From the Editor | Ken Thies
Hello. As the new Editor of the Houston Geological Society Bulletin, I am pleased and honored to take on this role. I look forward to serving and making this the best Bulletin I can. As you know, we have made some changes to accommodate the financial and evolving status of the HGS. I want to do the best we can under the limits we have to serve our members and advance our organization.
We are entering our 100th year as a scientific society and there are many plans in the works to celebrate our 100th anniversary. More to come in the next few months. In the lead up to this historic event I want to work to bring together our members and make them more than ever proud to be a part of the HGS.
Two things I want to bring back to our Bulletin. The first is having more technical articles in the Bulletin and second, to add a Letters to the Editor section. We have some space limitations so the number and length of articles may be constrained but I will endeavor to put out as many as possible and allow them to be comprehensive as I can. As before, these will not be peer reviewed but my hope is that they will both enlighten our membership to what others are doing in the broad range of geology and provide for open discussion about scientific issues. I ask that authors try to limit the volume of figures and text so we can accommodate several in each issue. Also, as I have been reminded many times of late the Houston Geological Society is not the Houston Oil and Gas Society, so I want to open this up to a wide range of topics both inside and outside the petroleum world. We have many members from academia, the environmental world, mining, hard rock science, paleontology and more that have much to tell us about their piece of Geology. So, consider it as an open invitation.
Additionally, I want to call for Letters to the Editor giving members the opportunity to tell their story or how they work in the science of geology. To start us off, I am asking for members to write of their experiences as members of the HGS. What have been the benefits of membership, how has it affected their careers, where do we go from here as a society? I have asked Board members to start this off and so there are a few in this issue and I thank them for coming forward. Please, while we all have opinions on many subjects affecting our science, let us try to keep this from evolving into a contentious political forum.
As most of you are aware the Houston Geological Society is a mostly volunteer run organization. While we have two office staff members Andi and Alyssa without whom we could not function or generate this Bulletin, but we are mainly run by a large group of volunteers. Page two of the Bulletin lists over 50 volunteers that serve on our Board of Directors or chair the many important committees that make this organization happen. They devote many hours of their time organizing and managing events, educating the public and much more. I hope to each month highlight some of these committees and inform you about what they are up to and how they serve us. I also need to say that each and every one of them could use our help and support. We are all busy in our work and daily lives but these generous people are finding the time to do more for the benefit of us all and I know you will find your efforts rewarding.
Lastly, as Editor, I am responsible for the cover photos each month for our Bulletin. My world is Oil and Gas and Paleontology focused and I certainly can fill the covers during my tenure but if you have an interesting photo that you think is worth sharing with our members, please submit it along with a brief description of where it is from and if appropriate what it shows and I will try to accommodate.
If you have any other suggestions on how we can improve our Bulletin, please let me know either directly or through the HGS office.
Ken Thies, HGS Editor 2022-2023
kenthies.kt@gmail.com