Scholarships

Robert M. Cluff Memorial Scholarship for Petrophysical and/or Reservoir Characterization Studies

The Robert M. Cluff Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a graduate student enrolled at any accredited college or university who is incorporating petrophysical and/or reservoir characterization analyses to his/her research.  It was established in memory of Robert (Bob) Cluff, a greatly admired geoscientist who founded a petrophysical consulting company, The Discovery Group, with his wife Sue. Bob was involved in numerous local and national professional societies, serving in leadership roles in the Denver community. He was a much beloved geologist who shared his technical knowledge with young professionals and students.

The 2026 Robert M. Cluff Memorial Scholarship was awarded to:

Worlanyo Ablordeppey, Ph.D. Candidate, Geology, Oklahoma State University

Worlanyo’s research characterizes the lateral and vertical heterogeneity of the Upper Mississippian Pennington Group in southwest Virginia to evaluate its potential for CO₂ storage as both a reservoir and confining seal. Worlanyo has completed detailed fieldwork, including over 120 meters of measured stratigraphic sections and systematic sampling across all major lithofacies, documenting significant facies variability, paleosol development, and channel systems. Building on this dataset, he aims to resolve key uncertainties in reservoir quality and seal integrity by linking outcrop observations to subsurface conditions. Central hypotheses focus on whether Pennington shales provide effective capillary seals, whether sandstone intervals meet reservoir quality thresholds, and whether both lateral and vertical heterogeneity can be predictably modeled.

Worlanyo integrates petrography, XRD, SEM-EDS imaging, petrophysical measurements, and well log analysis from both proprietary and public datasets to test his hypotheses. This workflow enables quantification of porosity, permeability, mineralogy, and pore structure, while correlating lithofacies between outcrop and subsurface to build predictive models. The resulting framework will define storage capacity, seal performance, and heterogeneity patterns within the Pennington Group. This work provides the first comprehensive petrophysical characterization of the unit and delivers practical tools for CO₂ storage assessment, directly supporting carbon management initiatives and subsurface modeling efforts in the Appalachian Basin.

Worlanyo’s work is under the direction of Dr. Jack Pashin.

Recent winners of the Robert M. Cluff Memorial Scholarship:

2024 Eric Stautberg, Colorado School of Mines

2023 Maximiliano Miguez, Colorado School of Mines

2022 Shadya Taleb, University of Texas at Austin