2017 HONORS AND AWARDS 2017 Award of Honorary Membership Dennis G. McGrath, CPG-8578
Who knew an Earth Science course that I took during my senior year in high school, would ultimately start me on a long and rewarding career as a profes- sional geologist and scientist? A B.S. degree in Geology from the University of South Carolina and a M.S. degree in (Geological) Oceanography from Old Dominion University followed shortly thereafter and gave me the foundation I needed to start my career. Now retired, my career spanned 42 years working for several consulting companies. I started at Dames & Moore in Cranford, NJ and retired from Louis Berger in Elmsford, NY. Except for a brief period in Cleveland, Ohio, I managed to stay based in the northeastern US (NJ, NY or CT) regardless of the company I was work- ing for. What I will call the ‘first half’ of my career included a lot of traveling and international assignments. Many of my projects pertained to the planning, management and execution of marine geophysical and oceanographic studies in the Middle East, South America, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic coast. Throughout the ‘second half’, a variety of factors pushed me along an entirely different career path that was almost entirely focused on environmen- tal and hazardous waste investigations and cleanups. Career highlights are many, but the ones that stand out the most include working on the North Slope of Alaska during construction of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, complet- ing a year-long oceanographic baseline study of Kuwait Bay, siting of a marine terminal for the Cerrajón Coal Project
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in Colombia, SA, and a multitude of federal Superfund investigations/clean- ups, including the Hudson and Passaic Rivers, that were performed under sev- eral USEPA and USACE contracts. I applied to AIPG and received my CPG certification many years ago. By the late 1990s, I was serving on the Executive Committee of the Northeast Section as Secretary; the positions of President-Elect, President, and Past President soon followed. Since then, I continued to serve in a variety roles. In 2004, the Northeast Section hosted AIPG’s 41st Annual Meeting in Saratoga Springs, NY. I served multiple roles in the planning efforts for that meeting, but I chaired the fundraising commit- tee. The sponsorship funding raised by that committee helped to ensure the financial success of the 2004 Annual Meeting. The single Northeast Section program however, that captured both my attention and imagination, was the Angelo Tagliacozzo Memorial Geological Scholarship. I have served as Chair of the Scholarship Committee for more than 12 years. During this time, the average number of applicants and scholarship recipients has grown significantly. The amount of the annual award pool fluc- tuates due to a variety of factors, but generally it has grown from $3,000 to somewhere between $15,000 - $22,000 a year. Most recently, I have played an active role in helping to establish two new AIPG student chapters at SUNY- Geneseo and SUNY-New Paltz. I am cautiously optimistic that several more will soon follow.
Response
I am sincerely honored to be a recipi- ent of the Honorary Membership Award. To be considered among the long list of previous awardees, individuals who have given so much of their time and energy to both AIPG and the profession of geology, is truly a humbling experience. I wish to thank both the Northeast Section (most specifically, Jeff Frederick) for placing my name in nomination as well as the National Honors and Award Committee for bestowing this award on me.
As described in my biographical profile, my commitment to AIPG has been concentrated within the Northeast Section. Any meaningful contributions that I have made to AIPG, must be shared with other exceptional Northeast Section members that I have served with along the way. At the risk of for- getting someone, I would especially like to acknowledge: Dan St. Germain, Dick
Young, Jeff Frederick, Bob Blauvelt, Tom West, Lenny Rexrode, Sam Gowan, Dean Herrick, Curt Kraemer, Russ Slayback, Bob Fakundiny and Craig Werle. In addition, there have been numerous other times when I sought and received support from headquarters staff particu- larly as it related to national meeting planning, scholarship-related activi- ties, and ballots for Northeast Section elections. Those individuals that gave selflessly of themselves include Wendy Davidson, Cathy Duran, and Bill Siok. More than anyone else however, I want to recognize my partner in life Diana Breen who is here with me tonight. For more than 25 years now, Diana has stood beside me, offering her support and guid- ance, and most importantly, suggesting solutions to many of the vexing personal and professional situations that I was facing. To Diana and each of these named individuals, as well as many others too numerous to mention, I offer my sincere thanks and gratitude.
In closing, the adage that any benefits you receive from giving back to your profession will far outweigh the time and effort that you put into it, has certainly proved its validity to me. - Dennis McGrath
I believe that one of the most vital com- ponents of AIPG’s mission is to encour- age and promote student membership and participation. My involvement with the Angelo Tagliacozzo scholarship and the activities of student chapters has afforded me an opportunity to contribute to that effort and has given me the great- est satisfaction. Thank you all again.
Consider nominating someone you know for one of the distinguished National Awards. The award nomination form for 2018 can be found on page 6 of this issue. The deadline for the 2018 nominations is January 15, 2018.
www.aipg.org
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