Pickens Gives $9.4 Million to Geologists
By Tulsa World, Okla.
Jun. 19–Boone Pickens has donated $9.4 million to the Tulsa-based American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation to develop a digital geology consortium between the AAPG and Oklahoma State University.
The consortium, the first of its kind, will produce digital geographical information system products through the OSU Geology and Geography Department. Those products will be made available to professionals and the public via AAPG’s intranet database.
The $9.4 million gift, from the Boone Pickens Foundation, is in addition to the $100 million donation by Pickens to OSU announced May 22.
The AAPG Foundation gift comprises $240,000 per year for 10 years, plus a gift of $7 million provided in Pickens’ will as a legal testament. It is one of the largest gifts the AAPG Foundation has ever received, officials said in a press release.
In April, the AAPG Foundation launched a campaign to raise $35 million for a number of projects to support educational, charitable and scientific projects that directly and indirectly benefit geologic professionals and general public.
Pickens’ gift to the AAPG Foundation raises the total amount raised to $23 million, according to AAPG Foundation Executive Director Rick
Fritz.
“Mr. Pickens has provided funds for a unique opportunity — to merge the prowess and talents of AAPG and OSU to build a new petroleum geoscience consortium that will develop maps and data that will be seen around the world,” Fritz said.
Pickens, an internationally known businessman and philanthropist, is a native of Holdenville, a graduate of OSU and has been a member of AAPG since 1954. He chairs the hedge fund BP Capital Management.
The funds will provide operating capital for the Boone Pickens Digital Geology Fund to provide geologic, scientific and resource information to the general public via a map-based format researched and compiled through graduate geology students.
The project also will benefit students by providing industry-specific research projects that will boost their skills.
AAPG has an extensive digital database, with online search-and-retrieval of the full archive of the AAPG Bulletin, all AAPG special publications plus journal publications of other organizations. The geology group also publishes an online journal, Search and Discovery.
The organization has more than 32,000 members in 115 countries. It fosters scientific research, provides educational opportunities and distributes geological information.
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