IN MEMORIAM
ROBERT K. GOLDHAMMER
Dr. Robert K. Goldhammer, age 45, died along with Raquel Vieira de
Savariego, an undergraduate exchange student from Brazil, when the
University vehicle they were riding in overturned on Interstate 10
between Fort Stockton and Balmorhea. Professor Goldhammer, four teaching
assistants, and twenty-three students were heading to El Paso on
the first day of the six-week summer field geology course known as
GEO 660 or Field Camp. Goldhammer was going to teach the first eight
days of class exercises in West Texas and New Mexico before new instructors
took the course to locations north.
Bob was lost at a most vital point in his life. We and his wife,
Dr. Ursula Hammes, with whom he had two very young and beautiful
children, were watching Bob make the transition from industry scientist
to academia. As Bob had taken on the dual role of educator and researcher
with great vigor, this tragedy extends from family and students to
the frontiers of his science, carbonate sedimentology.
R.K. Goldhammer was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was raised
in nearby Winchester and graduated from Belmont Hill High School.
He received a B.S. in geology from Colgate in 1979, an M.S. in
geology from the University of Oklahoma in 1982, and a Ph.D.
from Johns Hopkins
University in 1987. His dissertation involved extensive field
work in the Middle Triassic carbonate platform of northern Italy.
This
work led to two milestone papers on glacioeustatic controls on
cyclic carbonate sedimentation. Goldhammer’s work was noted
for the innovative integration of observations at scales ranging
from the
microscopic analysis of thin sections to seismic reflection profiles
hundreds of kilometers long. He was adept at geochemistry, remarkably
insightful in the field, and always strove to put everything
into a global context.
Bob was first employed as a research geologist in stratigraphic prediction
at Shell Development from 1987-88. He generated a novel sequence
stratigraphic analysis of the Permian Basin. He moved to Exxon Production
Research where from 1988-1995 he was a specialist in carbonate facies
and sequence stratigraphy. His research projects at Exxon took him
to Turkey, Texas, Oklahoma, the Canadian Rockies, Colorado, Belize,
the Persian Gulf, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, France, Alaska, Mexico,
Guatemala, and Papua New Guinea. He was a lead instructor in the
famous Exxon Training School with legendary field courses in West
Texas, northeast Mexico, and the Bahamas.
From 1995-96, he was a research scientist at the UT Bureau of Economic
Geology where he worked on Andean foreland basins in Argentina. He
left UT to become a consulting geologist on hydrocarbon plays in
Mesozoic carbonate sections around the world. From 1996-98, his list
of clients was long. His consulting work usually included seminars
and workshops on carbonate sequence stratigraphy. Bob joined one
of his clients, Texaco International Exploration, as an explorationist
from 1998-2000. His primary assignment was a regional synthesis of
offshore Angola and Congo. In this position, he integrated a massive
amount of regional seismic and well data with gravity and magnetic
surveys to show the dynamic interplay of sedimentation and salt tectonism
since the Cretaceous.
Most of Bob Goldhammer’s voluminous work in industry is unpublished,
but he did find ways to present some of his ideas. He was quick to
share credit and had an army of colleagues in both industry and academia
that were his co-authors. R.K. Goldhammer was the lead author on
twelve major papers and co-author on eight others. A 1993 paper in
the Journal of Sedimentary Research on cyclic sedimentation in the
Ordovician of west Texas was selected for the “Outstanding
Paper Award” from the SEPM.
Bob was an unusually active participant at professional meetings.
He organized symposia and gave more than fifty presentations,
mostly at American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
events.
In 1997, he received the “Outstanding Poster Award” at
the national AAPG meeting for a presentation on carbonate sedimentation
during ice-house and green-house conditions. Bob was a dynamic
lecturer
and AAPG selected him as a Distinguished Lecturer for 1994-95.
By 2000, he had given invited scientific lectures at twenty-six
institutions.
He was the leader or co-leader of ten field trips to Italy, West
Texas, and northeast Mexico for professional societies and four
field trips for industry groups.
Bob joined the Department of Geological Sciences as an assistant
professor in January 2001. At the undergraduate level, he taught
the carbonate half of GEO 416M, Sedimentary Rocks, a core class required
for all undergraduate majors. He also taught GEO 660, Geological
Field Camp in 2001 and 2002 and was heading out with the group when
he died. At the graduate level, he taught two courses: Carbonate
Petrography, Facies and Diagenesis in the fall semester and Carbonate
and Evaporite Stratigraphy in the spring semester. For both classes,
he personally presided over a Friday afternoon laboratory that lasted
for many hours. This lab was centered on a large collection of rock
samples, polished slabs, and thin sections that he had assembled
from around the world and on exercises he had created during his
years teaching short courses in industry. His students have catalogued
the collection for the benefit of generations of future students.
Bob Goldhammer received rave teaching evaluations for his undergraduate
courses. Many undergraduates simply wrote “Great job,” “Great
teacher,” “Awesome teacher,” on their evaluations.
At the graduate level, the praise was even greater. Students wrote
comments such as the following: “This class is the best I’ve
ever had. I was lucky to have such a great teacher.” “Goldhammer’s
classes have been by far the most valuable and enlightening of my
educational career.” “This class was easily the best
class I’ve ever taken in my whole geology education.”
Bob Goldhammer won the Knebel Teaching Award at the end of his first
full year of teaching; this is an award based solely upon a vote
of the students. He won the College of Natural Sciences Outstanding
Teaching Award which is based upon class evaluations and nomination
by the Chairman at the end of his second full year of teaching.
Bob created an industry-supported research consortium to which
six companies had subscribed and others were planning to support.
He
called the endeavor “Mesozoic Margins.” Major field
projects with students were underway in Mexico on the interplay
of salt movement
with sedimentation in the La Popa Basin and the effect of carbonate-evaporite
layering on the structural evolution of the Sierra Madre foldbelt.
More general projects were underway on stratigraphic controls
on fractured reservoirs and structural controls on stratigraphic
architecture.
During his two years on the faculty, Bob published one major research
paper and had another one in review. He wrote two of the major chapters
in the Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks that was released
in late 2003. He gave eleven invited lectures to professional organizations
and was author or co-author of eighteen presentations at meetings,
six of which were with his students. Those who saw Bob at the 2003
National Meeting of the AAPG in Salt Lake City report that the three
lectures he gave, on very different subjects, were outstanding. The
poster presentations with four of his students each drew large crowds.
The Robert K. Goldhammer Memorial Fund has been established by the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists to benefit student research
in carbonate rock geology.
During his short time at the University, Bob led students on
four field trips to Mexico, two to the Arbuckles in Oklahoma,
one to
West Texas, and one to Italy. He also arranged for students to
go to see
modern carbonate sedimentation in Belize. He worked very closely
with a talented and motivated group of graduate students. Barbara
Tillotson and Tina Foster completed M.S. theses under Bob’s
supervision. Six other students were working on theses or dissertations
under his supervision at the time of his death. All have pledged
to continue their work in Bob’s memory, and two have already
finished.
A ceremony was held to celebrate the lives of Bob and Raquel
on May 31, 2003, in the UT Alumni Center. More than 400 friends
attended.
Dozens of Bob’s co-workers from industry and faculty from universities
across the country came to show their respect. They recounted his
exploits and many recalled his vitality and keen wit. His graduate
students created a 42-inch high, 15-foot long photo montage that
recorded events in his life. Bob was a gifted guitar player and all
who participated in his field trips recalled evenings around the
campfire. He had a special ability to motivate people and is remembered
as a teacher for all — the geologist’s geologist.
Bob Goldhammer leaves behind his beloved wife of 10 years, Dr.
Ursula “Uschi” Hammes,
a fellow geologist (and research scientist associate at the Bureau
of Economic Geology), that he met while leading a field trip in The
Dolomites of northern Italy. They have a daughter, Nora, age 4, and
son, Max, age 1. He is also survived by his parents Robert F. Goldhammer
and Joan O’Neil, his brother Richard Goldhammer, and his
sister Susan Davis.
<signed>
Larry R. Faulkner, President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
Sue Alexander Greninger, Secretary
The General Faculty
This memorial resolution was prepared by a special committee consisting
of Professors Mark Cloos (chair), Gary Kocurek, and Scott Tinker.
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