Former AGI Executive Director Charles Groat Passes Away
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is saddened to share the news that colleague and friend Dr. Charles (Chip) Groat passed away on March 14, 2025. A former AGI Executive Director (1990-1992), Dr. Groat received the AGI Medal in Memory of Ian Campbell for Superlative Service to the Geosciences (1998) for his outstanding performance in and contribution to the geoscience profession. Dr. Groat provided leadership to the profession in many roles throughout his career, including as an active member of these AGI Member Societies: the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the American Geophysical Union, the Association of American State Geologists (AASG), and the Geological Society of America.
Dr. Groat served as associate and acting director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin (1968-1976) and associate professor in the Department of Geological Sciences (1974-1976). He also was associate professor and chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso (1976-1978). From 1978 to 1990, he was a professor at Louisiana State University’s Department of Geology and Geophysics. In government roles, Dr. Groat served as Assistant to the Secretary at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (1983-1988) and as Director and State Geologist for the Louisiana Geological Survey (1978-1990). He also served as President of AASG from 1987 to 1988.
After leading AGI in the early 1990s, he became Executive Director of the Center for Coastal, Energy, and Environmental Resources at Louisiana State University (1992-1995). He later joined the University of Texas at El Paso, where he was the Director of the Center for Environmental Resource Management and Director of the Environmental Science and Engineering Ph.D. Program, Professor of Geological Sciences, and Associate Vice President for Research and Sponsored Projects (1995-1998).
Dr. Groat was appointed Director of the U.S. Geological Survey by President Bill Clinton in 1998 and was retained by President George W. Bush. He led the agency until 2005, when he returned to the University of Texas at Austin to direct the Energy and Earth Resources Graduate Program and the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy. In 2008, he was named interim dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences. Dr. Groat became the founding President and CEO of the Water Institute of the Gulf in 2011. From 2019 to his retirement in 2021, he served again as acting director of the Louisiana Geological Survey.
“Through his tireless work in academia, government, and the nonprofit sector, Chip Groat provided exemplary leadership to the geoscience community over the course of his career,” said AGI Executive Director Dr. Jonathan Arthur. “His generous service to the AGI federation and the wider geoscience community has been a priceless benefit to the enterprise.”
A detailed obituary can be found here: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/baton-rouge-la/charles-groat-12285453
About AGI
The American Geosciences Institute (AGI), a federation of scientific and professional organizations representing over a quarter-million geoscientists, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to serving the geoscience community and addressing the geoscience needs of society. AGI headquarters are in Alexandria, Virginia.
Contact: Geoff Camphire, AGI Communications gac@americangeosciences.org