Initiative Endowment
• Hiroshi and Koya Ohmoto Graduate Fellowship in Geosciences
• James and Nancy Hedberg Scholarship in Geosciences
• Janet C. Kappmeyer and Andrew M. Isaacs Experiential Learning Fund in Marine Sciences in the Department of Geosciences
• Jesse A. Miller Trustee Matching Scholarship in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• John and Elizabeth Holmes Teas Scholarship Fund
• John C. and Nancy Griffiths Scholarship in Geosciences
• Joseph Berg Award for Undergraduate Research in Geosciences
• Julie and Trem Smith Family Undergraduate Scholarship
• Kappmeyer-Isaacs Field Camp Award
• Kent and Helen Newsham Geosciences Endowment in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Lattman Visiting Scholar of Science and Society Endowment
• Maureen and Dennis Maiorino Undergraduate Scholarship in the Department of Geosciences
• Michael G. Loudin Trustee Scholarship in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Michael Loudin Family Graduate Scholarship in Geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Newsham Family Undergraduate Scholarship
• Open Flow Gas Supply Corporation Endowed Program Fund in Geosciences
• Perez Family Undergraduate Scholarship 
• Petroleum Geosystems Enrichment Fund
• Pottorf Endowment for Graduate Excellence in Geosciences
• R.J. Cuffey Fund for Paleontology
• RADS Equipment Fund for Field Studies in Penn State
• Sedimentary Geology
• Reif Undergraduate Summer Field Camp Endowment
• Richard B. and Cynthia R. Alley Faculty Enhancement Program Fund
• Richard R. Parizek Endowment for Field Study in Geosciences
• Richard R. Parizek Graduate Fellowship
• Richard Standish Good Graduate Scholarship in the Department of Geosciences
• Robert F. Schmalz Award in the Department of Geosciences
• Ronald A. Landon Endowment in Hydrogeology
• Rudy L. Slingerland Early Career Professorship in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Scholten-Williams-Wright Scholarship in Field Geology
• South Jersey Resources Group Endowed Program Fund in Geosciences
• St. Mary Land and Exploration Endowed Program Fund in Geosciences
• The Paul D. Krynine Memorial Fund
• Thomas F. Bates Undergraduate Research Enhancement Fund for Geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Thomas Kenneth (T.K.) Reeves, Jr. Family Scholarship
• Timothy and Courtney Watson Undergraduate Scholarship in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Timothy B. and Cindy Lynch Mullen Scholarship in Geosciences
• Timothy D. Watson Fund in Geosciences