Mancini Selected as Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Ernest A. Mancini, distinguished research professor of petroleum geology and stratigraphy at The University of Alabama, has been named the winner of the Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor Award for 2007.

Mancini will be honored on Nov. 16 in a ceremony at the UA President’s Mansion.

This award is presented annually to a UA faculty member who has made extraordinary contributions that reflect credit on the individual, on his or her field of study, on students and on the University.

The honor was created by Frederick Moody Blackmon of Montgomery to honor the memory of his grandmother, Sarah McCorkle Moody of Tuscaloosa.

“I can state with conviction that Dr. Ernest Mancini is in a class all his own in this College for the credit he has brought to The University of Alabama through his research and vast contributions in his field,” wrote Dr. Robert Olin, dean of the UA College of Arts and Sciences, in a letter of nomination for the award.

Since joining the University in 1976, Mancini has been published some 420 times in journals, book chapters, guidebooks, technical reports and abstracts. He has also supervised 21 master of science and eight doctoral students, made over 300 technical presentations and has had 38 research proposals funded totaling over $10 million dollars.

As a president, chair and officer of numerous national and international professional organizations, Mancini has co-orchestrated over 100 technology workshops, helped lead 16 professional society geologic field trips and co-chaired five research conferences and 30 technical sessions. He was awarded honorary membership in three professional societies for his service contributions, was recognized by two societies for his commitment to teaching university students and training professionals, and has received six awards for his research achievements.

In 2004, a year before being named a UA distinguished research professor, Mancini won the American Geological Institute’s Ian Campbell Award, was elected editor of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin by the organization’s 31,000 members, and elected president of the American Geological Institute by the group’s 120,000 geoscientists.

One of Mancini’s largest contributions came about when he served as the state geologist and oil & gas supervisor for the state of Alabama from 1982-1996. While Mancini was in that post, the Geological Survey of Alabama prepared and published a new geologic map for the state. The map is used by both researchers to further the scientific understanding of the state and by industry for potential resource identification. Alabama became a major producer of natural gas during his tenure as oil & gas supervisor.

Mancini earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Albright College, a master’s degree in zoology from Southern Illinois University, and his doctorate in geology from Texas A&M University.

Additionally, he has served as director of the UA Center for Sedimentary Basin Studies, an interdisciplinary geoscientific research center focusing on stratigraphic, sedimentary basin and petroleum geology studies, since 1998, and as director of the Eastern Gulf Region of the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council, established to meet the technology and information needs of the independent oil and gas producers in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida since 1995.