Mark Myers

Key takeaways

Mark Myers belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mark Myers to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mark Myers from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mark D. Myers is an American geologist who currently serves as a commissioner for the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. He also served as the 14th director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). He was nominated by President George W. Bush on May 3, 2006, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and sworn in September 26, 2006. Dr. Myers replaced prior director Charles G. Groat, who had resigned effective June 17, 2005. Anticipating the inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president, Myers resigned as USGS director on January 8, 2009, "as is customary during a change in Administrations." On January 21, 2009, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appointed Myers as coordinator for the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, responsible to lead efforts to expedite state review and permitting for a proposed natural gas pipeline intended to transport natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to markets in the contiguous 48 states of the U.S.

Education and career Myers grew up in La Crosse, Wisconsin where he graduated from high school. He earned degrees in geology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, receiving his B.S. in 1977 and his M.S. in 1981. He served as a pilot and intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve from 1977 until 2003, retiring as a Lt. Colonel. After receiving his M.S., Myers worked for ARCO in Louisiana where he met his wife, Alice. After two years in Louisiana he was transferred to Alaska. In 1987, he entered the Ph.D. program in geology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 1990, he joined the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas as a Petroleum Geologist, where he worked for eight years. In 1994, he completed his dissertation and received his Ph.D. in geology, specializing in sedimentology, clastic depositional environments, surface and subsurface sequence analysis, and sandstone petrography. He then served as Senior Staff Geologist for Exploration at ARCO Alaska Inc. and Phillips Alaska Inc. In 2000 Myers was chosen as Alaska State Geologist and Director of Alaska's Division of Oil and Gas, which included the Alaska Geological and Geophysical Survey. Myers was one of six officials in the Alaska Department of Natural Resources who resigned on October 27, 2005, in response to Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski's dismissal of the department's commissioner and the position the state has taken in negotiations with oil companies regarding a $20 billion natural gas pipeline to the North Slope. On September 3, 2010, Chancellor Rogers of the University of Alaska Fairbanks announced that Myers had accepted the position of UAF Vice Chancellor for research, slated to begin on January 24, 2011. Myers is a past president and board member of the Alaska Geological Society; a certified professional geologist with the American Institute of Professional Geologists; a certified petroleum geologist with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists; and a licensed geologist with the State of Alaska. In 2014, Myers was appointed by Bill Walker to be the Alaskan DNR Commissioner. He stepped down from the position on March 1, 2016. In 2021, President Joe Biden appointed him to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.

Publications "USGS Goals for the Coming Decade by Myers, M.D. et al. Science, 12 October 2007: Vol. 318. no. 5848, pp. 200–201. 2007 "Core lithofacies analysis and fluvio-tidal environments in the AK 94 CBM-1 well, near Wasilla, Alaska" by Flores, Romeo M; Myers, Mark D; Stricker, Gary D; Houle, Julie A. US Geological Survey Professional Paper No. 1614. pp. 57–72, 1999 "Depositional processes and reservoir continuity within coarse grained basinal lowstand deposits of the middle Brookian sequence; an outcrop study" by Myers, M D. Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 67, May 1995 "Paleogeographic and sequence stratigraphic reconstruction of the Cretaceous Nanushuk Group, central North Slope, Alaska; Slope Mountain outcrop to the Lupine #1 Well" by Myers, M D; Smith, T N; Krouskop, D L; Ryherd, Timothy J. Abstracts with Programs – Geological Society of America, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 67, May 1995 "Evolution of Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary depositional sequences in the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, Canada" by Mark D. Myers. Dissertation – University of Alaska at Fairbanks. 255 pages. 1994. " Facies variations in the Fish River sequence" by Myers, Mark D. Annual Meeting Expanded Abstracts – American Association of Petroleum Geologists 1992, pp. 95 "Secondary porosity in immature Late Cretaceous and Tertiary sandstones, Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada" by Mark D. Myers and T.N. Smith, AAPG Bulletin, vol. 74, no. 5, pp. 727–728, May 1990 "Sedimentology of Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene strata of the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, Canada" by Myers, Mark D; Crowder, R Keith; McGowen, Joe H. Abstracts with Programs – Geological Society of America, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 121, Mar 1989

References

External links Photograph of Mark Myers from the U.S. Geological Survey

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mark Myers

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mark Myers claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mark Myers before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mark Myers ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mark Myers

In research: Mark Myers appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mark Myers in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mark Myers is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1950s births, American geologists, Living people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mark Myers outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Mark Myers in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mark Myers means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mark Myers out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mark Myers in simple terms?

Mark D. Myers is an American geologist who currently serves as a commissioner for the U.S.

Why does Mark Myers matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mark Myers?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mark Myers.