TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Ernest A. Mancini, Distinguished Research Professor at The University of Alabama, will be inducted as president of the American Geological Institute during the Friends of AGI Reception on Oct. 18 in Salt Lake City.

Mancini is a renowned national expert in the geology of the Southeastern United States and the Gulf of Mexico. He has received numerous national awards for his research and teaching contributions in the field of petroleum geology. Mancini received the nationally recognized 2004 Ian Campbell Medal, the AGI’s most distinguished award. He has made significant contributions to many of AGI's member societies such as the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Geological Society of America.

Mancini joined the UA College of Arts and Sciences’ geology department in 1976 after working in the oil industry for two years. He was the state geologist and oil and gas supervisor for Alabama from 1982-96, while simultaneously working at UA. In 1996, he decided to return to the academic world full-time to focus on his own research interests and to more greatly assist graduate students. He has had 38 research proposals funded at the University. Mancini has been the primary project director, co-director or primary mentor for research grants totaling more than $12 million.

He has authored or co-authored more than 350 published papers and abstracts in the most prestigious journals in his field. Mancini also has made more than 200 technical presentations to academic, industrial and governmental organizations.

He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Albright College in Pennsylvania, master’s in zoology from Southern Illinois University and doctoral degree in geology from Texas A&M University.

AGI is a nonprofit federation of 43 scientific and professional associations that represent more than 120,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists. More information about AGI can be found at http://www.agiweb.org/.