Leadership

 
John P. Martin, PhD, Institute Director, focuses on the interface between geology and the social sciences.

John Martin

Shale Resources and Society Director, John Martin

Dr. Martin regularly lectures and publishes on diverse topics such as the development of shale gas resources, carbon capture and sequestration, compressed-air energy storage, renewable energy resource development, and research policy. Prior to forming JPMartin Energy Strategy LLC in 2011, he spent 17 years working on energy research and policy issues at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and developed a series of projects targeting oil and gas resources, renewable energy development, and environmental mitigation. He has served on various state and national panels, including the US Department of Energy’s Unconventional Resources Technical Advisory Committee. He co-directed the Governor’s Carbon Capture and Sequestration Working Group, an interagency committee organized in 2007; and was NYSERDA’s point person on a series of technical studies looking at all aspects of hydraulic fracturing and multiwell pad development. In addition, he completed the initial research on the natural gas potential of the Utica Shale that helped stimulate significant industry investment in this resource.Prior to joining NYSERDA, Dr. Martin worked in academia, consulting and regional planning. He holds a PhD in Urban and Environmental Studies, an MS in Economics and a BS in Geology, all from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He also holds an MBA from Miami University and completed graduate work in mineral economics at West Virginia University.

Robert D. Jacobi, PhD, Co-Director, (PhD, 1980, Columbia University) has taught for 32 years at the University at Buffalo where he is a Full Professor (currently part time); he is a senior geology advisor to EQT, Pittsburgh, PA.

Robert Jacobi

Dr. Jacobi at a soft-sediment deformation locality in the Upper Devonian Conneaut Group in the Southern Tier of New York State. Photo by Smith.

He has been Director of Special Projects at Norse Energy Corp. USA, and has been a consultant for more than 20 years for business associates in oil and gas, mining, and seismic hazards.  He has worked for 40 years in the northern Appalachian Orogen and Basin, where his expertise includes black shale (including fractures, faults and folds), tectonics, structure, seismic, sedimentology, stratigraphy, aeromag, gravity, remote sensing, and well logs. His present focus is on identifying, understanding, and predicting the trends of faults, fractures, and folds. He has worked in the Utica black shale since 1980 and in the Upper Devonian black shales since 1989. Dr. Jacobi’s research publications encompass all the fields listed above, as well as marine geology; he has co/authored more than 275 journal articles, book chapters, abstracts, technical reports, and has co-edited two books.  Dr Jacobi’s teaching experience includes structure, tectonics, evolution of North America, marine geology and geophysics, sedimentology, and stratigraphy. His short courses and webinar for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Talisman, and the Geological Society of America (GSA) have received excellent reviews.Dr. Jacobi is past-President of the Eastern Section AAPG, Northeastern Section GSA, Eastern Section of the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), and the New York State Geological Association (NYSGA). He was the General Co-Chair & Symposia Director for the 1996 GSA Northeast Section Annual Meeting, and was General Chair for the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Eastern Section AAPG and the 2006 Annual Meeting of NYSGA.  From the Eastern Section AAPG, Jacobi received the “Distinguished Service Award,” nine “Certificates of Merit,” and the “Outstanding Educator Award,” for which the citation reads: “To an educator whose contribution transcends the classroom. He brings the world to his students and prepares them as a gift to the world.”