KGS geologist Steve Greb receives Cady Award at GSA meeting
Kentucky Geological Survey geologist Steve Greb received the Gilbert H. Cady Award from the Energy Geology Division of the Geological Society of America at the society’s 130th annual meeting in Indianapolis this week. The award is presented to “individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of coal geology,” according to the GSA website. “Coal geology refers to the field of knowledge concerning the origin, occurrence, relationships and geologic characteristics of the many varieties of coal and associated rocks, including economic implications.”
Greb earned a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Kentucky and began his geologic career in 1982 as a research assistant with the Illinois State Geological Survey before joining KGS in 1986. He has also been an instructor and adjunct professor for the Department of Geological Sciences (now the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences) at UK. During his time at KGS, Steve has conducted research on the stratigraphy and sedimentology, carbon sequestration, paleontology, and coal geology of Kentucky.
Greb works with KGS geologist Cortland Eble—who won the Cady Award in 2017—and KGS webmaster Rebecca Wang to maintain a widely recognized series of pages about coal geology for the general public on the KGS website. He also oversees the KGS Fossils of Kentucky page and a page of geological educational resources for kindergarten through high school ages.
“I am humbled and honored by this award,” Greb says. “I have been fortunate in my career to work with great scientists in a great state for doing coal- and energy-related research.”
He was nominated for the award by Leslie (Jingle) Ruppert, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Eastern Energy Resources Science Center in Reston, Va. “Steve is a valued colleague to people both in and out of KGS,” Ruppert wrote in her nomination of Greb. “He collaborates with scientists at USGS, the Smithsonian Institution, and numerous universities and state geological surveys. He has generously given his time to professional societies, serving in leadership positions in the GSA Energy Division, AAPG, and other societies…Dr. Stephen Greb deserves to be the recipient of GSA’s 2018 Gilbert H. Cady Award based on the length of his career, the high caliber of his research, his ability to motivate and encourage coal scientists, and his dedication to public service.”
Greb was honored earlier this year with the Distinguished Achievement in Geoscience Award from the Geological Society of Kentucky.
