Three SDSU Geology grad students are jumping off to a major adventure in real-time field mapping in East Java Indonesia under the leadership of Geology Adjunct Faculty member, Professor Tom Heidrick.  Tom has long been involved in the Geology department through his student, Eric Frost---he was Eric's advisor at The University of Arizona on several projects.  They have worked together on extensional tectonics since then, as Tom was Chief Geologist for CalTex (Chevron and Texaco JV) and then Chief Geologist for Tengizchevroil (ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil JV in Kazakhstan), two of the largest assets in both these companies.  Tom is now leading major field geology effort in East Java with students Jennifer Perez, Eric Peterson, and Jaime Marso, along with Eric Frost.  Tom and Jennifer and Eric are currently in Indonesia using tablet computers to do real-time computer field mapping in conjunction with wonderful university colleagues at UGM (Universitas Gadja Mada, http://www.gadjahmada.edu/) in East Java, one of leading universities of Indonesia.

The project is sponsored by ChevronTexaco through the SDSU Research Foundation and will provide tectonostratigraphic information for use by this corporate and university partnership, while at the same time pushing the technology envelope of effective geologic mapping using new technologies. Such real-time mapping will also be useful in disaster response, which is another Visualization Center project.  Tom Heidrick has been a major sponsor of and contributor to the capabilities of the Viz Center and the Center for Information Technology and Infrastructure (CITI), co-directed by Eric Frost and Bob Welty.  The student involvement is an outgrowth of this long-term relationship by Professor Heidrick with SDSU and its deployment of visualization centers in areas such as Indonesia and Kazakhstan and linking them to San Diego.

This effort with UGM is an example of the types of international partnerships involving students under the flag of international involvement championed by Provost Nancy Marlin at SDSU.  The students will each spend about a month doing intense field work and interaction with geologists and university leaders at UGM.   A long-term partnership is being developed built on this social network that will link the two universities via collaborative visualization centers for oil and gas, life sciences, sports, and business projects.

Geologic mapping of complex folds and faults, tectonostratigraphic relationships, and regional implications for plate tectonics are the focus of the student work.  They are employing state-of-the-art electronic mapping, visualization and communication technologies to help build the capabilities for real-time electronic mapping and collaboration of the future.  The students should then be highly competitive in the job market with skills past any that currently exist in the oil industry.