texas a&m geosciences announces 2020 distinguished achievement awardsfour outstanding geoscientists will receive the awards during the virtual distinguished achievement awards gala nov 6oct 26 2020bill read 71 76 dr paula bontempi 95 each individually renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science four exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will be celebrated and honored during the college of geosciences virtual distinguished achievement awards gala which will be held online nov 6 at 5:30 pm bill read 71 76 bill read 71 76 is being honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal read received his bs and ms in meteorology from texas a&m in 1971 and 1976 respectively his decades of experience serving in the meteorology field include flying into and forecasting tropical cyclones and other severe weather events for the us navy and the national weather service (nws) working as a senior forecaster in the nws fort worth office and serving as meteorologist-in-charge of the nws houston-galveston office for 15 years he rose through the ranks of the nws and was named director of the national hurricane center (nhc) in 2008 serving through 2012 read has since worked as a hurricane consultant to major television networks and shared his advice and expertise with countless students and texas a&m classes paula bontempi 95 dr paula bontempi dean of the graduate school of oceanography at the university of rhode island has been awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award after earning a ms in oceanography from texas a&m in 1995 she obtained her phd from the university of rhode island in 2001 and then served as an assistant professor of oceanography in the university of southern mississippis department of marine sciences from 2003 to 2019 bontempi worked at nasa as a program scientist focusing on ocean biology and biogeochemsitry in the earth science division at nasa headquarters she rose in leadership within nasas earth science division serving as acting deputy director of the earth science division in 2019 managing the agencys entire earth science portfolio in august 2020 she began serving as the dean of the graduate school of oceanography at the university of rhode island(logo courtesy of agilent)michael gutierrez 13agilent agilent has been awarded the geosciences innovator award a leading company in advancing geosciences research and education agilents contributions to analytical instruments empower advances in critical environmental and earth system research agilent technology continuously advances the state-of-the-art in precision particularly for compounds found in very low abundances in complex marine atmospheric and earth system sample matrices agilents mass spectrometers deliver ultra-high sensitivity and enable accurate quantification of trace levels of natural and anthropogenic compounds in the atmosphere ocean and terrestrial ecosystems said dr yina liu assistant professor of oceanography agilents advanced data analysis pipeline has significantly advanced untargeted workflow permitting geoscientists to look into unknown compounds in the earth system michael gutierrez 13 michael gutierrez 13 has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award gutierrez earned his bs in geology from texas a&m in 2013 after an internship with bays exploration he earned his first full-time position with exxonmobil development company in january 2014 he later joined the exxonmobil exploration companys gulf of mexico group and in april 2019 he joined the newly formed exxonmobil upstream business development company gutierrez led in the creation of the exxonmobil aggies geosciences scholarship endowment which provides scholarship support for exceptional students in any texas a&m geosciences degree program he is also one of the youngest professionals to every serve on the texas a&m geology and geophysics department advisory committee (geodac) for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee 09