Partners & Collaborators - Training
https://wwlittle.com/about-us/LGC offers professional training both domestically and internationally. As such, in addition to our in-house staff, our instructors come from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities, including the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Spain and South Africa.
Thomas Fisher & Lisa Fisher
Exploration & Development Geologists
Thom and Lisa Fisher are the owners and principal geologists for several consulting firms, among which are Escalante Mines, Inc., Tomassuk Natural Resources, LLC, and Thunder Basin Energy, LLC. Their primary focus is the exploration and development of both minerals/mining and oil/gas projects. Current prospects are located in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Thom’s background is primarily in sedimentary geology, particularly with respect to stratigraphy of the Cretaceous Western Interior Basin from New Mexico to Montana. He has also worked in the Permian Basin of New Mexico and Texas. Lisa is an expert in igneous and metamorphic petrology, with a focus on the Precambrian System of the Colorado Front Range.
Brian A. Zaitlin, Ph.D.
Structural & Exploration Geologist
Brian is President and Owner of Zaitlin Geoconsulting, Ltd, which provides consulting services and applied training to the oil and gas industry, focusing on clastic sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, petroleum exploration, and reservoir development. He is also a Hearing Commissioner with the Alberta Energy Regulator. Brian has 40-years experience in exploration, acquisition, development, and production within the oil and gas industry, having worked for international (Gulf, Esso) and larger independent (PanCanadian, Encana, Suncor, Enerplus, EOG) companies. Brian’s main interest is conventional and unconventional play development in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. In addition, he has worked other Rocky Mountain basins, Appalachia, and other regions globally. Zaitlin Geoconsulting and LGC offer a joint/complimentary course on sequence stratigraphy in the Book Cliffs, Utah (surface) and Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (subsurface).
Luca Smeraglia, Ph.D.
Structural & Exploration Geologist
Luca is an independent structural geologist from Rome, Italy with expertise in geological field mapping, balanced cross sections, 3D modelling, interpretation of seismic reflection profiles, stable isotope and REE geochemistry, geochronology, and logging core with a focus on the role of hydrothermal fluids in generating structurally-controlled mineralization. He has been involved in exploration projects for the mining (gold, lead & zinc, bauxite, and bentonite) and hydrocarbon (reservoir characterization and resource estimation) industries, as well as conducting slope stability studies. His work has taken him to several countries, including Italy, France, Greece, Albania, Oman, Saudi Arabia UAE, and Nepal. Luca is proficient with a wide range of complex software packages, such as QGIS, Surfer, MOVE, Gocad, Leapfrog, Kingdom, QtiPlot, and FieldMove. Luca, together with Simone Fabbi, has developed a course on fractured carbonate reservoirs that is offered through LGC.
Ramón López Jiménez, Ph.D.
Managing Director/Professional Educator
Ramón is the senior consultant and instructor at Channels GeoConsultancy. His background is primarily in the areas of halogenetic sequences and sedimentary systems from fluvial to deep water. Ramón has conducted research in Spain, Mexico, Columbia, the UK, and Turkey and is highly skilled in generating integrated reservoir models from seismic, well, and core data in both extensional and contractional settings. Additionally, he has experience mapping geothermal ore bodies, monitoring aquifers, and mapping rhyolite porphyries and travertine for quarry operations. Ramón offers a course on halokinetic sequences associated with the El Gordo Diapir in the La Popa Basin of northeastern Mexico, in which he has generated a new model for diapiric emplacement and its effects on synsedimentary successions, which is offered in collaboration with LGC.
Helge Kreutz
Petroleum Engineer
After a short time in the mining industry and working for a variety of oil companies, Helge spent 24 years on Shell oil’s international staff in a wide range of capacities, including petroleum engineering, geology, petrophysics, drilling, economics, project management, knowledge management, information management, and business improvement. He is now semi-retired but continues to consult and to voluntarily conduct geological field trips in Germany and the UK for professional societies. He is the coordinating author for a book on local German geological history for school groups and the general public. Helge has long offered a professional course on the history of petroleum exploration and production in the North Sea, conducted from Edinburgh, Scotland. This course is now offered through LGC.
Andrew Anderson
Managing Director/Professional Educator
Andrew is the Managing Director of African Insight Academy and has over 25 years of experience assisting secondary schools, colleges, and universities to plan and run customized educational field trips in South Africa, focused primarily on wildlife, conservation, and authentic cultural experiences. African Insights and LGC are currently collaborating to expand those offerings to include geological experiences ranging from undergraduate introductory field excursions, through a full-scale senior-level field camp, to graduate degree field courses utilizing the Barberton Greenstone Belt, Bushveld Complex, Cape Fold Belt, Karoo Basin, and other localities. Under Andrew’s direction, African Insights Academy has already served over 12,000 students since 1996.
John Roff
Founder/Head Guide
John Roff is a professional nature and geology guide based in South Africa and has been sharing nature with people of all ages and interests since 1989. South Africa has some of the most extraordinary geology in the world, including some of the earth’s oldest rocks and most spectacular rock bodies and structures. John’s specialization in geological guiding means he is able to help students and college faculty alike to find and maximize the remarkably diverse geological learning opportunities available in South Africa. He is one of the instructors for the LGC course on geology fundamentals in the Drakensberg area and the geologic field camp in the Cape Fold and Thrust Belt.
Pragnyadipta Sen
Founder, Proprieter, & Managing Director
Pragnyadipta Sen (Deep) is the Sole Proprietor and Managing Director of TerraPY Education, which specializes in Python programming as related to geological and other STEM fields. He holds M.S. degrees in geology from the the University of Calcutta and Kansas State University. Deep has had exerience in teaching and research as an Assistant Professor at SUNY-Oneonta, a lecturer at the University of Virginia, and Director of Education and Training for Natsol Consultant. Deep and TerraPy offer courses in Python programming, statistics, and data analysis through LGC.
