[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 15 (Monday, January 26, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E138-E139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TWO ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA GEOLOGISTS HONORED WITH PRESTIGIOUS 
                            NATIONAL AWARDS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 26, 2009

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, it is with great pride that in 
St. Petersburg, Florida, I represent one of the world's foremost 
centers of marine and geological research. We have created a thriving 
hub of academic, government and private sector facilities whose 
professional staffs work together on a daily basis to study and help to 
solve some of our state's, our nation's and our world's most 
challenging environmental, marine and geological problems.
  The University of South Florida College of Marine Science on the 
University's St. Petersburg campus has been the linchpin of our efforts 
to bring together the best and brightest scientific minds. With the 
addition of the U.S. Geological Survey 10 years ago and the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research 
Institute and the Florida Institute of Oceanography, and in the private 
sector SRI International, we have at Bayboro Harbor a thriving research 
community.
  Recently two of those researchers have been honored for their work in 
the field of geology. The first is Dr. Albert C. Hine, the Associate 
Dean of the USF College of Marine Science, who received the Francis P. 
Shepard Medal for Sedimentary Geology at the annual Society for 
Sedimentary Geology meeting in Denver, Colorado. The award is given to 
those who have a sustained record of outstanding research contributions 
in marine geology.
  In addition to being recognized for his prolific research and his 140 
peer-reviewed publications in the field of coastline studies, carbonate 
platforms and coral reefs using an array of geophysical tools, Dr. Hine 
was also recognized for his commitment to teaching. He is a major 
advisor to 11 Ph.D. and 22 M.S. candidates.
  He is a perfect example of the type of collaborative research that 
goes on every day at USF's Bayboro campus, where he has worked and 
taught since 1979. That includes his work with the U.S. Geological 
Survey where the second award recipient Dr. Eugene A. Shinn worked for 
more than 31 years. Dr. Shinn was recently awarded the Society for 
Sedimentary Geology's William H. Twenhofel Medal for his outstanding 
contributions in the areas of paleontology, sedimentology and 
stratigraphy.
  Now retired from USGS, Dr. Hine is a Courtesy Professor at the USF 
College of Marine

[[Page E139]]

Science where he continues his research and teaching.
  Madam Speaker, following my remarks, I will include from the USGS 
publication Sound Waves two articles about both of these eminent 
researchers, which includes much more detail about their lifetimes of 
work in the field and about the special collaborative relationships 
among these outstanding St. Petersburg organizations.
  Dr. Al Hine and Dr. Gene Shinn are two shining examples of the energy 
and enthusiasm we have captured in St. Petersburg that makes our city 
the center of international work in marine science and geology. Please 
join me in congratulating them on these great honors and in thanking 
them for their continuing efforts to impart their knowledge and 
enthusiasm to future generations of their students and colleagues.

  USGS Collaborator Wins Prestigious SEPM Shepard Medal, Sound Waves, 
                             December 2008

                              Barbara Lidz

       Albert C. Hine, a close collaborator with scientists at the 
     U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) office in St. Petersburg, 
     Florida, from its inception in 1988, will receive the Francis 
     P. Shepard Medal for Marine Geology at the 2009 Society for 
     Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) annual meeting in Denver. Hine is 
     currently Associate Dean in the College of Marine Science at 
     the University of South Florida (USF) in St. Petersburg, 
     where he began his career in 1979. He has worked extensively 
     with USGS personnel for many years, including Gene Shinn (who 
     will receive SEPM's Twenhofel Medal at the 2009 meeting; see 
     article, this issue), Bob Halley, Barbara Lidz, David 
     Twichell, Kevin Cunningham, Jack Kindinger, Lisa Robbins, 
     Terry Edgar, and Kim Yates.
       Hine received his B.S. degree from Dartmouth, his M.S. from 
     the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and his Ph.D. from 
     the University of South Carolina. For his dissertation he 
     investigated modern carbonate-bank-margin sediment on the 
     Bahama Banks with high-resolution seismic profiling. He 
     studies coastlines, continental shelves, carbonate platforms, 
     and coral reefs, using an array of geophysical tools. Hine 
     has been heavily involved in the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) 
     and served on the program's Ocean History Panel, Site Survey 
     Panel, and U.S. Science Advisory Committee; he was also 
     selected to be a Joint Oceanographic Institutions/U.S. 
     Science Advisory Committee Distinguished Lecturer for 2005-
     2006 (URL http://www.oceanleadership.org/usssp/dls/hine). 
     Hine has had extensive seagoing experience on many research 
     vessels, including as co-Chief Scientist on ODP Leg 182 to 
     the Great Australian Bight and as a member of the scientific 
     crew on Leg 194 to the Marion Plateau of northeastern 
     Australia. He currently serves on the University-National 
     Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) Fleet Improvement 
     Committee.
       Hine has written approximately 140 peer-reviewed journal 
     articles and book chapters. He is major advisor to 11 Ph.D. 
     and 22 M.S. candidates, including 2 from the USGS. His former 
     graduate students are spread far, wide, and deep. In recent 
     years, he has focused on deep-water coral reefs and drowned 
     barrier islands; with Bob Halley and others, he mapped the 
     deepest coral reef in the United States, off the southwest 
     coast of Florida (see related Sound Waves articles, ``USGS 
     Scientists Use the SeaBOSS to Explore What Could Be the 
     Deepest Coral Reef in the Continental United States'' and 
     ``Coral Reef Off Florida Determined to be Deepest Known on 
     U.S. Continental Shelf'').
       The Shepard Medal is given to persons who have a sustained 
     record of outstanding research contributions in marine 
     geology. Francis Parker Shepard (1897-1985), known as ``The 
     Father of Marine Geology,'' is one of the field's true 
     heroes. Shepard began his career studying structural geology 
     but is best known for his work on, and understanding of, 
     submarine canyons. A short story of his life is available as 
     a PDF file (76.4 KB) at URL http://gsahist.org/gsat/
gt01dec20_21.pdf.

Gene Shinn Wins Preeminent SEPM Twenhofel Medal, Sound Waves, December 
                                  2008

                              Barbara Lidz

       Eugene A. Shinn, carbonate geologist with Shell Oil in the 
     1960s and then with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for 31 
     years, will receive the 2009 William H. Twenhofel Medal from 
     the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM). The highest 
     recognition given by the SEPM, the Twenhofel Medal is awarded 
     annually to a person for his or her outstanding contributions 
     in sedimentary geology. Albert C. Hine, Associate Dean of 
     Research at the University of South Florida (USF) College of 
     Marine Science in St. Petersburg, made the announcement in 
     August. Shinn received an honorary Ph.D. from USF in 1998 and 
     was a commencement speaker. Since retiring in 2006 from the 
     USGS Florida Integrated Science Center office in St. 
     Petersburg, Shinn has been seated as a Courtesy Professor at 
     the USF College of Marine Science next door.
       Nominees for the Twenhofel Medal are chosen for their 
     outstanding contributions in paleontology, sedimentology, 
     stratigraphy, and (or) allied scientific disciplines. The 
     contributions normally entail extensive personal research but 
     may involve some combination of research, teaching, 
     administration, or other activities that have notably 
     advanced scientific knowledge in the field of sedimentary 
     geology. Shinn has devoted his career to each of these areas 
     and more, and has excelled in all. As a researcher dedicated 
     to working in the field, he is recognized as a pioneer in 
     studies of carbonate sediment, tidal flats, diagenesis, 
     coral-reef ecosystems, and, in recent years, the effects of 
     transatlantic African dust on corals and human health. Shinn 
     has an innate ability often to perceive truths before others 
     do, and he encourages discussion and innovative thinking. He 
     is not afraid to speak his mind or to get on the hot seat 
     amidst controversy; he also knows when to avoid controversy. 
     Shinn has led numerous modern-carbonate field trips to the 
     Florida Keys and the Bahamas for SEPM, the American 
     Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the Geological 
     Society of America (GSA), and many universities and local 
     societies. He has published more than 150 scientific papers, 
     produced training films, won several ``best paper'' awards, 
     and received the USGS Meritorious Service Award, as well as 
     the USGS Gene Shoemaker Award for Excellence in 
     Communications. Shinn joins the ranks of other very 
     distinguished geologists who have shaped major concepts in 
     understanding Earth processes and history in the realm of 
     carbonate geology. The honor is long overdue. Shinn will 
     receive the award at the Society's annual meeting in Denver 
     in June 2009. Congratulations, Gene, for a meritorious job 
     well done!
       William H. Twenhofel (1875-1957), Ph.D. Yale (1912), is 
     regarded as the patriarch of sedimentary geology. Twenhofel, 
     who was a member of the National Research Council, retired in 
     1945 from an illustrious academic career at the University of 
     Wisconsin, Madison, where the Department of Geology and 
     Geophysics has offered one of the top Earth-science programs 
     in the United States for decades. Twenhofel cofounded the 
     Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, now the Journal of 
     Sedimentary Research, one of the premier journals in the 
     field of sedimentary geology.

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