John T. Leftwich, Jr. is a geologist with a specialization in petroleum geology.

Background

Leftwich has degrees from Virginia State University (B.S., 1969), the University of Massachusetts (M.S., 1973) and Pennsylvania State University (PhD, 1993). Leftwich began his career as a biology major at

Virginia State University Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a public historically Black land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia. Founded on , Virginia State developed as the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of high ...

(then called Virginia State College) but changed his major to geology after taking a course in Earth Science and being encouraged by

Mack Gipson Mack Gipson, Jr. (September 15, 1931 – March 10, 1995) was an American geologist who became the first African-American man to obtain a Ph.D. in Geology. The first African-American geologist to earn a PhD in the US was Marguerite Williams, who e ...

to take up a geology degree. In 1969 Leftwich became the first graduate of the Geology Department at Virginia State College. Notably, he was the 7th African American in the U.S. to graduate with a Geology degree. Following his undergraduate degree, Leftwich attended the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

and obtained his master’s degree in 1973 working with Professor Randolph Bromery. With his MS in hand, Leftwich worked in the oil and gas industry, first at Exxon (later became

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

) until the oil price crash of the late 1980s. At that time he decided to go back to graduate school to earn a doctorate in structural geology from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

in 1993 working with Terry Engelder. Directly after his PhD Leftwich joined Old Dominion University where he held a ''Chair of Excellence'' professorship sponsored by the US Department of Energy. He returned to the oil and gas industry in 1997 to work with

Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...

and later in 2008 with Halliburton. Leftwich’s doctoral research focused on understanding the relationships between undercompacted shale and abnormal fluid pressures in the Gulf of Mexico. Through his research, Leftwich demonstrated the usefulness of water loss techniques to determining the mechanism of undercompactionLeftwich Jr, J.T., 1996. ''Relationship of shale dewatering and smectite dehydration to undercompaction occurrence; FINAL'' (No. DOE/FE--63870-1). Old Dominion University. and he determined the relationship between shale dewatering and smectite dehydration.

Honors

Leftwich was one of several founding members of the National Association of Black Geologists and Geophysicists (NABGG) and was the president of NAGBB from 1984 to 1990. NABGG later changed name National Association of Black Geoscientists. In 2009, he was awarded the Bromery Award for Minorities from the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...

(GSA). In his acceptance speech, Leftwich offered these words of advice “...in addition to your technical excellence you must also remember that there is nothing more valuable than your integrity and your developing good values, such as appreciation and respect for others. It is more important and a much higher ideal to be concerned about the welfare of others than about yourself". In addition to his research and professional contributions, Leftwich is also recognized for his efforts to supporting community by having volunteered at many schools, including elementary schools and community colleges for over 20 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leftwich, John T. African-American scientists American scientists American geologists University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American people