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Lee Allison began his career in the oil industry but soon transitioned to a career in public service. Before his life was tragically cut short in August 2016, Lee served with distinction as State Geologist in Utah, Kansas, and Arizona, successively. A dynamic and visionary leader and a gifted mentor, Lee combined innovative scholarship and consummate people skills with enthusiasm and optimism to drive his passion for making geologic information available to the public and for rendering it understandable. He was an articulate spokesman on scientific issues of societal importance and was dedicated to communicating their significance and impact in ways that resonated locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. As a measure of his far-reaching public service efforts, Lee was honored by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Association of Women Geologists, and the American Institute of Petroleum Geologists. In recognition of his many contributions, the Arizona Geological Society Geosciences Scholarship was renamed in Lee’s honor following his death. Fittingly, the M. Lee Allison Scholarship is awarded to students who demonstrate exceptional achievement in pursuit of degrees in the earth sciences and who show balanced records exhibiting academic excellence, a passion for research, outstanding professional and general community involvement, and leadership in all of these areas. For more details about this scholarship visit our Student Outreach Page.
Priscilla R. Martinez 2024 M. Lee Allison Scholarship
Priscilla is an interdisciplinary geologist, who is broadly interested in the interaction of tectonics, climate, and biological evolution throughout Earth history. Her Ph.D. research integrates field sedimentology, paleontology, basin analysis, geochronology, and thermochronology to investigate the interplay between Cenozoic climatic-biotic events and Andean volcanism along the western margin of South America. A portion of this research is devoted to reconstructing the paleoenvironmental conditions associated with one of the world’s largest ancient baleen whale fossil assemblages preserved in the Miocene-Pliocene Inglesa Formation at the Cerro Ballena and Mina Fosforita paleontological sites in the Atacama Region of northern Chile. She is testing a hypothesis that extensive Andean volcanism may have triggered harmful algal bloom growth that led to mass marine mammal deaths in the eastern Pacific Ocean during the late Miocene. This study will assist in distinguishing natural variations from human impacts and help provide strategies to protect coastal communities and economies. Priscilla has received numerous awards and student research grants including: the Martin Van Couvering Award (2019), Candice L. Jones Outstanding Service Award (2020), J. David Lowell Field Camp Scholarship Award (2020), Association of Women Geoscientists Brunton Award (2020), Larry Collins Scholarship (2021),Galileo Scholarship Award (2023), and National Science Foundation/Geological Society of America Geoscience Grant (2024). She served as the 53rd Annual U of A GeoDaze Symposium Co-Chair and currently serves as the Outreach Coordinator and President of the Southern Arizona Women in Geoscience Chapter. |
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Priscilla Martinez earned a B.S. in Geology from California State University, Fullerton in 2020 and a M.S. in Geology from California State University, Northridge in 2022. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Geosciences at the University of Arizona.