Dr. R. Paul Philip

I received my Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Sydney (Australia) in 1972 and more recently my D.Sc. degree from the same University in 1998. After obtaining my Ph.D., I spent one and a half years as a post-doctoral fellow with Professor G. Eglinton at the University of Bristol (England) undertaking research in various aspects of organic geochemistry and the application of analytical techniques such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to this area of research. Following this, I spent four years at the University of California, Berkeley, as a research associate, directing the organic geochemistry research group of Professor Melvin Calvin. I returned to Sydney in 1977 to join the CSIRO, Fuel Geoscience Unit, now part of the Division of Fossil Fuels, where I was a principal research scientist studying various aspects of petroleum geochemistry. In June 1984, I joined the faculty at the University of Oklahoma. The major theme of my research during the past 15 years has been directed at the application of organic chemistry to fossil fuel research. The second major area of research has been the characterization of source rocks, coals, and oil shales using microscale pyrolysis techniques combined directly with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. More recently a large amount of my work has been concerned with environmental studies and particularly investigating the use of stable carbon isotopes as a means of monitoring and tracking pollutants in the environment. Professional activities include past associate editor of Chemical Geology and past chairman of the Geochemistry Division of the American Chemical Society.