Biography
From 1977 to 1980 I was at the Centre for Tectonophysics, Texas A&M University (experimental rock mechanics, fracture systems, upper crustal deformation). This was followed by 10 years in the US oil and gas industry (management of structurally complex fractured reservoirs, simulation of their flow). A return to academia (1991 to 1998) produced a PhD in Basin Development and Basin-scale Flow Systems at Glasgow University concurrent with and followed by a fixed-term research contact (flow in deforming fractured media) joint between Geology and Civil Engineering. I have been at Heriot-Watt University for 20+ years. This time includes several years as Director of the Applied Geoscience MSc but has mostly been focused on Geomechanics and Geomaterials research encompassing topics from Structural Geology to Nanomaterials Science and Full Field Rock Mechanics laboratory testing to subsurface fractured and fracture-induced reservoir issues. My current research focus is 2-fold: linked geomechanics and flow in developing geological structures at the cm to the reservoir scale; and laboratory-based rock and flow system testing, particularly with embedded sensor systems. This work has been enabled by grants for neutron beam access and IGE's aquisition of an X-ray tomograph.