R. Ken Williams, a graduate of Texas A&M University, class of 1945, has been named the 2007 recipient of the Michel T. Halbouty Geosciences Medal. A resident of Midland, Texas, where he has been a member of the oil and gas industry for decades, Williams will be presented the award during the university’s Dec. 14 commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. in Reed Arena.

The award, established 29 years ago, recognizes outstanding achievements in the discovery, use and application of geosciences and the conservation of earth resources.

The medal is named for the late Michel T. Halbouty, a 1930 Texas A&M graduate who founded Halbouty Energy Co. Halbouty was the first recipient of Texas A&M’s professional degree in geological engineering. He established academic chairs, scholarships and fellowships at Texas A&M, and the building housing the Department of Geology and Geophysics is named for him. Halbouty died in 2004 at the age of 95.

Williams was born in Ponca City, Okla., but his family moved to Midland where he graduated from high school and still lives today. He enrolled at Texas A&M in 1941 and through its ROTC program joined the US Army in 1943. Williams served in the 24^th Infantry Regiment of the army of occupation in Okinawa. He returned to Texas A&M in 1946 to finish his degree in mechanical engineering.

Following his graduation from Texas A&M, Williams worked for Shell Oil for several years and in 1952 helped form MWJ Producing Co., an independent oilfield operating company exploring the Permian Basin area of West Texas. At that time, oil was $3 a barrel.

His company had major success in drilling operations in West Texas and expanded to fields in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, North Dakota and other areas, eventually operating more than 300 wells. Williams attributed much of the company’s success to an emphasis on geology and its application to oil and gas exploration. In 1996, Williams and his partners dissolved MWJ Producing Company but he continues to be active, as an independent investor, in the oil and gas exploration industry today.

Williams is a member of numerous oil and gas professional associations, along with Texas A&M’s 12^th Man and Zone Clubs, The President's Endowed Scholarship program and the President’s Advisory Council. He is also active in the Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity in Midland. He and his wife Jane, a 1951 graduate of Baylor University, have been married for 55 years and have two daughters and three grandchildren.

“Ken Williams has been involved in the oil and gas industry for almost 60 years and is a very generous supporter of the College of Geosciences and its faculty and students,” said Bjorn Kjerfve, dean of the college. “He has endowed a chair in our offshore drilling program and also graciously provided much needed funds for a state-of-the-art radiogenic laboratory.”

“He is very well-respected in his profession, and at the age of 83, still is active in oil exploration where he was very much a trend-setter beginning in the 1950s. He has certainly been a great friend to both the College of Geosciences and Texas A&M University.”