Professor Paul Weimer, director of the Energy and Minerals Applied Research Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, this fall became the youngest recipient ever of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists' distinguished educator award.
Weimer's award was in recognition of distinguished and outstanding contributions to geological education through teaching, research and involvement in professional organizations. Weimer, 47, is more than 10 years younger than any of the previous 27 recipients.
In a letter to CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny, AAPG President Patrick Gratton said most winners of the award were 65 or older. "The list of past awardees reads as a who's who list of geology professors," Gratton said.
At CU-Boulder, Weimer is director of the Interactive Geology Project, an effort to create 3-D computer animations and interactive geologic displays for museum and national park visitor centers. For more information, visit .
In addition to teaching at CU-Boulder, Weimer is currently in the middle of an 18-country, six-continent distinguished lecture tour sponsored by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers. Through February, Weimer is presenting his one-day short course, "Petroleum Systems of Deep-Water Settings," to students and professionals in 25 cities including Paris, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo and Madrid.
A CU-Boulder professor since 1990, Weimer holds the Bruce D. Benson Endowed Chair in Geological Sciences and has published more than 110 research papers, written one book and co-edited eight others. He served as an AAPG distinguished lecturer from 1998 to 1999 and was the Esso Australia distinguished lecturer in 2001.