75th GCAGS/GCSSEPM Convention and Exposition
March 23–25, 2026 • Crowne Plaza Executive Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Hosted by the New Orleans, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge Geological Societies

 

Opening Session and Awards Ceremony

3:30 pm–5:00 pm • Monday, March 23, 2026
Premier Ballroom III

 

Join GCAGS & GCSSEPM President James J. Willis, General Chair Mark Wojna, and AAPG President Brian W. Horn in welcoming attendees to Baton Rouge and acknowledging worthy individuals for their contribution to both GCAGS and GCSSEPM. GCAGS Past-President Hunter Carr will serve as the emcee.

The Awards Ceremony recognizes the recipients of 2026 GCAGS and 2025 GCSSEPM special honors, as well as the awardees of the GeoGulf 2025 best presentations (oral and posters) and best published papers in the 2025 GeoGulf Transactions and 2025 GCAGS Journal, all of whose works have made important contributions to GCAGS/GCSSEPM and the advancement of geosciences. This listing below is not necessarily the order in which presentation of awards will be made.

 

· GCAGS Don R. Boyd Medal:

Brian E. Lock

· GCSSEPM Doris Malkin Curtis Medal:

Michael L. Sweet

· The GeoGulf Transactions Dedication (2026):

James and Jill Willis

· GCAGS Honorary Membership Awards (2026):

Ted Godo, Tom Bergeon, and Dawn Bissell

· GCAGS Distinguished Service Awards (2026):

Chris McLindon, Kurt Ley, Julie F. Bloxson, William H. Schramm, and G. King Munson, Jr.

· GCAGS Outstanding Educator Awards (2026):

James J. Willis, Darrell J. Henry, and Mark Kulp

· GCAGS & GCSSEPM President’s Award for Innovative Youth:

Victoria Kerr

· AAPG North America Region Imperial Barrel Award (2025):

1st Place: Texas A&M University, and 3rd Place, Rice University

· President’s Award for Outstanding Paper, GCAGS Journal (2025, vol. 14):

Robert G. Loucks, Robert M. Reed, and Priyanka Periwal for their paper on “Estimating Water Depths of Upper Cretaceous Pilot Knob Volcanic-Related Strata: The McKown and Pflugerville Formations and Pyroclastic Ash at the Lower Falls Section, McKinney Falls State Park, Austin, Texas.”

· AAPG Gulf Coast Section A. I. Levorsen Memorial Award (2025):

John Snedden, Zach Sickmann, Annie Walker, Tim Whiteaker, Michael Sweet, and Daniel Stockli for their presentation on “Sediment Volume Balancing of Onshore Exhumation and Offshore Accommodation for Mexico Cenozoic Reservoirs and Implications for Future Deepwater Exploration.”

· Thomas A. Philpott Excellence of Presentation Awards (2025):

1st Place: Alex Blizzard and Toby Burrough for their paper on “Machine-Learning Approach on Identifying Key Drivers and Trends of the Haynesville and Middle Bossier Plays,”
2nd Place: Xuesong Ding, Tim Dooley, Lorena Moscardelli, Mike Hudec, Sascha Brune, and Kai Li for their presentation on “Evolution of Salt-Detached Systems at Various Stages of Rifting: Insights from Fully Coupled Geodynamic and Surface Process Modeling,”
3rd Place (tie): C. Nur Schuba and Lorena Moscardelli for their presentation on “Evaluating Underground Storage Potential in the Salt Domes of the East Texas Basin,”
and
Lucy Tingwei Ko, Rob Reed, Priyanka Periwal, and Amanda Calle for their presentation on “Haynesville Shale Revisit: Impact of Overpressure on Pore Sizes, Impact of Variation in Clay Minerals, and Impact of Facies Heterogeneity.”

Best Student Oral Presentation Award:

Victoria M. Williams, Daniel R. Unger, Yanli Zhang, David L. Kulhavy, and I-Kuai Hung for their poster presentation on “Predictive Modeling of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Obtained Forest Orthophoto Mosaic Completeness.”

· Gordon I. Atwater Best Poster Presentation Awards (2025):

1st Place: Katelyn Wallace, Shuhab Khan, Virginia Sisson, and Otto Gadea for their poster presentation on “Beyond Traditional Mining: Hyperspectral Imaging at Mountain Pass, California,”
2nd Place (tie): Amna Afzal, Claire Ong, Qi Fu, Ammar Hussain, and Yongli Gao for their poster presentation on “Quantification and Distribution of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the Edwards Aquifer, San Antonio, South-Central Texas,”
and
Rylee Gabbert, I-Kuai Hung, Daniel Unger, and Jiyeon Kim for their presentation on “Spatial Analysis of the La Nana Bayou Watershed in Texas to Assess Stream Health,”
3rd Place: Gerald (Jerry) Ragan, Bruce Desselle, and Robert Campbell for their poster presentation on “Calibration of Agglutinated Foraminifera, Rhodochrosite Micronodules, and Pyritized Radiolarian Events into Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Wilcox Biostratigraphic and Chronostratigraphic Zonations,”
and

Best Student Poster Presentation:

Katelyn Wallace, Shuhab Khan, Virginia Sisson, and Otto Gadea for their poster presentation on “Beyond Traditional Mining: Hyperspectral Imaging at Mountain Pass, California.”

· Grover E. Murray Best Published Paper Awards, GCAGS Transactions (2025, vol. 74):

1st Place (TIE): David T. King, Jr. and Lucille W. Petruny for their paper on “Burial and Exhumation History of the Wetumpka Impact Crater, Alabama”
and
Gerald (Jerry) Ragan, Bruce Desselle, and Robert Campbell for their paper on “Calibration of Agglutinated Foraminifera, Rhodochrosite Micronodules, Pyritized Radiolarian Events into Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Wilcox Biostratigraphic and Chronostratigraphic Zonations.”

3rd Place (TIE): Stephen P. J. Cossey, Joshua Rosenfeld, Mark Bitter, and Gerald Dickens for their paper on “The Paradox of the ~56 Ma Pre–PETM Paleocanyons in the Gulf of Mexico”
and
Thomas E. Ewing for his paper on “The Balcones Fault System, Texas—An Overview.”

Honorable Mention (TIE):

Catie Donohue, Roman Ianev, Christopher Smith, Stan Stanbrook, Brian LeCompte, Craig Farley, Mike Durcanin, and Mike Smith for their extended abstract on “Necessary and Novel Post Well Analysis: An Integrated Review of an Exploration Well, Salina Basin, Mexico,”
Thomas E. Ewing for this extended abstract on “Caminos y Pueblos: Geologic Controls on Native and Early European Pathways,” and Robert G. Loucks for his extended abstract on “Evaporite Zones and Associated Dissolution-Collapse Breccias in Upper Jurassic Smackover Interval in Northeastern Texas: Are they a Concern for Heterogeneity?”

Best Student Published Paper:

Jamie Singer, Julie Bloxson, and William A. Heins for their paper on “Identifying Salt Suture Zones and Lithological Changes of the Louann Salt, Puma Diapir, Gulf of Mexico Basin.”