Scholarships

Norman H. Foster Memorial Scholarship for research in applied petroleum geology

The Norman H. Foster Memorial scholarship is awarded to a graduate student at an accredited college or university who can demonstrate the ability and intent to utilize various exploration techniques to locate structural and/or stratigraphic accumulations of oil and gas.  Innovative research with the addition of fieldwork and/or subsurface data will be given special consideration. The scholarship was created in memory of Norm Foster who was one of RMAG’s most prestigious members, a leader in the Denver geologic community, an outstanding and successful explorer, and a highly respected member of local and national organizations.

The 2025 Norman H. Foster Memorial Scholarship was awarded to:

Rachel Williams, PhD Candidate, Geology, Colorado School of Mines

Rachel’s dissertation topic is “Facies controls and timing of fracture formation in Permian (Guadalupian)-age muddy and grainy carbonate slope deposits.” She is conducting her field-based research in multiple canyons along the Guadalupe Mountains front, west Texas. The goal of her outcrop work is to constrain the fracture stratigraphy and geomechanical properties in grain-rich facies in the Pinery Member and mud-rich facies in the Lamar Member, to address the following fundamental research questions: 1) What are the original sedimentary controls on fracture initiation, propagation and termination in terms of stratal geometry, facies composition, grain size, bed thickness, and carbonate rock texture?, 2) What fracture types are observed in mid- to lower slope debris aprons, and can we determine their timing?, 3) Are there predictive relationships between fracture size aspect ratios and slope sedimentology/stratigraphy?

Rachel’s work is under the direction of Drs. Zane Jobe and Lesli Wood

Rachel has an MS in Geosciences from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Mathematics from Smith College

Recent winners of the Norman H. Foster Memorial Scholarship:

2024 Matthew Musso, Colorado School of Mines

2023 Patrick Sullivan, Colorado School of Mines

2022 Luis Carlos Escobar Arenas, Colorado State University