The GeoLab is an interdisciplinary and cross-sector initiative made possible by collaboration and support across the arts, sciences, humanities, and industry.
Creators
Christopher L. Liner
Professor, Department of Geosciences
University of Arkansas
Christopher Liner is currently Associate Dean of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. He is a member of SEG, AAPG, AGU, Seismological Society of America, Honorary Member of the Geophysical Society of Houston, and a corresponding member of the European Academy of Sciences. He served as SEG President (2014–2015), Editor of Geophysics (1999–2001), and the 2012 SEG Distinguished Instructor (Elements of Seismic Dispersion). He is the author of Elements of 3D Seismology (3 editions) and The Art and Science of Seismic Interpretation (co-author with T. L. McGilvery). Liner has published many technical papers and scientific meeting abstracts, authored the 2010 What’s New in Exploration column in World Oil Magazine, maintains the Seismos Blog (298K views), and provided project promotion and leadership to the GeoLab project.
Liner’s background is both academic and industrial. Eleven years of business experience includes Western Geophysical, Conoco, Golden Geophysical, Amoco and Saudi Aramco. He has held faculty positions at the universities of Tulsa (1990–2004), Houston (2008–2012), and Arkansas (2012–current). Liner has served as Vice Chair and Department Chair, and now holds Maurice F. Storm Endowed Chair in Petroleum Geology in the Department of Geosciences. Liner’s research interests are carbonates, advanced seismic interpretation methods, and machine learning. His education includes the University of Arkansas (BS Geology 1978), University of Tulsa (MS Geophysics 1980), and the Colorado School of Mines (PhD Geophysics 1989).
T. A. (Mac) McGilvery
Adjunct Professor, Department of Geosciences
University of Arkansas
Mac received his B.S. Geology (1978) and M.S. Geology (1980) from the geology department, Univ. of Arkansas. He then worked for Tenneco Oil co., Mid-Continent Div., Oklahoma City, OK from 1980-1987. While there, he worked exploration projects on combination structure-stratigraphic plays in the Atoka succession in the Arkoma Basin/Ouachita Mtns. Mac was then assigned to Tenneco’s South America Div., Houston TX where he work exploration projects in the Upper Magdalena Valley, Colombia SA from 1987 to 1989. That division was sold to Royal Dutch Shell in 1989.
Mac then moved to Cartagena, Colombia where he continued to work the Upper Magdalena Valley for Shell from 1989 to 1991. After two exciting years in South America, Mac returned to the U.S. and completed his Ph.D., Geology at The University of Texas at Austin in 1996. His dissertation work was focused on the sequence stratigraphy and basin fill history of the Cretaceous, Barrow Gp., Barrow Sub-Basin, North West Shelf Australia under the direction of Dr. W. E. Galloway.
Mac then joined Phillips Petroleum Co., in Bartlesville OK where he worked as their Global Stratigraphic Advisor from 1996 to 2002. Upon the merger of ConocoPhillips, Mac transferred to the Anchorage AK office where he worked as the local Chief Geologist from 2002 to 2006. After four years of working cool North Slope geology, Mac transferred to ConocoPhillips’ Gulf of Mexico Exploration Team in Houston, TX as their Stratigraphic Advisor from 2006 to 2011. Mac finished his career at ConocoPhillips as Global Geoscience Advisor with emphasis on subsurface reservoir prediction in the Geological Technology Gp. 2012-15. During that time, he participated on a six-person Global Exploration Review Team which traveled worldwide to provide technical reviews, risk assessments, and sanction of volumetric assessments to all wildcat prospects in the global portfolio.
Mac retired from the Petroleum Industry in the spring of 2015 and currently holds the position of Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas. His current research interests are the application of sedimentology and facies analysis to petroleum reservoir characterization, depositional models for deepwater slope/basin systems based on modern seafloor and shallow seismic geomorphology and, seismic and sequence stratigraphy. He has taught various courses for the geoscience program including: Geology of Arkansas, Paleoclimate and Basin Fill, Advanced Stratigraphy, Petroleum Geology, Earth Systems History, and Stratigraphy & Sedimentation.
Carl A. Smith
Professor, Landscape Architecture
University of Arkansas
Carl Smith is a Professor of Landscape Architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geosciences. He is both a chartered (licensed) landscape architect and geographer in his native UK. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society of Arts in London, and an Affiliate Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. Carl’s research deals with issues of changing cities and landscapes, and community perceptions of those changes, and his work straddles design, art, and environmental sciences. He teaches studios and classes in urbanism, green recovery, master planning, and drawing.
Donors & Support
- University of Arkansas: Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences, Honors College, Graduate School, School of Art, Towers of Old Main, and Geosciences External Advisory Board
- Arkansas Quarries: APAC Sharp’s Quarry & Arkola Preston Quarry, Arkansas Geological Survey, Blackstone Construction, Bradley Contracting, Carroll County Stone, CertainTeed Gypsum, Dan Whetstone Company, Granite Mountain Quarries, Martin Marietta Hatton Quarry, McBride Stone Company, McGeorge Contracting / Alabama Mine, Midwest Lime Company
Collaborators
Brad G. Peter
Dr. Peter maintains the GeoLab website, designed the interactive GeoLab map, and leads the Environmental GIS & Cartography Lab (EGCL) in the Department of Geosciences.