Scott W. Tinker

Scott W. Tinker (born November 15, 1959) is an American geologist, energy researcher, educator, documentary filmmaker and public TV host. He served as the director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin from 2000 to 2024 and concurrently as the State Geologist of Texas. He held the Edwin Allday Endowed Chair of Subsurface Geology in the Jackson School of Geosciences. Since 2024, he holds the titles of Director Emeritus of the Bureau of Economic Geology and Professor and Allday Endowed Chair Emeritus in the Jackson School of Geosciences at UT Austin.

Tinker is the founder and chairman of the Switch Energy Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on energy education through film and media. He co-produced and served as the on-screen guide for the documentary Switch (2012) on global energy, and executive produced and guided its sequel Switch On (2020) on global energy poverty. He is the executive producer and host of Energy Switch, a PBS talk show on energy and climate that debuted in 2022 and now airs in over 85% of PBS stations nationwide, and the host of EarthDate, a weekly public radio program airing on more than 470 stations across all 50 U.S. states.

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. at the University of Texas at Austin (2000–present). Tinker has served as the state geologist of Texas (2000–present) film released in 2012 on global energy. He is also the writer and the on-screen guide for Switch On, released in 2019, about global energy poverty.

Tinker has visited over 65 countries and delivered over 850 invited and keynote lectures and it was selected as the opening night film of the D.C. Environmental Film Festival 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 (GSA) in 2011, and he is an Honorary Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). He is the youngest recipient of the AAPG's Halbouty Distinguished Leadership Award (2016). Tinker has been nominated president of the American Geosciences Institute (2015–2016), AAPG (2008–2009), Association of American State Geologists (2007–2008), Tinker has served as a Distinguished Lecturer for AAPG (1997–1998), the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) (2002), and GSA (Michael T. Halbouty Distinguished Lecturer, 2012). Tinker received the J. C. "Cam" Sproule Memorial Award for Best Paper published in AAPG Bulletin by an author 35 years or younger (1996) and the best paper published in the Journal of Sedimentary Research (1998).

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 (British thermal unit) 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 (165585), 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.