About Us
Applied-Geoscience LLC (AppGeos) is a professional consulting, training, research, and publishing firm. Our mission is to provide quality service linking geoscience with applications. A key element of our work is the operation of the Willis School of Applied Geoscience, which offers a robust catalog of courses available for public and in-house training offered as in-person, online, and hybrid options. Our company also conducts active geoscience research and publishing, including serving as the official publisher of the Society of Applied Geoscientists and Engineers and the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies. We are actively involved in volunteer service for several geological associations.
If you are interested in joining Applied-Geoscience LLC as an associate consultant or trainer, please contact us at info@applied-geoscience.com.
James J. Willis, President
James Willis received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geology from the now University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1989 and 1990, respectively, and his Ph.D. in Geology as the 1st National Science Foundation graduate research fellow and the 1st Geology Ph.D. graduate at Baylor University, Waco, Texas, in 1993, earning an overall university gpa of 4.0. From 1994–1996, he studied planetary tectonics as a NASA–funded postdoctoral fellow at Southern Methodist University. In 1996, he returned to UL–Lafayette, where he was awarded in 1997 the Hensarling-Chapman Endowed Professorship in Geology. He began independent consulting activities in 1991 and in 2001 left academia for full-time consulting and industry training for clients ranging from one-man shops to international service companies, national oil and gas companies, and supermajors. He was for example the global LWD Log Interpretation trainer for Baker Hughes from 2006–2016 as an independent. He rejoined UL–Lafayette as an adjunct professor from 2011–2018 to bring valuable industry-level courses to his alma mater. He subsequently joined the Louisiana State University faculty as an adjunct professor in 2020 to present. James is an active researcher, receiving several million dollars in grants from federal, state, and industry sources, presenting numerous talks, receiving a 2019 AAPG A. I. Levorsen Memorial award for outstanding contribution to the oil and gas industry, and publishing on a diversity of geoscience topics, receiving a Grover E. Murray Best Published Paper award in 2017 and co-author of the inaugural GCAGS/GCSSEPM Transactions Best Student Paper award in 2018. He has served as the GCAGS Publisher since 2006 and in various GCAGS/GCSSEPM/GeoGulf Transactions editing capacities since 1990, including the 2014 and 2017–2023 Editor (named Permanent Transactions Editor in 2017), and Managing Editor since 2011, receiving a GCAGS Distinguished Service Award in 2018, GCSSEPM Honorary Membership in 2020, and GCAGS Honorary Membership in 2023. He served as the General Chair for GeoGulf 2020 (70th GCAGS/GCSSEPM Convention), the 1st hybrid geoscience conference in the world. He is a Past President of the Lafayette Geological Society and served as its Editor and Publisher from 2002–2018, receiving a Distinguished Service Award in 2011 and Honorary Membership in 2023. In 2018, he founded the Willis School of Applied Geoscience, reformulating decades of industry-training experience to include alternative opportunities for graduate-level education. In 2021, he co-founded the Society of Applied Geoscientists and Engineers, serving as its President and Editor-in-Chief, General Chair for the SAGE 2022 Convention & Exposition, Co–Vice Chair for the Benghazi International Geoscience & Engineering Conference 2022 (BIGEC 2022), and as Convenor or Co-Convenor for multiple symposia.
Click here for Dr. Willis’s full curriculum vitae.
Jill C. Willis, Executive Vice President
Jill Willis received a Bachelor’s degree in general studies, with geology emphasis, from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette in 2000. She was an intern at the USGS National Wetlands Center from 1998–2000 developing site pages, photo essays, and maps for the WETMAAP (Wetland Education through Maps and Aerial Photography) program and at the UL–Lafayette Regional Application Center from 2001–2002. She began independent consulting activities in 2002 and currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Applied-Geoscience LLC. For the Lafayette Geological Survey, she served for many years in the 2000s/2010s as the LGS Advertising Chair, where her activities led to the LGS Bulletin financially moving from the red to the black, and for over 15 years on the Awards Committee, and has been twice honored with an LGS Distinguished Service Award. For the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, she has served as GCAGS/GeoGulf Transactions Assistant/Associate Editor and GCAGS Webmaster since 2006, receiving a GCAGS Distinguished Service Award in 2023. She has also served in various convention capacities, including as 2006–2011, 2013–14, 2016–2017, and 2020 Convention Webmaster, 2006 Registration Committee Member, and 2006 and 2014 Sponsorship Committee Member. For 2020, she served as the Convention Vice Chair. For the Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists, she served as Webmaster from 2017–2020. She is a co-founder of the Society of Applied Geoscientists and Engineers, serving as Executive Vice President. She also served as Vice Chair for the SAGE 2022 convention.