Scott W. Tinker


Dr. Scott W. Tinker is an American geologist, educator, energy expert, and documentary filmmaker.
Tinker has contributed to higher education, mostly in the field of energy, while helping governments, industries, and academies to collaborate to tackle major societal challenges involving energy, environment, and economy.

Early life and education

Tinker was born in Centralia, Illinois, in 1959. His mother was Janice Wheeler Tinker and his father, C. N. "Tom" Tinker, was a geologist. In 1982, he completed a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa at the Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He also received 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.

Career

Tinker's career in the oil and gas industry includes Robert M. Sneider Exploration in Houston, Texas, Union Pacific Resources in Englewood, Colorado and Marathon Oil's Petroleum Technology Center. He became the director of the Bureau of Economic Geology in 2000 at the University of Texas at Austin. Tinker has served as the state geologist of Texas and he is now a professor, holding the Edwin Allday Endowed Chair of Subsurface Geology in the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin.
Tinker is the founder and Chairman of the non-partisan, a 501, whose vision is to inspire an energy-educated future through films. He is the co-producer and on-screen guide for the feature-length documentary, Switch, the critically acclaimed film released in 2012 on global energy. He is also the writer and the on-screen guide for, released in 2019, about global energy poverty.
Tinker has visited over 65 countries and made over 850 invited and keynote lectures to audiences globally.

Media

Tinker has been interviewed and quoted by publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Forbes, The Hill, Nature, Scientific American, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Dallas Morning News, and Houston Chronicle. Select interviews include:
  • The Dallas Morning News, February 9, 2020, by Scott Tinker, .
  • RealClear Energy, May 15, 2020, by Robert Bryce, .
  • Scientific American, August 16, 2019, by Scott Tinker, .
  • The Hill, April 12, 2019, by Scott Tinker, .
  • The Hill, June 25, 2018, by Scott W. Tinker, .
  • Bloomberg, October 23, 2017, by David Wethe, .
  • Forbes, August 10, 2017, by Scott Tinker, .
  • Forbes Opinion, January 19, 2017, by Scott W. Tinker, .
  • The Dallas Morning News, September 30, 2016, by Scott W. Tinker, .
  • Houston Chronicle, July 21, 2016, by Scott W. Tinker, .
  • The Dallas Morning News, May 23, 2016, by Scott W. Tinker, .
  • USA Today, January 21, 2016, by Rick Jervis, .The New York Times, January 15, 2016, by Clifford Krauss,
  • USA Today, January 11, 2016, by Donnelle Eller, .Nature.com, December 3, 2014, by Mason Inman, StateImpact Texas, NPR, July 19, 2012, by Terrence Henry, The Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2014, by Alison Sider and Nicole Friedman,
  • NPR, February 28, 2013, by Wade Goodwyn, The Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2013, by Russell Gold, The New York Times, September 20, 2012, The New York Times, August 2, 2010, by William J. Broad,
  • , a video conversation

Switch

The documentary film Switch, subtitled in four languages, attempts a non-partisan, scientifically-based exploration of the global energy transition, the future of global energy production, and global energy demand. Switch won the "Best of Fest" prize at the and it was selected as the opening night film of the in Washington As of January 2016, the film has been screened at over 600 universities and it has been seen by millions of people globally.
The film is part of the Switch Energy Project, an energy education, and efficiency venture.

Honors and awards

Tinker was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2011, and he is an Honorary Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He is the youngest recipient of the AAPG's Halbouty Distinguished Leadership Award. Tinker has been nominated president of the American Geosciences Institute, AAPG,, and . Tinker has served as a Distinguished Lecturer for AAPG, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and GSA. Tinker received the J. C. "Cam" Sproule Memorial Award for Best Paper published in by an author 35 years or younger and the best paper published in the .

Selected bibliography

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 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, 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.