Volunteers of the Month
Janet Combes is an Exploitation Geologist at ExxonMobil Production Company, and has been actively involved in a variety of HGS committees and projects for years. Some of these include having been on the HGS board (Director), founder (and member) of the Northsider’s Committee, Co-chair for Earth Science Week, member of the Museum committee, etc. Most recently, she was responsible for the overwhelming success of the society’s participation in CAST. CAST is the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching, the annual meeting of the Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT). STAT is a statewide organization of elementary through college level science teachers dedicated to maintaining the highest levels of science education in Texas schools. One of their goals is to cooperate with other science-oriented organizations in the promotion of good science teaching. CAST was held in Houston on October 27-29th, 2005 at the Reliant Center.
Janet recognizes the importance of sharing our enthusiasm for geoscience with K-12 educators in order to prepare the next generation to join our profession. CAST was last held in Houston in 2003 and Janet was an active participant. She kept in touch with the CAST staff and was personally invited back this year as an HGS representative. She learned that teachers were especially interested in the topic of soils and so she immediately began planning a short course on soils, which was very warmly received. Months before the meeting, she began recruiting volunteers for CAST and kept track of the many field trips, short courses and workshops offered by HGS volunteers. Janet personally led a field trip to Blue Lagoon that was especially popular with teachers, a trip so successful that she has been requested to give it again to two other groups.
HGS participation at CAST is the responsibility of the Academic Liaison Committee. Janet went above and beyond the call of duty when she completely took over the coordination of all CAST activities days before the meeting started when the chairman of the committee had a baby and began maternity leave! The many positive comments from CAST participants show that Janet did an excellent job! And she did all this as she was supporting her family in Louisiana that suffered through Hurricane Katrina.
Janet has a BS in Geology from Louisiana State University, a Masters in Geology from the University of Texas, and a PhD in Geology from the University of Texas at Austin.
The HGS Board acknowledges and thanks Janet for her spirit of volunteerism, and dedication and work for the Houston Geological Society.
Cheryl Desforges is a geologist at Ryder Scott, currently working on reserve analysis projects with Ryder Scott engineers. She has been quite active this past year in the Houston Geological Society, serving as Co-chairman of the Finance Committee, assisting in revising the forms used in the budget process and serving as liaison with the investment advisors; elected as Treasurer-Elect for 2005-06; chairing the Continuing Education Committee (2004-05); and serving as Co-Chairman of the Coastal Subsidence Conference sponsored by the Houston Geological Society and the Engineering and Science Council of Houston (ECH).
Cheryl and the Continuing Education Committee successfully organized the 2005-2006 four-part mini-series on Petroleum Reserves. She led her committee in the innovative addition of videotaping the Continuing Education Series on Petroleum Reserves. She was responsible for obtaining the donations that paid for the equipment that is now available for any group in HGS to use. (CD-ROMs for the successful Petroleum Reserves course are available through the HGS office.)
The Subsidence Conference held last November was successful in a large part because of Cheryl’s efforts to keep the committee on track, avoid special group interests, attract diverse speakers (proponents and opponents) and raise donations to defray costs of the symposium. Several of Cheryl’s committee members reported, “This event would not have been a success without Cheryl’s efforts.”
Although attendance was down because of the hurricane aftermath, the presentations resulted in animated question and answer sessions. For those who could not attend, the conference was taped and CD-ROMs will be available later this year.
Cheryl has a BS in geology from Texas Christian University and an MS in physical science/geology and an MBA (finance) from the University of Houston. She is a member of AAPG, GSA and SEG and is a licensed Professional Geologist in the State of Texas. Before coming to Ryder Scott, she worked for a variety of companies, the most recent being Subsurface Consultants & Associates and Randall and Dewey, Inc.
The HGS Board acknowledges and thanks Cheryl for her spirit of volunteerism, and dedication and work for the Houston Geological Society.