Banner, Jay

Professor Banner studies water resources, climate change and environmental justice. This research combines geoscience and chemistry to examine streams, aquifers, caves, and tree rings, and it takes him to Barbados, Guam, and Texas among other places. Professor Banner is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a member of UT’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers, and currently is a finalist for the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, which is the largest teaching prize in the country.

Becky Johnson P.G. – Chair of the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists
Ms. Johnson is a board certified professional geoscientist and geologist, an environmental science professor at Texas Christian University, and consultant/trainer with more than 26 years of experience. She is a founding member of the Society of Texas Environmental Professionals Sustainability Chapter, and a volunteer with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality EnviroMentor Program. She served for the last 10 years as past president/officer of Society of Texas Environmental Professionals. Ms. Johnson received a bachelor’s degree in Geology from the University of Texas at Arlington and a master’s degree in Environmental Science and Hydrogeology from Texas Christian University. 

Ms. Smith’s practice focuses on a wide variety of agricultural issues, especially those involving cattle. She additionally spends a significant portion of her time on oil and gas title examination, farm and ranch transactions, and real estate litigation. Ms. Smith also assists clients with estate planning, probates, and business planning needs. She is a graduate of El Campo High School. Ms. Smith received her bachelor of science degree in Agricultural Science from Texas A&M University in 2009, and received her doctor of jurisprudence degree from South Texas College of Law in 2014. She was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 2014 and is also admitted to the Southern District of Texas. Ms. Smith is a member of the Wharton County Bar Association, formerly serving as president, and she is a member of the Texas Bar College. 

Charles “Charlie” Werth – Professor and Bettie Margaret Smith Chair in Environmental Health Engineering University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Charles J. Werth is a Professor & Bettie Margaret Smith Chair of Environmental Health Engineering in the Department of Civil, Architecture and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the UT faculty in August of 2014, after spending 17 years on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Werth’s research and teaching focus on the fate and transport of pollutants in the environment, the development of innovative catalytic technologies for drinking water treatment, and the mitigation of environmental impacts associated with energy production and generation. He is presently the Principal Investigator of an NSF NRT on “Reducing Energy Barriers for Novel Water Supply Use in Sustainable Agriculture”, as well as on other NSF, DOD and DOE grants.

Ms. Balzen is currently a hydrogeologist with KT groundwater and has worked as a geologist in several different government and private companies in Central Texas, including the Edwards Aquifer Authority, Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District, USGS, and TCEQ. She has experience in groundwater sampling, regulation, research, and geologic evaluations, and is the Past President of the South Texas Geological Society. Ms. Balzen earned her Bachelor of Science in Geology and Master of Science in Geology from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is a graduate of the Texas Water Leaders class hosted by the Texas Water Foundation’s Carole Baker Water Leadership Institute. She holds a certification as a Professional Geoscientist, and enjoys speaking about career opportunities within the geoscience community.

Professor Banner studies water resources, climate change and environmental justice. This research combines geoscience and chemistry to examine streams, aquifers, caves, and tree rings, and it takes him to Barbados, Guam, and Texas among other places. Professor Banner is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a member of UT’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers, and currently is a finalist for the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, which is the largest teaching prize in the country.

Mr. Ellis has been practicing water law and been involved in water issues for over three decades. As a law student, he helped clerk the House Natural Resources Committee working on a variety of water legislation. After receiving his J.D. degree from the University of Texas School of Law, He worked as legislative liaison for the Texas Water Commission and later served as general counsel to the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District. The Edwards Aquifer Authority hired Mr. Ellis as their first general manager in 1997, a position he held until October 2004 when he left to start his solo law practice. In addition to representing subsidence districts and groundwater conservation districts, he serves as board secretary of the Texas Water Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that provides water conservation education throughout the State.

Mr. Gary is a karst hydrogeologist who specializes in investigations that expand our understanding of karst processes, and study the implications that karst hydrogeology has on natural resource management. He received his Ph.D. in hydrogeology from the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin in 2009, and a B.S. degree from the same institution in 2001. Mr. Gary dissertation focused on defining the geological processes that formed one of the deepest underwater cave systems in the world, Sistema Zacaton. This multi-disciplinary research included studies utilizing geophysics, geomicrobiology, hydrology, field mapping, geochemistry, and numerous related topics. Most notably, Sistema Zacaton was explored by the DEPTHX autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), also known as the Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer, developed and tested with funding from NASA. The DEPTHX probe produced a detailed 3-D spatial dataset used to characterize this underwater cave system. He also worked for 8 years as a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, 4 years as a private environmental consultant, and is currently the Field Operations Project Manager for the Edwards Aquifer Authority in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2011, he has taught a class in Applied Karst Hydrogeology at the Jackson School of Geosciences, integrating research objectives of the Edwards Aquifer Authority with this class, strongly emphasizing field hydrogeology. Prior to his career in geosciences, he worked as a commercial diver (A.S. in Marine Technology – College of Oceaneering, 1994), working for over 8 years in the offshore oil industry, conducting marine archeological surveys, managing hyperbaric medical facilities, exploring underwater caves, and recovering ICBMs for the U.S. military in the south Pacific.

Ms. Hovorka has led a team working geologic storage of CO2 since 1998, with a focus on field studies, monitoring, at the Frio Test site and Cranfield Field and EOR studies at SACROC oil field, Cranfield, Hastings and West Ranch industrial CO2 utilization projects and GoMCARB offshore characterization study. She specializes in monitoring to document retention. The Gulf Coast Carbon Center is leading efforts to develop offshore storage capacity in the US and globally. She has a long-term commitment to public and educational outreach. Ms. Hovorka has a BA from Earlham College and a PhD in Geology from The University of Texas at Austin.

 Ms. Luciano has previously worked as a field engineer in fracking operations and has conducted research with the Gulf Coast Carbon Center analyzing and displaying the success of other Underground Injection Control programs as an analog for CCS. She is currently the project manager for TXLA CMC and is working to further public and educational outreach. Ms. Luciano has a BS in Petroleum Engineering and a MS in Energy and Earth Resources from The University of Texas at Austin.

Ms. Smith’s practice focuses on a wide variety of agricultural issues, especially those involving cattle. She additionally spends a significant portion of her time on oil and gas title examination, farm and ranch transactions, and real estate litigation. Ms. Smith also assists clients with estate planning, probates, and business planning needs. She is a graduate of El Campo High School. Ms. Smith received her bachelor of science degree in Agricultural Science from Texas A&M University in 2009, and received her doctor of jurisprudence degree from South Texas College of Law in 2014. She was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 2014 and is also admitted to the Southern District of Texas. Ms. Smith is a member of the Wharton County Bar Association, formerly serving as president, and she is a member of the Texas Bar College.