Prof. Dr. Gerald M. Friedman

(FORMERLY SOCIETY FOR SEDIMENTARY PETROLOGY): EDITOR-JOURNAL OF SEDIMENTARY PETROLOGY (NOW: JOURNAL OF SEDIMENTARY RESEARCH) 1964-1970, VICE PRESIDENT 1970-1971, PRESIDENT 1974-1975

The Society for Sedimentary Research began its life in 1930-1931 as the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, a Division of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. The foreword in its Journal of Sedimentary Petrology (now Journal of Sedimentary Research) stated our concern is with energy and environment.

In 1963 while I was a member of the Research Center of Pan American Petroleum Corporation, later Amoco and now British Petroleum, the society presented me its Best Paper Award in the 1961 issue of the Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. In 1964 the society asked me to serve as editor of the Journal of Sedimentary Petrology (JSP) (now Journal of Sedimentary Research). Conscientious editorship is more demanding than other society offices.

I accepted the editorship. Figure 1 shows the statistics for the society’s journal; note especially the dates of my editorship of 1964 to 1970. The pages in the journal skyrocketed during this time. In 1970 the Journal of Sedimentary Petrology published “a tribute to Gerald M. Friedman: Retiring Editor of the Journal of Sedimentary Petrology” (Pray 1970). In 1970-1971 I became Vice President and in 1974-1975 was elected President of the society. This society has also recognized both my science and my service. Besides the Best Paper Award in 1961, I received Honorary Membership in 1984 and then the Twenhofel Medal, the highest award in sedimentary geology, in 1997. In 1999, I helped to establish, along with Naresh Kumar, a student research fund in honor of John E. Sanders (1926-1999), the distinguished co-author of our textbook “Principles of Sedimentology” and longtime colleague. Later in 2002, I was honored when some of my former students, set up the Gerald M. Friedman Student Research Fund. Finally, in 2002, I was also given a Distinguished Service Award.

My travels on society business during my presidency included visits to regional sections: 1) the Eastern Section in Syracuse, New York, 2) two visits to the Gulf Coast Section, in Lafayette, Louisiana and in New Orleans, 3) a visit to the Rocky Mountain Section in La Junta, Colorado, and 4) a visit to the Permian Basin Section in Van Horn, Texas. At these sectional meetings, I gave previews of my presidential address which the section recognized with the Best Paper Award. SEPM Council Meetings were held at the conventions in San Antonio and Dallas, and at its mid-year meeting at our headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I also attended meetings of 1) the Governing Board of the American Geological Institute in Washington, 2) the advisory Council of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 3) our investment advisor the Irving Trust Company, once in the fall and once in the winter, in New York City, and 4) I visited twice headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The membership drive of the society continued successfully: in 1975 SEPM had a total of about 4,300 members, the highest membership in its history.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE GEOSCIENTIST

The immediate time after 1978 was part of the “Golden Age of Geology”, especially sedimentary geology. The Editor of the journal Science Philip H. Abelson (1913-2004) asked me to write an editorial titled The Golden Age of the Geoscientist. This editorial expressed my optimistic vision (Friedman 1978), as follows (July 21, 1978):

“Exploration for energy and minerals has followed a cyclic pattern of feast or famine. Post-World War II exploration programs led to a rapid expansion of undergraduate and graduate training in the geosciences, and a large cadre of professional geoscientists subsequently entered industry. But in the mid-1950's, the situation abruptly changed. In the spring of 1956, a colleague in a southwestern university confided to me that, although his department was training 300 undergraduate majors, only two microscopes were available to students. In the fall of 1957, I asked this same colleague how many undergraduate majors had enrolled in his department. His answer: two. What was the reason for such a drastic decline in enrollment? In early 1957, famine had replaced feast in the exploration business. Companies closed exploration offices and laid off geoscientists.”

“In the 1960's, the employment pendulum swung less dramatically, but in 1973 we entered a new age: exploration efforts in the United States became extremely active, and demand for geoscientists and petroleum engineers climbed steeply.”

“Ordinarily, a master’s degree is considered essential by industry, except for those with bachelor’s degrees who are well trained in mathematics and physics and entered the field of geophysics. However, with the steeply increasing demand, even poor students with only bachelor’s degree found first-rate employment. Good students with master’s degrees, especially women and members of minority groups, had special opportunities. They were likely to receive more than five job offers from major oil corporations at salaries ranging from $17,000 to $21,000 per year.”

“With this frenetic hiring one would think that these corporations would quietly put their geoscientists to work in a creative effort to find more reserves. But the truth is that most geoscientists on the staff of major companies are inexperienced. In one major corporation I know of, almost 80 percent of the geoscientists have less than 2 years of experience. Small exploration companies, known as independents, woo geoscientists away from the major corporations with excellent salaries, bonuses, and fringe benefits. Body snatching is hardly new in the exploration business, but in the past young scientists needed 5 years of experience before they became attractive to independents. Today that period is commonly only 1 ½ years. Thus the major corporations have become the training ground for the independents. Among my students, it is not unusual for 25- to 27-year-olds with recent master’s degrees to earn salaries of $30,000 per year plus a free car, gas, repairs, and insurance. No wonder this is considered the golden age of the geoscientist.”

“The needs for graduate training in the earth sciences, however, are selective. The fields most required include geophysics, stratigraphy, sedimentology, and tectonics. Basic support training in physics, chemistry, and mathematics is important. Departments that are strong in the four fields of geology named above have bulging graduate enrollments. Ph.D. training is commonly considered a luxury today because industry wants and needs trained scientists now.”

“In other countries geoscience is still sleepy, but activities are increasing. In the United Kingdom and Western Europe, the fate of trained geoscientists used to be emigration. Today the job market is expanding, and geoscientists may find employment at home. A new breed of geoscientists is the government-company scientist of OPEC countries. In these countries, and in those aspiring to OPEC stature, new opportunities in geoscience are opening up.”

“Geoscientists will be in demand for the foreseeable future as the world seeks to meet its needs for energy and minerals. But the lessons of the past should not be forgotten. The feast of today may once again be followed by famine.” - Gerald M. Friedman, Chairman, Section E, AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), and Department of Geology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12181 (Friedman 1978).

In 1981 I published “Another look at Opportunities in the Geosciences” in the journal Science. This editorial is as follows:

“In my recent editorial (Science, July 21, 1978) entitled “The Golden Age of the Geoscientist” I described the wide-open opportunities for graduates and practitioners in the geosciences. Letters from colleagues reminded me that the employment opportunities matched the excitement of the science itself, particularly the rapid advance at all levels afforded through the close integration and interdependence of the geosciences with physics, chemistry, biology, and statistics. In writing a textbook in my own geological specialty, sedimentology, I spent exciting sessions with biologists, statisticians, physicists, and chemists. On a scientific level today the action in the geosciences is dynamite!”

“Yet, what attracts recruits into the field is the economic trend, and here the opportunities are even greater today than they were in 1978. A government survey has shown the job market in the geosciences to exceed that of almost all other fields of science and engineering. Petroleum engineering is at least equally in demand; in fact, to the extent that graduate programs have suffered: why should a 21- or 22-year-old plod through a few more years of graduate education when companies stand in line to offer him a beginning salary in the $25,000-plus per year range?”

“The industry has estimated that petroleum demand in the United States will exceed twenty million barrels a day by 1990. Imports will meet more than half of this demand. Such a trend will be grim for the average citizen in terms of shrinking dollars and inflationary pressures, but it is good news for the geoscience community. In my editorial in Science I closed with the statement that although geoscientists will be in demand for the foreseeable future, perhaps the feast of today may once again be followed by famine, as it has in the past. The new trend says not so: world-wide exploration for energy resources will remain at a high level probably at least until the year 2000 and the demand for geoscientists will remain high. The Scientific Manpower Commission anticipates in the 1980's 600 openings a year for geophysicists and 1700 for geologists.”

“Not only industry but also the Federal Government now actively recruit geoscientists and petroleum engineers. Large numbers of academically employed geoscientists switch to industry. This is no wonder because a brand new M.S. in industry begins his career at a salary as high as or higher than his professor. Academic positions in such fields as geophysics, sedimentology, and structural geology are not easy to fill with experienced scientists. Even in mining exploration, a stepchild in the past, an upswing in demand for geoscientists has arisen, especially in uranium and coal geology.”

“In 1978 I pointed out that despite frenetic hiring by major corporations the newly trained explorationists are not a stable work force because of frequent job switching. Here is a new twist: after 1 to 1 ½ years with a major corporation, young geoscientists receive offers of bonuses of $5,000 to $45,000 per year salary plus free car and membership in the Petroleum Club are not unreasonable expectations.”

“Students are wise in all of this. Undergraduate departments are bulging from student enrollments. I know of one department which has increased its majors from under 60 to over 400 in just a few years. Students with basic interests in fields which overlap with geophysics, such as physics and electrical engineering, switch to the geosciences because of the greater employment opportunities. Bulging enrollments, however, follow a regional pattern. In the southwestern United States, the site of most of the action, classes are crowded; by contrast, in the northeast many first-rate departments have less visibly expanded. Where will this increasing enrollment lead to? Will college and university administrators provide the necessary support to sustain such expanding programs? Perhaps a workshop for this past fall’s meeting by the Association of Professional Geological Scientists provides a possible answer: ‘Regulate the Number of Geology Graduates’.” (Friedman 1981).