Herbert G. & Shirley A. Davis

named Grant
Grant

Born in Buffalo, New York in 1930, Herbert Davis is a recipient of AAPG’s Distinguished Service Award. Since 1957, he has served numerous roles within the AAPG, attaining the chairmanship or presidency of committees such as the House of Delegates, and the Division of Provisional Affairs. Davis has also served as the vice chairman of the AAPG Foundation Trustee Associates, with service on the AAPG Mid-Continent Section Council, the Continuing Education Committee, The Committee on Public Affairs and the Academic Advisory Committee. With such experience at his command, Davis was nominated in 1975 to be the AAPG Secretary. He has also been a speaker at a number of regional AAPG meetings. In addition to his respected AAPG contributions, Davis has served the American Institute of Professional Geologists in several capacities: namely, as the chairman of the Regulatory Committee and the National Finance Committee.

A graduate of Buffalo Technical High School (Davis also had a lasting relationship with Buffalo’s Museum of Science), Davis graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in geology. Davis’ postgraduation field experience included service in the U.S. Army, as a military geologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Heidelberg, Germany.

Relocating to Kansas in 1955, Davis began his career in earnest with an exploration geologist position at the Amoco Production Co. Davis’ geological work for Amoco included study of the Mid- Continent (where the majority of Davis’ professional experience has been gained) and Andarko Basin. Some of his notable findings have been published in documents on the Morrow / Springer sandstones, Morrow / Springer’s anomalous high pressure regimes, and the Andarko Basin’s reserves and economics. Davis would go on to hold a number of supervisory positions at Amoco, and his track record allowed him to rise to the position of vice president / exploration manager within a separate firm, the D-N-C- Exploration Corporation.

Davis transitioned into independent business in 1973, also offering his services as a geological consultant. He is the acting president of Herbert G. Davis Inc., located in Oklahoma City.

Davis’ commitment to service goes beyond his own geological work and his membership in professional societies: he has donated his knowledge to the OSU Department of Geology, while sponsoring both graduate and undergraduate students of the department, and providing these students -via part-time and full-time employment- a means to break into professional geological study. He has established a scholarship (the Herbert G. Davis and Shirley A Davis President’s Distinguished Scholarship) as another means towards such advancement. Herbert Davis currently resides in Edmond, Oklahoma, with offices in Oklahoma City. His loyal devotion to the field of petroleum geology extends to his church and family.

The Herbert G. Davis Named Grant is awarded annually to a deserving student at Oklahoma State University through the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Grants-in-Aid Program, and is endowed by the AAPG Foundation through generous contributions from Herbert G. and Shirley A. Davis.