 Susan Landon
Petroleum Geologist
Thomasson Partner Associates
Denver, CO
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 BS, Knox College
(Geology)
MS, SUNY
Binghamton (Geology) |
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Petroleum Geologist |
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"My only advice to a
woman who is interested in petroleum geology is that there are
tremendous opportunities." |
 
"I have a career that is flexible enough that it sort of becomes part of
every dimension of my life. My hobbies are mountain climbing, skiing,
travel, and it's hard not to incorporate those sorts of activities into
looking at the rocks, the geomorphology, the earth history that I'm being
exposed at the same time. My family - my husband is an astronomer, so we
heavens and the earth covered in our - in our partnership and it gives us
an opportunity to have similar backgrounds and be able to experience and
enjoy things together because of the fact that we both have scientific
backgrounds."
"The petroleum industry has gone through a revolution in the last ten
years. The proliferation of PC computing and the declining cost of the
hardware and software associate with PC computing has allowed small
companies and even independents like myself to compete on a level playing
field with the major oil companies. The kind of technology that even just
a decade ago you needed a mainframe to really access. Now we have it on
our desktops."
"I guess that my enthusiasm for working with professional societies is
directly related to my desire to give something back to my profession.
Geology has been very good to me. I've made a very comfortable living,
I've had fun, I've traveled, and I've grown, intellectually with the
geoscience community. And so to me, participating in the professional
societies gives me that opportunity to give something back to the career
in general."
"My only advice to a woman who is interested in petroleum geology is that
there are tremendous opportunities. I may have gotten my job because I was
a woman, but I didn't keep my job because I was a woman. And I haven't
been successful in my career because I'm a woman."
Ms. Landon received a Bachelor of Arts degree in geology from Knox College
in Galesburg, Illinois, and a Master of Arts degree in geology from the
State University of New York at Binghamton. Her thesis was entitled
"Environmental Controls o n Coral Growth Rates on Reefs of the Lower
Florida Keys." She joined Amoco Production Company in Denver, Colorado, in
1974 as an exploration geologist and was involved in oil and natural-gas
exploration and development in the Rocky Mountains, Basin and Range, and
Alaska. In 1987, she was instrumental in causing Amoco to drill a
17,851-foot test in central Iowa to assess the potential of the
Precambrian Midcontinent Rift. In 1987, she was transferred to Houston,
Texas, as Manager of Exploration Training. She left Amoco in 1990 to begin
a career as an independent geologist in Denver. She is actively exploring
for oil and natural gas in the United States and also teaches industry
courses (preferably someplace exotic). She is past Treasurer of the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists and past President of the
American Institute of Professional Geologists. In 1998, she is President
of the American Geological Institute. She and her husband, an astronomer,
enjoy traveling, hiking and skiing.
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