Geology’s Dr. Jack Pashin promoted to Regents Professor

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | egosney@okstate.edu

Dr. Jack Pashin, a professor in Boone Pickens School of Geology (BPSoG), was recently promoted to Regents Professor.

Pashin, who earned his Ph.D. in geological sciences from the University of Kentucky, joined the faculty at Oklahoma State University in 2013 as the Devon Chair of Basin Research for BPSoG.

Pashin began his geological journey with interests in paleontology, sedimentology and stratigraphy. He joined the Geological Survey of Alabama in 1988 as a geologist, where he was part of a team charged by the Gas Research Institute to figure out how coalbed methane reservoirs work. He was an associate director of the survey when he came to OSU.

As Pashin immersed himself in advanced structural geology and basin hydrology, he developed what he called the “whole enchilada” approach to evaluating sedimentary basins and their reservoir rocks.  

“In class, I encourage students to be as broadly based as possible and to emphasize fundamental principles,” Pashin said. “Having a narrow scope limits possibilities and opportunities, whereas being nimble and flexible opens a lot of doors.”

Pashin explained that having the ability to recognize opportunity placed him on the ground floor of coalbed methane development, shale reservoir development and geological carbon storage, which constitutes the bulk of his and his students’ research.

“The one constant in our world is change, and everything I have been involved in as a professional didn’t exist when I was a student,” Pashin said. “Indeed, my goal as a professor is to give students as diverse a background as possible and an understanding that they are being prepared for a future that is different from what anybody can imagine.”

For more information about geology at OSU, visit the BPSoG website.

Story By: Jessica Floss, CAS graduate assistant | jfloss@okstate.edu