Scott W. Tinker

Scott W. Tinker (born November 15, 1959) is an American geologist, educator, energy expert, and documentary filmmaker. Dr. Tinker has made significant contributions to higher education, in the field of energy, and in bringing governments, industries, and academe together to tackle major societal challenges involving energy, the environment, and the economy.

Dr. Tinker was born in Centralia, Illinois in 1959 to mother, Janice Wheeler Tinker and geologist father, C. N. “Tom” Tinker. In 1982, he completed a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He went on to receive a Master of Science in Geological Sciences from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1985, and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1996.

Dr. Tinker’s career in the oil and gas industry includes Robert M. Sneider Exploration in Houston, Texas (1982–83), Union Pacific Resources in Englewood, Colorado (1985–1988) and Marathon Oil's Petroleum Technology Center (1988–2000). He left industry to become Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin (2000–present). Dr. Tinker serves as the State Geologist of Texas (2000–present), the Director of the Advanced Energy Consortium (2008–present), and is a Professor holding the Edwin Allday Endowed Chair of Subsurface Geology and the acting Associate Dean for Research (2009–present)in the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin (2002–present). Dr. Tinker is the co-producer and on-screen narrator for Switch, the critically acclaimed feature-length documentary on global energy, and the Switch Energy Project (2008–present). Dr. Tinker has made over 600 invited and keynote lectures to audiences globally.

Dr. Tinker has been interviewed and quoted by publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and NPR. Select interviews include:

• New York Times, January 15, 2016, by Clifford Krauss, Stock Prices Sink in the Rising Ocean of Oil.
• Nature.com, December 3, 2014, by Mason Inman, The Fracking Fallacy.
• StateImpact Texas, NPR, July 19, 2012, by Terrence Henry, A View From the Tipping Point: The “Switch” for Energy’s Future.
• The Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2014, by Alison Sider and Nicole Friedman, Oil From U.S. Fracking Is More Volatile Than Expected.
• NPR, February 28, 2013, by Wade Goodwyn, Texas Study Points to a Longer Natural Gas Boom.
• Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2013, by Russell Gold, Gas Boom Projected to Grow for Decades.
• New York Times, September 20, 2012, Energy by the Numbers: ‘Switch’ Explores a World of Fuel Options.
• New York Times, August 2, 2010, by William J. Broad, Tracing Oil Reserves to Their Tiny Origins.

The documentary film Switch (2012), subtitled in four languages, attempts a nonpartisan, scientifically-based exploration of the global energy transition, the future of global energy production, and global energy demand. Switch won “Best of Fest” at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival and was selected as the opening night film of the D.C. Environmental Film Festival in WashingtonAs of January 2016, the film has been screened at over 600 universities and seen by millions of people globally. The film is part of the Switch Energy Project, an energy education, and efficiency venture.

Dr. Tinker was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America (GSA) in 2011, and is an Honorary Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). He is the youngest recipient of the AAPG’s Halbouty Distinguished Leadership Award (2016). Dr. Tinker has served as president of the American Geosciences Institute (2015–2016), AAPG (2008–2009), Association of American State Geologists (2007–2008), and Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies (2011–2012). Dr. Tinker has served as a Distinguished Lecturer for AAPG (1997–1998), the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) (2002), and GSA (Michael T. Halbouty Distinguished Lecturer, 2012). Dr. Tinker received the J. C. “Cam” Sproule Memorial Award for Best Paper published in AAPG Bulletin by an author 35 years or younger (1996) and the best paper published in the Journal of Sedimentary Research (1998).

Ikonnikova S., Browning J., Gulen G., and Tinker, S.W., 2015, Factors influencing shale gas production forecasting: Empirical studies of Barnett, Fayetteville, Haynesville, and Marcellus Shale plays. Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, V. 4, Issue 1, pp. 19–35.

Gülen, G., Ikonnikova, S., Browning, J., Smye, K., and Tinker, S.W., 2015, Production Scenarios for the Haynesville Shale Play, SPE Economics and Management, V. 7, Issue 4, pp. 138–147.

Ikonnikova, S., Gülen, G., Browning, J., and S. Tinker, 2015, Profitability of Shale Gas Drilling: A Case Study of the Fayetteville Shale Play, Energy, V. 81, 1 March 2015, pp. 382–393. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2014.12.051.

Fu, Q., Horvath, S. C., Potter, E. C., Roberts, F., Tinker, S. W., Ikonnikova, S., Fisher, W. L., and Yan, J., 2014, Log-derived thickness and porosity of the Barnett Shale, Fort Worth Basin, Texas: Implications for assessment of gas shale resource, AAPG Bulletin, V. 99, No. 1, pp. 119–141.

Ikonnikova, S., Browning, J., Horvath, S., Tinker, S.W., 2014, Well Recovery, Drainage Area, and Future Drill-well Inventory: Empirical Study of the Barnett Shale Gas Play. SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, V. 17, Issue 04, pp. 484–496.

Gülen, G., Browning J., Ikonnikova, S., Tinker, S.W., 2013, Well economics across ten tiers in low and high BTU (British thermal unit) areas, Barnett Shale, Texas. Energy, October 2013, V. 60, No. 10, pp. 302–315.

Browning, J., Ikonnikova, S., Gülen, G., Tinker, S.W., 2013, Barnett Shale Production Outlook. SPE Economics & Management (165585), July 2013, pp. 89–104.

Tinker, S.W., Lynch, H., Carpenter, M., and Hoover, M., 2013, Global energy and the role of geosciences: A North American perspective, in Bickford, ME, ed., The Impact of the Geological Sciences on Society. Geological Society of America Special Paper 501, pp. 21–51.

Tinker, S.W., and Potter, E.C., 2009, The unconventional bridge to an alternate energy future, in Carr, T., D'agostino, T., Ambrose, W., Pashin, J., and Rosen, N.C., eds. Unconventional energy resources: making the unconventional conventional. 29th Annual GCSSEPM Foundation Bob F. Perkins Research Conference, December 6–8, Houston, pp. 1–5.

Tinker, S.W., 2006, Making enhanced recovery feasible in natural gas fields. The American Oil & Gas Reporter, V. 49, No. 5, pp. 58–64.

Tinker, S.W., 2006, The “I” in busIness ethIcs: American Institute of Professional Geologists. The Professional Geologist, V. 43, No. 2, pp. 36–42.

Tinker, S.W., 2004, Unconventional resources to play vital supply role as world transitions to gas. The American Oil and Gas Reporter, V. 47, No. 10, pp. 63–71.

Tinker, S.W., Caldwell, D.H., Cox, D.M., Zahm, L.C., Brinton, Lisë, 2004, Integrated reservoir characterization of a carbonate ramp reservoir, South Dagger Draw field, New Mexico: seismic data are only part of the story, in Seismic imaging of carbonate reservoirs and systems. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 81, pp. 91–105.

Tinker, S.W., 1998, Shelf-to-basin facies distribution and sequence stratigraphy of a steep-rimmed carbonate margin: Capitan depositional system, McKittrick Canyon, New Mexico and Texas. Journal of Sedimentary Research, V. 68, No. 6, pp. 1146–1174.

Kerans, C., and Tinker S.W., 1997, Sequence stratigraphy and characterization of carbonate reservoirs. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Short Course No. 40, p. 130.

Tinker, S.W., 1996, Building the 3-D jigsaw puzzle: applications of sequence stratigraphy to 3-D reservoir characterization, Permian Basin. AAPG Bulletin, V. 80, No. 4, pp. 460–485.