[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 1534-1535] [From the U.S. 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 [[Page 1535]] 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 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. ____________________