Thomas Demchuk, Spring 2019
Well, after a rather topsy-turvy 2018 I am still your President for 2019. Due to unforeseen circumstances we did not carry out our usual succession of the Executive Board at the end of 2018, so for the sake of continuity I volunteered to remain President through 2019. Along with new President-Elect Don van Nieuwenhuise and new Vice-President Mike Sweet, we plan on bringing many exciting items forward throughout the year. I am further happy to have Julitta Kirkova Pourciau remain as Treasurer through 2020, and Milly Wright will be serving her second year as Secretary. In a Society as dynamic as GCSSEPM it’s nice to have some continuity in the Executive Board. In addition, John Suter, who was Past-President and is now Director of the GCSSEPM Foundation, remains a great source for knowing what needs to be done, and when.
Of considerable interest is the upcoming GCAGS meeting, which for 2019 will be held in Houston, October 23–25, at the Marriott Westchase Hotel. GCSSEPM will be very much involved in the technical and social activities of the meeting, and our GCSSEPM involvement is in the capable hands of Dorene West (GCSSEPM Foundation Trustee). Although we did not get to submit specific topics for the technical aspects of the conference, there are several excellent themes and I would strongly urge GCSSEPM members (and others) to submit an Abstract for oral or poster presentation by March 4th, 2019. Time is obviously short, but please give strong consideration to submitting a paper.
In addition, GCSSEPM will be holding their technical luncheon and awards presentation at the upcoming GCAGS conference. We have just received confirmation that Dr. James Pindell (Tectonic Analysis Ltd. and Rice University) will be giving the Luncheon Keynote Presentation, “The Geological Evolution of Mexico.” This event will not be included in your conference registration so please look for this additional item when you register, and we really look forward to a great turnout for what is sure to be a great presentation, and a great luncheon. Finally, several GCSSEPM members have submitted topics for short courses and we hope you will also participate in some of those. The conference website is: https://2019.gcagshouston.com/.
The theme for the 2019 GCSSEPM Perkins-Rosen Conference will be “Salt Tectonics, Associated Processes, and Exploration Potential: Revisited 1989–2019” and it will be held December 4–6, 2019. The technical chairmen for the conference will be Carl Fiduk, Thomas Hearon, and Van Mount. The submission deadline for your preliminary title and 2000-character Abstract is March 1st: The preliminary program will be announced by the end of March. Please look for additional announcements via e-mail and on the website as this important conference gets closer. The website for the GCSSEPM Perkins-Rosen Conference is: http://www.gcssepm.org/
conference/2019_conference.htm.
As the year moves forward and events draw near, we will be sending out information regarding important deadlines. We sincerely hope you consider participating in both the upcoming GCAGS and GCSSEPM Perkins-Rosen conferences. Since both of these are in Houston we expect great crowds and excellent technical presentations. If you should have any questions please feel free to reach out to me as President, and if I cannot answer them I will definitely direct you to the right person. I am happy to be President for 2019 and seeing GCSSEPM through the year.
Thomas D. Demchuk